Tag: Brooklyn Book Festival

Episode 70 – Punch Up (Part 2)

Celebrating 10 years of No, YOU Tell It!, the second half of our “Punch Up” show starts with the story of a waitress getting a visit from a former co-worker who looks happier and healthier than seems possible. Trying to match her glow-up, she seeks out the same Shaman but finds the visit … less than inspiring.

Enjoy “Shaman Says,” Written by Jenn Wehrung and performed by Aida Zilelian.

You can also WATCH the full show live-streamed from Culture Lab, LIC. Or, watch “Punch Up,” and other past shows on the NYTI YouTube channel.

Switching it up, our final story also starts in a bar, where an old frenemy creeps back into every corner of the narrator’s life, causing her to reflect on why some friends are better left in the past.

“One Final Lesson” was written by Aida Zilelian and performed by Jenn Wehrung.

Top left: Jenn Wehrung; Top right: Story partners Aida Zilelian and Jenn Wehrung; Bottom left: Ellie Dvorkin Dunn and Jenn Wehrun; Bottom right: Aida Zilelian

This story swap was directed by our wonderful guest host for the evening, Ellie Dvorkin Dunn.

Returning as a Bookend Event for the Brooklyn Book Festival, our “Punch Up” show also celebrated the release of the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology from Palm Circle Press.

Here’s how to check out ALL THE THINGS:

Episode 69 – Punch Up (Part 1)

Lose yourself in school-age nostalgia in our first story, “Confection Resolution,” written by Matt Storrs and performed by Maria Rubio, which finds our hero fighting the same childhood foe … three times.

Switching it up, “The Great Unknowns,” written by Maria Rubio and performed by Matt Storrs, follows an exhausted nurse in the middle of the global pandemic who carves out time for herself with a surfing lesson.

Returning as a Bookend Event for the Brooklyn Book Festival, our “Punch Up” show also celebrated the release of the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology from Palm Circle Press.

You can also WATCH the full show live-streamed from Culture Lab, LIC. Or, watch “Punch Up,” and other past shows on the NYTI YouTube channel.

Top left: Matt Storrs; Top right: Maria Rubio; Bottom left: Ellie Dvorkin Dunn interviews storyteller Matt Storrs

Huge thank you to alum and guest host Ellie Dvorkin Dunn! Give a listen as she punches up the evening with her warmth and humor.

Here’s how to check out ALL THE THINGS that Ellie mentions in the show:

Watch “Punch Up” to Win!

Have you watched our “Punch Up” show yet? Don’t miss out on these stellar story swaps! There is also still a chance to win the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology 2022.

Watch the show on YouTube, play along with the story trivia at the end, follow @noyoutellit on IG, and DM us three correct responses to win a free copy!!

Left to right: Ellie Dvorkin Dunn, Tim Lindner, Maria Rubio, Matt Storrs, Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons, Aida Zilelian, Jenn Wehrung, Pichchenda Bao

THANK YOU for another amazing show!

Thank you to:

The storytellers for sharing and performing your work.
The creative team and story coaches for making this event possible.
Ellie Dvorkin Dunn for hosting!
Culture Lab LIC for the venue and all your help.
Brooklyn Book Festival Bookends Committee and Coordinator Stephan Herrera for having us for another #BKBF Bookend Event.
Queens Council on the Arts for helping make this possible.
Palm Circle Press for taking on the challenge of getting the anthology out into the world.

And everyone that came or live streamed the show! We couldn’t have made it 10 years without this community!

Look! “Punch Up” Program (In-Person and Virtual Show)

Sep 26 2022 @ 7:00PM

Our Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend Event hosted by Ellie Dvorkin Dunn is tonight! In-person at Culture Lab, LIC or WATCH HERE virtually via YouTube.

Doors 6:30 / Show starts at 7 pm!

FREE but we’ll be collecting donations for Friends with Four Paws with a match for the first $50. Want to donate directly? Venmo @friendswith-fourpaws or via their website.

Plus, a chance to win the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology 2022, now available to order in paperback and eBook (with links to listen to all the stories via our podcast).

Take a look at these four storytellers who have been developing their “Punch Up” tales on the page with guest story coach and NYTI alum Pichchenda Bao. Tonight, they’ll step into their partners’ shoes and perform each other stories on stage.

TONIGHT’S STORIES!

Confection Resolution written by Matt Storrs, performed by Maria Rubio, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons

The Great Unknowns written by Maria Rubio, performed by Matt Storrs, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons

Shaman Says written by Jenn Wehrung, performed by Aida Zilelian, and directed by Ellie Dvorkin Dunn

One Final Lesson written by Aida Zilelian, performed by Jenn Wehrung, and directed by Ellie Dvorkin Dunn

Thank you, thank you to everyone who made this night possible!

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2022 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

This show is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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Want to support 10 more years of No, YOU Tell It! Here are 3 great ways:

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  3. DONATE through our fiscal sponsor The Field. Plus, it’s tax-deductible.

Event Information

Sep 26 2022 @ 7:00PM

Culture Lab LIC, (5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, New York, NY 11101)

Meet “Punch Up” Storyteller Matt Storrs

Sep 26 2022 @ 7:00PM

Rehearsals start tomorrow for Monday’s show. Our storytellers have worked together over the past weeks to develop their true tales on the page. After trading tales, they each work one-on-one with a NYTI director to help embody their story partner’s experience on stage.

Before they begin, let’s meet our final “Punch Up” storyteller, Matt Storrs!!

Matt Storrs is a comedian and storyteller based out of NYC and originally from Phoenix, AZ.

Matt created and performed his one-person show “Portly Lutheran Know-It-All” (Frigid Festival, Denver Fringe Festival, Providence FringePVD). 

He has also been featured in Vox. Matt brings his religious and legal background to the stage with his sharp stories and esoteric comedy. 

Matt Storrs is a humor person.

RSVP via FB or email noyoutellit@gmail.com. You can also watch a live stream of the show here!

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2022 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

This show is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Event Information

Sep 26 2022 @ 7:00PM

Culture Lab LIC, (5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, New York, NY 11101)

Meet “Punch Up” Storyteller Aida Zilelian

Sep 26 2022 @ 7:00PM

Our storytellers are busy revising their true tales on the page before flipping scripts to rehearse each other’s stories this weekend. We are so excited about our Bookend Event on Monday and can’t wait for you to meet our next storyteller, Aida Zilelian!

Aida Zilelian is a first-generation American-Armenian writer, educator, and storyteller from Queens, NY. Her debut novel The Legacy of Lost Things was published in 2015 and was the recipient of the 2014 Tololyan Literary Award. Aida has been featured on NPR, The Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Poets & Writers, and various reading series throughout Queens and Manhattan. She is also the curator of Boundless Tales, which was one of the longest-running reading series in Queens, NY. Her short story collection These Hills Were Meant for You was shortlisted for the 2018 Katherine Anne Porter Award. Aida’s most recently completed novel, All the Ways We Lied, is forthcoming in January 2024 (Keylight Books). 

RSVP via FB or email noyoutellit@gmail.com. You can also watch a live stream of the show here!

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2022 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

This show is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Event Information

Sep 26 2022 @ 7:00PM

Culture Lab LIC, (5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, New York, NY 11101)

Meet “Punch Up” Storyteller Jenn Wehrung

Sep 26 2022 @ 7:00PM

Our second storyteller, Jenn Wehrung, is returning for her second NYTI show! Give a listen to Jenn trading “Three Strikes” tales here.

Learn more about Jenn below and join us at QED Astoria TONIGHT where she is hosting a special one-night-only “Laugh It Up, Astoria!” with fellow NYTI alum Liz Simons.

Jenn Wehrung is a comic, writer, former burlesque queen, and dog lover! She performs at clubs and holes-in-the-wall all over NYC and beyond including QED, Stand Up NY, that one bar on the LES, and even The Royal Hall For Cornwall in England! She has been featured on the Mortified podcast, heard on BBC radio, and made jokes at the New York Comedy Fest. She co-hosts the drink-a-long podcast, Bottled Up! and posts a LOT of pics of her dog on Instagram.

RSVP via FB or email noyoutellit@gmail.com. You can also watch a live stream of the show here!

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2022 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

This show is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Event Information

Sep 26 2022 @ 7:00PM

Culture Lab LIC, (5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, New York, NY 11101)

Episode 60 – Defiant (Part 2)

The second half of our “Defiant” show drops us back into the peak of the pandemic, where our hero is taking Zoom calls and setting office policies from the solitude of his home.

As he struggles to define what’s right and what’s wrong while navigating a breakup and suburban judgment, he finds someone he’s willing to break the rules for.

Here is “Imaginary Rules” written by Marcos Stafne and performed by Moncho Alvarado.

Top left: Moncho Alvarado, Top right: Marcos Stafne, Photo credit: Sachyn Mital

Switching it up, we hear a heartbreaking series of letters to loved ones. Through imagery, history, and imagination, our second storyteller longs for answers and actions about the ongoing crisis and cruelty at the American borders.

Listen, as Marcos Stafne reads “Dead Familia” written by Moncho Alvarado.

For our “Defiant” show we were not only excited to be back as an OFFICIAL 2021 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT but to share these incredible stories in front of our first live audience in two years at a brilliant new venue, Culture Lab LIC!

Thank you, thank you to the Brooklyn Book FestivalLambda Literary, and City Artist Corps for helping to make No, YOU Tell It! part of New York City’s creative resurgence

Episode 59 – Defiant (Part 1)

This first “Defiant” story finds us, as described by the narrator, “on the precipice of Real Teen Shit.” In a small New York town, a teen explores his identity while working at the local Serenity Sweets Cafe developing friendships with the town rebels and navigating questionable adults in and around the shop. Balancing his good-boy persona with a newfound comfort from his “island of misfit toys” our narrator carves his own path.

Written by Bobby Hankinson and performed by Desi Waters, here is, “You’re Gonna Be Sweet, Boy.”

Bobby Hankinson (top right) and Desi Waters (top left) trade true tales! Photo credit: Sachyn Mital

Switching it up, tensions are high at the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall. A clumsy daughter fights back tears and curiosity during worship, afraid to rouse her mother’s wrath. A pinch and piercing stare is just the beginnings of a spiraling rage in this epic tale of expression, power, and, ultimately, acceptance.

Here is “Meltdown” written by Desi Waters and performed by Bobby Hankinson.

For our “Defiant” show we were not only excited to be back as an OFFICIAL 2021 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT but to share these incredible stories in front of our first live audience in two years at a brilliant new venue, Culture Lab LIC!

Thank you, thank you to the Brooklyn Book Festival, Lambda Literary, and City Artist Corps for helping to make No, YOU Tell It! part of New York City’s creative resurgence

Thank You for a Great “Defiant” Show!

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR A GREAT SHOW!
Special thanks to:
Everyone who came out!
Our amazing storytellers!
Our lil’ crew!

Left to Right: Tim Lindner, Erika Iverson, Moncho Alvarado, Marcos Stafne, KJ Fitzsimmons, Desi Waters, and Bobby Hankinson. Photo credit Sachyn Mital

AND!
Culture Lab LIC at The Plaxall Gallery for the perfect venue.
Lambda Literary for being our partner for this event.
The Brooklyn Book Festival for including us as a 2021 Bookend Event.
The Astoria Bookshop for supplying our prize books.
City Artists Corps: A $25 million New York City program to get all of us show makers back out and making shows.

&
Sachyn Mital (www.sachynmital.com) for the fantastic photos! Click here to view more photos from the show on our Facebook page.

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