Tag: Pichchenda Bao

Look! “Prom Queens” Program

Sep 17 2025 @ 7:00PM

Our Queens Bookend Event is tonight! Get your tickets here and check out all the amazing Bookend Events across the five boroughs in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Brooklyn Book Festival.

Take a look at the four contributors to the forthcoming Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers anthology from Poets of Queens who will step into each other’s prom stories on stage at Grove 34 in Astoria.

The anthology and tonight’s stories stem from a series of Prom Queens: Prom Story and Portrait Trading Workshops held in May and June as part of a 2025 Queens Art Fund New Work Grant.

During these free generative workshops, participants were invited to share their prom story through a series of written and visual prompts from Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons and Zach Rothman-Hicks.

Plus, textile artwork by Olena Jennings, special musical performance from A. King McCarty, reading by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons from her memoir After After Prom, and story trivia for fun Halloween prizes!

Stories

  • A Prom Story by Jane Salvador, performed by Vegas K Jarrow, and directed by Erika Iverson
  • Prom Night 1996 by Vegas K Jarrow, performed by Jane Salvador, and directed by Erika Iverson
  • Prom Night With Rain by Tim Lindner, performed by Ricki Richards, and directed by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons
  • Terre de Feu: Land of Fire by Ricki Richards, performed by Tim Lindner, and directed by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons

Creative Team

  • Pichchenda Bao – Story Coach, Prom Queens Anthology Editor
  • Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons – NYTI Producer, Story Coach, Story Director, Prom Queens Workshops
  • Erika Iverson – Story Director
  • Olena Jennings – Poets of Queens and Prom Queens Anthology Curator
  • Tim Lindner – NYTI Co-Producer, Social Media, Prom Queens Anthology Editor
  • Zach Rothman-Hicks – Prom Queens Workshops

Storyteller Bios

Tim Lindner is a Writer and a Project Manager based in Jersey City, NJ. He’s been working with No, YOU Tell It! as a story coach and co-producer since 2020. Tim has published poems in The Northern Virginia Review, Awakenings Review, the Artemis Journal, and more. He is also the editor of The Book of Life After Death, a collection of stories and poems about death and grieving, published by Tolsun Books in September 2023.

Vegas K Jarrow is the rebirth of Vijay R. Nathan, who is the pen name of Vijay Ramanathan. This particular stream of human consciousness grew up in Staten Island in New York City. He is a two-time Master’s degree earning poet and is a full-time PhD student at Saybrook University. His published books include Escape from Samsara, Celebrity Sadhana, and Breakdown Dancer, the last published by Poets of Queens Press. He worked for 15 years with Queens Public Library and appreciates the diverse flavors of all the neighborhoods in Queens.  Go to his linktree, handle Vegas Jarrow, to explore the rabbit holes that represent what he has become. 

Jane Salvador (she / they) is from Queens NY and won’t ever let you forget it. By day she teaches English to the youth of the city and by night she enjoys what her hometown has to offer.

Ricki Richards made her life debut in California and moved to New York to obtain a nursing degree at NYU. Professionally steeped in soapy water, her career has been dedicated to teaching young minds the murky art of hand-washing through her service as a Youth Public Health Educator in the Peace Corps and many years as School Nurse in New York City. She is the co-creator and co-Race Director of the Queens based “Bridge and a Slice Half Marathon” and “Hot Dog Eater 50 Kilometer” races and has completed multiple ultra-marathon distances. A believer in the healing power of stories and storytelling, Ricki built and maintains a free community “Mosaic Your Mind” mini library and as an amateur documentarian, is in the process of making a documentary about running entitled “Bruised Toes.”

***

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2025 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT.

This project is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

This organization is funded in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation administered by Flushing Town Hall

Event Information

Sep 17 2025 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th St, Queens, NY 11106)

September 17, 2025 1 comment Live Shows Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Look! “My Place” Program

May 28 2025 @ 7:00PM

Tonight’s show is SOLD OUT! Never fear, Queens Memory is filming. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch soon.

First, take a look at our four “My Place” storytellers, who will take the stage to trade the true tales they started on the page earlier this month at our generative “My Place in Queens” workshop at the Queens Public Library, Broadway Branch.

Want to join in on the personal writing fun? Sign up for a PROM QUEENS workshop on June 8 or June 21! More info here.

Stories

  • My Place or Bone China, William and Mary, and Me, by Mary Lannon, performed by Wichuda “Tang” McConnell, and directed by Erika Iverson
  • Say My Name, by Wichuda “Tang” McConnell, performed by Mary Lannon, and directed by Erika Iverson
  • Take a Walk With Me, by Ari Figueroa, performed by Francisco Delgado, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons
  • Ashes and Stars, by Francisco Delgado, performed by Ari Figueroa, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons

Shout out to our fantastic No, YOU Tell It! story coaches Tim Lindner and Pichchenda Bao!

Special Guests

Bob Singleton, Executive Director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society, presents a British Soldier’s Story that he told as part of the “History Hub with Bob” at the workshop.

Ellen Stedfeld, who illustrated our “My Place in Queens” map, is creating original artwork at the show.

Bios

Francisco Delgado is a CHamoru writer of fiction, poetry, and literary scholarship on contemporary Native American and Indigenous literatures. His novella, On Remembering My Friends, My First Job, and My Second-Favorite Weezer CD, won the 2024 Clay Reynold’s Novella Prize and is published with Texas Review Press. Other recent work is featured in Mānoa and Poets of Queens, vol. 2. He teaches at BMCC (CUNY) and lives in Forest Hills with his wife and their son.

Carnie, librarian, drag queen, and teacher—these are just some of the faces Ari Figueroa has worn. But throughout their life, whether growing up in Massachusetts or evolving in New York, they have always been a writer. Everything they make, including poetry, short stories, & plays, is with the intent of connection. Ari is currently working on their first fantasy-humor novel and is always looking for more opportunities to create. They’d like to thank their fiancée Aria and their bestie Jesse, who have both been incredibly supportive but also invaluable sounding boards for Ari’s work. Thank you to Kelly Jean and No, YOU Tell It!  for this new chance to share their stories. 

Mary Lannon’s unpublished novel, Tide Girl, was a finalist for the 2023 PEN\Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Her stories have appeared at Necessary Fiction, Story, New World Writing, and elsewhere. She teaches writing and women and gender studies at Nassau Community College in Long Island, NY, and lives in Kew Gardens, where she runs a reading series at the local cemetery. More information at MaryLannon.com.

Wichuda “Tang” McConnell is a social worker, wellness coach, photographer, and storyteller. Born and raised in southern Thailand, Tang has found solace in being displaced through writing to help process the complex conflict between alienation from her native land and belonging in her adopted one—and feeling that it was taboo to feel either. Tang works as a supervisor at an agency supporting the NYC DOHMH Early Intervention Program, serving New York’s youngest with developmental delays through in-home therapies. Tang is also a wellness coach who has guided many middle-aged women to attain their best health through lifestyle modification. She presently lives in Queens, New York, with her husband and two children.

***

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

This organization is funded in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation administered by Flushing Town Hall.

Event Information

May 28 2025 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (3183 34th St., Astoria)

May 28, 2025 Post Comment Live Shows Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Meet “My Place” Storyteller Francisco Delgado

May 28 2025 @ 7:00PM

Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month with our next storyteller, Francisco Delgado, and story coach Pichchenda Bao, who will read recent work at Kew & Willow Books this Saturday, May 24, at 7 pm.

Learn more and RSVP for the event. Meet Francisco below and get your tickets for our May 28 “My Place” show!

Francisco Delgado is a CHamoru writer of fiction, poetry, and literary scholarship on contemporary Native American and Indigenous literatures. His novella, On Remembering My Friends, My First Job, and My Second-Favorite Weezer CD, won the 2024 Clay Reynold’s Novella Prize and is published with Texas Review Press. Other recent work is featured in Mānoa and Poets of Queens, vol. 2. He teaches at BMCC (CUNY) and lives in Forest Hills with his wife and their son.

Event Information

May 28 2025 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (3183 34th St., Astoria)

May 19, 2025 Post Comment Live Shows Tags: ,

My Place in Queens

Artwork by Ellen Stedfeld

What a wonderful “My Place in Queens” generative workshop this Saturday, May 3, at the Queens Public Library, Broadway Branch, with Queens Memory and the Greater Astoria Historical Society.

Join us at Grove 34 for No, YOU Tell It! “My Place” on May 28, to see how the stories we started together turn out!

Our four curated No, YOU Tell It! “My Place” storytellers, alongside a packed room full of community participants, generated poems and personal stories inspired by the historical significance behind the people’s names that grace Queens streets, parks, monuments, and more.

The opening prompt was inspired by a 2004 New York Times article Blood at the Gas Pumps; Queens Families Still Have Their Legacy, if Not Their Land, featuring Bob Singleton, Executive Director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society. 

What do you feel like you were born knowing? About your family history? Queens? Both.

Then, participants rotated through four creative stations organized and facilitated by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons, using the guest bell provided by Queens Memory curator J. Faye Yuan.

Station I: Queens Name Explorer

J. Faye Yuan gave a special presentation on the Queens Name Explorer, an interactive digital map that explores the individuals whose names grace public spaces across the borough of Queens.

Participants were then welcome to directly engage with the Queen Name Explorer on the screen and through customized coloring pages.

Station II: History Hub with Bob

Bob Singleton presented four historical tales that he prepared for this event to highlight William Hallett, Hallet’s Cove, and Socrates Sculpture Park, such as this “British Soldier’s Story.”

Cemetery experts believed this unearthed stone could have been an uncarved tombstone.

After each of the four talks, the participants could ask Bob questions.

Did anyone ask why Hallett is sometimes spelled with one “t” and other times two?

Station III: Hallett’s Cove “Then & Now”

NYTI Story Coach and QUEENSBOUND Board Member Pichchenda Bao gave participants time to study a series of Hallett’s Cove “Then & Now” photographs, such as this pair. 

View looking south down the East River from between 1st Street and the waterfront. Hallett’s Cove in the foreground, Sohmer & Co. Piano factory building center left, Manhattan and Triboro Bridge right, 1945. Photo from the Queens Public Library Digital Archives.

View from the boardwalk adjacent to Astoria Ferry Terminal. Piano factory building and Hallett’s Cove Beach in the center, next to Socrates Sculpture Park, 2025. Photo courtesy of Nick Capezzra.

Then Chenda guided participants through a poetry prompt inspired by her work with Queensbound founder KC Trommer, who has a great poetry workshop coming up with Poets House that starts on May 17.

Check out the In-Person 4-Week Workshop: KC Trommer: City Poet: Writing Ekphrasis.

Love this poem written in response to the prompt by our own Tim Lindner!

STATION IV: Add Something to the Map

Speaking of Tim Lindner! At our final station, Tim turned the Queens Name Explorer’s “Add Something to the Map” feature into a writing prompt to help participants brainstorm their personal connections to our shared Queens spaces.

Finally! Six-Word “My Place in Queens” Memoirs

The workshop culminated with the participants coming back together to distill all that they’d learned and written in the past two hours into a six-word memoir they added to the map created by artist Ellen Stedfeld. What a day!

Keep it going! Come to the No, YOU Tell It! “My Place” show on May 28th, and add your Six-Word “My Place in Queens” Memoir to the map.

Tickets available here.

Special thanks to William Klein and Palisades Convention Management for all the photocopies! 

May 5, 2025 Post Comment News Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Come Write With Us!

What’s your Queens story? Join us on May 3 for a free writing workshop to discover and trade the personal stories behind our shared public places.

Interact with Queens Name Explorer, an interactive digital map developed by Queens Memory, to learn the historical significance behind the people’s names that grace Queens streets, parks, monuments, and more.

Learn more and register here.

Plus, artwork by Ellen Stedfeld and a special presentation from Bob Singleton of the Greater Astoria Historical Society.

***

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

This organization is funded in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation administered by Flushing Town Hall.

April 9, 2025 1 comment News Tags: , , , , , ,

Save the Date for Hell Gate!

The theme for our next show is place, specifically the iconic Hell Gate Bridge! Save the date: 9/25 for this special team-up show with the Greater Astoria Historical Society at Grove 34 in Astoria.

Big news! “Hell Gate” is AN OFFICIAL 2024 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT.

We’re excited to be part of week of literary events held across all the boroughs leading up to the festival.

Check our our storytellers and creative team below. More info coming soon, including how to join us on 9/6 at Sunnyside Arts for a generative workshop to kick-off our collaborative process!

Storytellers
Alicia Lieu
Jackie Sherbow
Mia Arias Tsang
Barrie Miskin

NYTI Creative Team
Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons
Pichchenda Bao
Tim Lindner

***

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2024 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

July 22, 2024 Post Comment News Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Look! “Left My Heart” Program

Jun 05 2024 @ 7:00PM

Our “Left My Heart” show is tonight at Grove 34! Tickets are still available here.

Take a look at the four storytellers whose stories started at our ART HEART: Storytelling and Portrait Trading event, which was co-facilitated by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons and storyteller Zach Rothman-Hicks.

Read about how engaging with Tony Bennet’s music and history from the Greater Astoria Historical Society archives inspired the storyteller’s modern-day true tales. The ART HEART portraits will be on display during the show, along with other surprises.

Content notice: Tonight’s stories are true, traded with open hearts, and, in the second half, there is a depiction of suicide. If you need a moment, please feel free to step outside at any point during the performance.

If you have any concerns, our producer and host, Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons, is happy to discuss them during intermission.

If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. You can learn more about suicide from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at afsp.org.

Stories

  • MOTHER’S DREAM, by January Yoon Cho, performed by Catherine Kapphahn
  • LOPSIDED STAR, by Catherine Kapphahn, performed by January Yoon Cho
  • HEAD, HEART, and SAN FRAN, by Zach Rothman-Hicks, performed by Carl M. Banks
  • THE HOUSE WHERE NOBODY LIVES, by Carl M. Banks, performed by Zach Rothman-Hicks

Storyteller Bios

January Yoon Cho, an interdisciplinary visual artist, works with video, photography, and drawing, intertwining themes of social conformity, feminism, and environmentalism. She has exhibited across the US and Europe. Notably, Cho’s The Walk Project received fiscal sponsorship from the NY Foundation for the Arts and grants from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund and Puffin Grant for Feminist and Environmental Art. Cho has taught at Parsons School of Design, New School University, and Hanyang University (Seoul). Originally from Seoul, Korea, she moved to the US in 1990 for her art education, earning a BFA from RISD and an MFA from Parsons.

Catherine Kapphahn is a writer, educator, storyteller, and speaker. Her memoir Immigrant Daughter: Stories You Never Told Mereceived The Center for Fiction’s Christopher Doheny Award and was published by Audible. Her manuscript Miseducation of a Dyslexic Girl: a Memoir in Poems and Classrooms was recently long-listed for the Steel Toe Books Poetry Award. Catherine received grants from the Queens Council on the Arts and City Artist Corps. Her writing has appeared in Queensbound, Motherwell Magazine, Croatia Week, Newtown Literary, the Feminist Press Anthology This is the Way We Say Goodbye, Astoria Life, and CURE Magazine. Catherine is an adjunct lecturer at City University of New York at Lehman College in the Bronx, where her students’ stories inspire her. Catherine is also a yoga teacher. She grew up near the mountains in Colorado and now lives between two bridges in Queens, New York, with her husband and two sons. 

Zach Rothman-Hicks is an educator and multimedia conceptual artist who creates interactive performances and projects intended to spark reflection, dialogue, and action. He has been a New York City Public School teacher since September 2009 and an Adjunct Lecturer at Hunter College since 2012 and Queens College since 2022. In April 2020, while a student in the PIMA MFA Program at Brooklyn College, he initiated Gabbing with Gays, a project that explored Emotional Intimacy in the LGBTQIA+ community. This project inspired future interactive art pieces, which were presented at the Staten Island Museum, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, the Newhouse Center, Alice Austen House, Easton Mountain, Queens Public Library, Hunters Point Park Conservancy, Chashama, Culture Lab, and the 14th Street Y.

Carl M. Banks is a troubadour and musical nomad. Born in the heartland of Saint Louis, Missouri, he found his rhythm in the bustling streets of New York City, now calling Astoria, Queens, his home.  Traversing the country as a touring singer-songwriter, his lyrics and melodies echo the highs and lows of the American landscape while his stories touch on personal and profound narratives. He has been featured on The Moth Radio Hour and on WFUV’s local artist spotlight, “New York Slice.” Carl is also an ultra-marathon runner and co-creator of Queens-based “Bridge and a Slice Half Marathon” and “HotDog Eater 50 kilometer.”

Special Thanks to the No, YOU Tell It! Creative Team

  • Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons, producer, story director, host
  • Erika Iverson, founding member, dramaturg 
  • Pichchenda Bao, story coach
  • Tim Lindner, story coach and social media

***

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

No, YOU Tell It! “Left My Heart” is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

Event Information

Jun 05 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th St, Astoria)

June 5, 2024 1 comment Live Shows Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Queens Community Arts Grant

We are extremely grateful to Flushing Town Hall for awarding No, YOU Tell It! a Queens Community Arts Grant as part of the Statewide Community Regrants program funded by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).

Click here for the full list of grantees. This funding will support two special 2024 Queens shows produced in partnership with the Greater Astoria Historical Society.

First up! Save the date for No, YOU Tell It! “Left My Heart” on June 5th at Grove 34 in Astoria.

Featuring

Storytellers:
Carl Banks
January Yoon Cho
Catherine Kapphahn
Zach Rothman-Hicks

NYTI Creative Team:
KJ Fitzsimmons
Pichchenda Bao
Erika Iverson
Tim Lindner

Thank you, FTH and NYSCA!!

April 1, 2024 1 comment News Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Look! “Here & Gone” Program (In-Person and Virtual)

May 18 2023 @ 7:00PM

Our Greater Astoria Historical Society team-up show hosted by Ellie Dvorkin Dunn is tonight! In-person at Grove 34 ($10 tickets here!)

  • 7:00 – 7:30: *Reception featuring Queens “Here & Gone” artwork by Yelena Tylkina
  • 7:30 – 9:00: Switched-up Storytelling!

*Drinks and snacks available for purchase.

We’ll also be streaming the show LIVE from our Facebook page at 7:30 if you want to join virtually.

Plus, a chance to win story trivia prizes featuring Queens “Here & Gone” artwork! If you aren’t a winner, click here to purchase “Here & Gone” artwork and more on Yelena’s Fine Art America page.

For this special show, storytellers worked with producer Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons and story coaches Tim Lindner and Pichchenda Bao to engage with Queens “Here & Gone” Highlights featuring the history of the Westinghouse Time Capsule, North Beach, Astoria Pool Sentinels, and The First Photocopy to inspire their personal stories on the page.

Take a look as they swap stories to embody their partner’s culture, identity, and life experience on stage!

TONIGHT’S STORIES!

Two Continents and a Whole New Ballgame by Lakshmi Gandhi, performed by Dan Jessup, directed by Ellie Dvorkin Dunn

The Certainty of Here by Dan Jessup, performed by Lakshmi Gandhi, directed by Ellie Dvorkin Dunn

My Book About Water by Olena Jennings, performed by Rosalie Chandler, directed by Erika Iverson

Peace Through Understanding by Rosalie Chandler, performed by Olena Jennings, directed by Erika Iverson

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

**

Special thanks to Rosalie Chandler, Bob Singleton, and Ava Vitali for helping us create these Queens “Here & Gone” highlights. The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

This project is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

***
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  1. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter for updates.
  2. Follow us @noyoutellit and tell a friend!
  3. DONATE through our fiscal sponsor, The Field. Plus, it’s tax-deductible.

Event Information

May 18 2023 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (3183 34th St., Astoria)

May 18, 2023 2 comments Live Shows Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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!

October 4, 2022 Post Comment News Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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