I haven’t written a blog post in a while. But Jack Scheer is busy writing about The Women’s Storytelling Festival, so I thought I’d tackle this one. I’m hoping to hit it out of the park.
Our next night of storytelling is February 25, 2023, at 7:00pm in-person at The Auld Shebeen in Fairfax, VA AND streaming online. The theme of the show is Game Day: stories about sports, games, and players, with emcee Jenn Kamara and storytellers Tom Croce, Seth Hassett, Sharon Price Singer, Aimee Snow, Jude Treder-Wolff, and Gayle Turner.
This show is sure to be a slam dunk.
Get Your Tickets Here.
I wanted to get a little more insight into the night’s players, so I asked each of the storytellers to tell me their favorite game to watch or play. I have to admit to not being much of a sports fan myself. I like to play, and coach my kids’ teams, but watching just bores me. I do, however, love to play games. Settlers of Catan is one of my favorites, though we’ve recently re-discovered the joys of a classic game of D&D with the next generation in our house, so looks like I’m gonna have a lot less free time from now on.
Here’s a little more about Saturday night’s storytellers, and what games they like.
First, the night’s quarterback, our trusty emcee, Jenn Kamara.
Jenn Kamara has been storytelling in front of audiences since 2018 (probably informally a few years before that). I love watching sports and my favorite really depends on the season. During the spring, baseball is my favorite and in the fall, football takes the lead. Basketball is a strong second throughout the year. I credit my love of sports to my dad who was my first sports watching friend
Boston native Tom Croce was too busy watching all his favorite sports teams lose to respond to my email. But he’s a winner when it comes to storytelling. Come hear hit a home run at Saturday’s show.
We’re very excited to have Seth Hassett join our show for the first time. And apparently, he’s going to stick around after the show for a Catan throwdown.
Seth Hassett told his first onstage story in 2017 at Story District in Washington, DC. His stories have covered a wide array of topics including his childhood in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an unexpected event at a college class reunion, his experience with a wildfire In Berkeley, California, and the fact that country music…makes him cry.
Growing up, one of his favorite games was Risk (which he would sometimes play against himself). He now enjoys an occasional game of Catan and also loves trivia games involving music and history. His guilty pleasures include watching SF 49ers football.
Returning all-star, Sharon Price Singer, had this to say about herself, and her games.
Sharon did her first live story, here, with Better Said Than Done in February 2020. She enjoyed participating in the 99 second story slams and BSTD events online during the pandemic, but is happy to be back in person! Not that’s she’s any good, but Sharon likes to play tennis. Watching is fun too, especially when you can watch great players up close.
We’re thrilled to welcome back to our stadium, the night’s pinch hitter, Aimee Snow.
Aimee has been an actress since elementary school and has enjoyed telling stories with Better Said Than Done since 2018. She loves to watch basically any sport and she loves to play trivia and board games of all kinds. She is extremely competitive but is fun to play with unless someone is cheating and then she will bring down the hammer.
Future Jeopardy champion Jude Treder-Wolff last performed with us in-person, at the 2022 Women’s Storytelling Festival.
Jude produces and hosts a monthly storytelling show on Long Island, NY called (mostly) TRUE THINGS – for the past 8 years – and is active in the NY-area storytelling scene, performing most recently on RISK! live show and podcast, PBS Stories From The Stage, and The Story Collider live show and podcast. Jude works with organizations to bring storytelling to their messaging, staff development and community-building.
My favorite games to play are improv games, because they are always new, always fun and spike my creativity. And my other favorite game is Trivia Pursuit, because it is the only way to win at being an information nerd.
Pro boxing announcer Gayle Turner will be providing running commentary on his life, once again on our stage.
Gayle Turner has been telling stories since he was a child. As Co-Founder of The Storytellers Channel he not only tells but helps leaders craft and tell stories that transform lives. He’s proud to be a lifetime member of The Virginia Storytelling Alliance. As to games, he loved playing softball, tennis, and golf, but his body’s a little worse for wear these days. He made a living playing cards, backgammon and hustling chess as a young man, but he’s also not as sharp as he used to be. So, today, you can find him playing Tetras-like games on his phone.
Join us on February 25, online or at The Auld Shebeen in Fairfax City, Va, for Game Day, where every player wins.
