Fringe Performances
Fringe Performance Opportunity
July 25-28, 2019
Fremont, California
The Fringe at the National Storytelling Summit is back for its 13th Season!
Explore the limits of storytelling at the National Storytelling Summit.
What is the Fringe? The NSN Fringe follows the standard Fringe Festival model by providing the opportunity for you to experience many aspects of a typical Fringe Festival including the selection process and performance framework.
The lottery for the 2019 Fringe at the National Storytelling Summit happened February 6, 2019 in Petaluma, CA. We had 57 submissions from 26 states, Australia and the United Kingdom. The names, where they are from, and the title of their show were tossed into a basket and the 13 slots were chosen throughout the West Side Stories Petaluma StorySlam by random audience members and tellers. Following are the performers chosen along with the wait list performers.
Sean Buvala – Tolleson, AZ
“Transactors”
A father’s emotional journey of the transgender evolution of his young-adult child told through world-tales, personal storytelling, and pictures. This is a personal crafting, not a dogmatic discussion. Thank God Almighty.
Category: Adult, Solo
Content Warning: Adult language
Cynthia Changaris – Louisville, KY
“Death and Why I Laugh!”
A program about my Mother’s death, including some of the funniest details from the potentially solemn occasion. What she left behind in her passing was song and story and laughter, even as we lowered her down. Grave to grave. Dust to Dust. Ashes to Ashes and Mystery to Mystery and Laughter to Laughter. Playful, thoughtful, laughter filled, touching, and fun. Really! Thank God Almighty.
Category: Adult, Solo
Content Warning: None
Michele Carlo – Brooklyn, NY
“Fish Out of Agua”
Too white for her proud Spanish-speaking relatives and a mystery to her schoolmates, Michele’s story is an homage to New York City…and an iconically American, unforgettable portrait of growing up.
Category: Adult, Solo
Content Warning: Adult Language
Dorothy Cleveland – Oakdale, MN
Barbara Schutzgruber – Ann Arbor, MI
“Bedtime Stories: Sex, Death, and Violence”
Take a wild outing of original stories and folktales from the darker side of life. Told with humor, irony and luscious imagery, Dorothy and Barb will take you deep into the cautionary tales and bring you home safely.
Category: Adult, Ensemble
Content Warning: Adult subject matter, Violence
Norah Dooley – Brookline, MA
“Charter School is ENGLISH for ‘gulag'”
A deep dive into education reform as a teacher in a charter school. A gulag was a Soviet work camp where people were “exterminated by labor” A charter school is an educational work camp where teachers have their souls crushed, their hearts broken and are exterminated, making space for the next group to be “processed”. Charter School is English for gulag. The tragedy of my public education – (oh yeah – they took me to school!) is just a part of the ongoing the epic tale of this artists search to do good work in the world and make a living.
For a story to fit the classic tragic form, the hero – needs a to have a Character flaw that sets the plot in motion and/or may also make some massive mistake – Tragically, I had no trouble fulfilling both requirements. This monologue about my first and only year as a teacher in a charter school takes the listeners on a whirlwind ride with no rainbows at the ending.
Category: Adult
Content Warning: None
Jeff Gere – Honolulu, HI
“Three Entwined Tales of Tragic Love”
Three Monks share their sad life tales leading to their crossroads meeting. Shocking, violent, and philosophical, this traditional Japanese tale has moved Jeff Gere deeply for thirty years. You? Come.
Category: Adult, Solo
Content Warning: Adult Subject Matter, Violence, Philosophy & Poetry
Mary Hamilton – Frankfort, KY
“Give Me Five!”
First-person truths and first-person lies – each tale told in about five minutes. So, “Give Me Five!” and I’ll tell you a story.
Category: Solo
Content Warning: None
Rachel Ann Harding – Longmont, CO
“The Lute Player”
There once was a queen who set out to save her king and her kingdom. She traveled for a year and a day, met many people and saw many things. She played the lute, I play the ukulele, but the songs we sing are the same.
Category: Adult, Solo
Content Warning: None
Lou Ann Homan – Angola, IN
“Mary and Her Monsters”
In June of 1816 the stage was set for Mary Shelley to write her classic “Frankenstein” novel. Who was Mary Shelley? What were her own monsters and how did the book come to be? Lou Ann Homan is Mary Shelley in this riveting story, and none can tell it better.
Category: Adult, Solo
Content Warning: Adult subject matter
Sally Perkins – Indianapolis, IN
“Digging In Their Heels”
A high-energy, surprise-filled story of women’s battle for the vote. You’ll laugh, marvel, sigh, and learn from those who paved the way for women today. Pure edutainment and inspiration!
Category: Solo
Content Warning: Language
Marie Ringenberg – Glen Ellyn, IL
“Following the Bear”
I can’t bear it. I’ve lost my bearings. Bear up.
Marie will speak to the loss of her only child David, honor his spirit and celebrate her own rebirth.
Category: Adult, Family, Solo
Content Warning: None
Cynthia Rintye – Atlanta, GA
“Tales of the Macabre”
Compelling original ghost stories, captivatingly told, that will both charm and terrify you including tales from the album Veil of Time, winner of a 2018 Storytelling World Honor.
Category: Adult
Content Warning: Adult subject matter
Clayton Storyteller – Brunswick, GA
“A Safe Sex Story and Other Tales”
A program of short (1 1/2-8 1/2 min) original tales in verse, dark, light and slightly risque–PG, not PC. Stories are selected from a variety of genres–western, ghost story, mystery, noir, sci-fi, fantasy, urban horror, relationship/romance, dark and light nonsense, historical and more. The finale is my signature tale, A Safe Sex Story–5 mins long, humorous with a serious message and mild language. This also comes in a chapbook with condom inside and wonderful (also mild) illustrations by an art school student–copies available for sale after the performance.
Category: Adult, Solo
Content Warning: Adult subject matter, Violence
Debra Ting – Minneapolis, MN
“Quoth the Raven”
The Raven takes Edgar Allan Poe on a winged journey through the author’s life.
Category: Adult
Content Warning: None
Nancy Wallace Nelson – Mendocino, CA
“On the Road with Floyd and Nancy”
This is the story of our marriage’s journeys, both physical and emotional, outer and inner, public and private, through the arcs of 28 years, until Floyd’s difficult death in July 5, 2014.
Category: Adult, Solo
Content Warning: None
Fringe Wait List
Pam Faro – Broomfield, CO
“Stranger in a Strange Land: The Book of Ruth”
Malcolm Grissom – San Francisco, CA
“Me, My Song, and I”
Lori Prescott Hansen – Francis, UT
“I Am Not Who You Think I Am”
Claire Hennessy – Novato, CA
“Entertainingly English”
Sandra Measels – Morton, MS
“Sheltered in the Sixties – the Story of My Childhood in Rural Mississippi”
David Novak – Asheville, NC
“Down by the Water”
Laura Packer – Wayzata, MN
“Haunted: Stories for the Brave of Heart”
Mahria Potter – Port Hadlock, WA
“Be the Lion, Shumba”
Leslie Scatchard – Petaluma, CA
“The Drama Queen”
Susan Shampanier – Walnut Creek, CA
Ben Tucker – Walnut Creek, CA
“Stories From the Jewish and African American Diaspora-Historical Parallels”
Ric Vice – Olivette, MO
“Reflections on Marching Band, Chemistry Sets, Paper Mache & Songs My Grandmother Taught Me”
Showcase Performances
Showcase #1
Friday 1:45 pm – 3:15 pm
- Nancy Donoval
- Dave Pokorny
- Cathryn Fairlee
- Brandon Spars
- Karin Amano
Showcase #2
Friday 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
- Neshama Franklin
- Bob Kanegis
- Denise McCormack
- John Wylder
- Anne E. Stewart
Showcase #3
Saturday 10:15 am – 11:45 am
- Liz Mangual
- Archy Jamjun
- Karen Golden
- Inanc Karacaylak
- Laura Packer
Showcase #4
Saturday 3:00 pm – 4:45 pm
- Jo Radner
- Michael McCarty
- BZ Smith
- Warren Holleman
- Awele Makeba
Closing Concert
Featured performers:
Brenda Wong Aoki
Charlie Chin
Dixie de la Tour
Vicki Juditz
Kirk Waller
National Story Slam
You are invited to participate in the 2019 National Storytelling Summit Story Slam. Participants have three chances to take part in the Slam with two preliminary qualifying Slams (Thursday night and Friday night) and the Grand Slam. Anyone attending the Summit is eligible to participate in the Slams. All types of stories may be told – traditional and personal but must be told in the first person (no props and no reading from the page) and the five-minute stories need to relate to the Summit theme.
Each slam will have judges picked from the audience with timekeepers, scorekeepers and a no-nonsense host picking ten names from a hat. The scoring system will be based on a 0-10 rating. The top three from the first qualifier go to the final. The top three from the second qualifier, go to the final. Four additional tellers will be drawn from a hat before the start of the Final. The Final or the Grand Slam will include a total of ten participants. Qualifiers do not need to tell the same story in the final. Cash prizes awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners during the Grand Slam.