Tag: Personal Stories

3D: stories of checkered youth, middle & old age

Peter Bretl 3D second show

Storytelling fans, this is a hot ticket. Night one of the “3D” show sold out faster than you can say “drugs, debauchery and deliverance.” Get your tickets now for night two before another sell out happens. This will be the last night of this bawdy show. Here’s the skinny on “3D”:

Leave the kiddies at home on this night. Peter Bretl, a veteran of the stage at the American School of Storytelling, promises a show that’s not for the faint of heart — and, at the same time, a show that’s full of heart. Prepare to be surprised. Prepare to have some laughs. Prepare, perhaps, to squirm a little and rest assured, you won’t be bored.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.

3D: stories of checkered youth, middle & old age

Peter Bretl 3D Sold Out

***Second night added on January 24- tickets available!***

Leave the kiddies at home on this night. Peter Bretl, a veteran of the stage at the American School of Storytelling, promises a show that’s not for the faint of heart — and, at the same time, a show that’s full of heart. Prepare to be surprised. Prepare to have some laughs. Prepare, perhaps, to squirm a little and rest assured, you won’t be bored.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.

Jenie Smith “Unfinished”

Unfinished

“Unfinished” is an autobiographical one-woman show featuring stories around medical training, trauma, mental illness, addiction, burnout, and coming out the other side. This is an immersive and collaborative experience for an intimate audience.  Please join us.

Jenie M. Smith M.D.Bio: Jenie M. Smith M.D. has dabbled in theater while previously working as a clinical nephrologist.  She grew up in Western Nebraska, eventually finding her way to Minneapolis for medical school where she became enamored of the power of live theater and Story.  She works now as a “This Naked Mind” certified coach, helping physicians and other healthcare professionals who are struggling with burnout.

Playwright/Director: Naphtali Fields-Forbes is a rural arts consultant based in Pennsylvania and Alaska.  She helps individuals and communities craft and tell their own stories.  Do you have a story to share?  Reach out to her at naphtalifieldsforbes.com.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.

Family Oral History Collection

Family Oral History Collection

The Holiday season is not only a time to gather with family and friends but a time to collect the valuable memories and stories that we share around dinner tables and eggnog…

This is a three session course in 1) how to prepare for formal or informal interviews 2) how to conduct them and 3) how to (archive) store those digital treasures.

$40 for three online sessions, Thursdays, December 4, 11, and 18 at 7:00-8:30pm Central Time. Taught by Loren Niemi.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.

Jim Stowell “Talking Pictures”

Jim Stowell- Talking Pictures

Talking Pictures is Jim Stowell’s Emmy Award winning play based on his travels through Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. This play showcases his Dickensian descriptions, his knack for memorable characters and is an emotional roller coaster. These stories do not make the people of these three countries into distant strangers, completely different than us, but rather recognizes them as neighbors, family and friends, with concerns like our own. When he is done describing the joy of a spontaneous fiesta along the road, the horror of a half-naked child fighting a dog for a piece of gristle and the beauty and the ugliness that exist side by side in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala, you’ll feel you know more about those countries and their people’s lives and their resilient human spirit.

Teller Bio:
Learn more at Jim Stowell’s website

Jim Stowell

A professional actor, director, playwright and storyteller for around fifty years, Jim has written and directed eleven full cast plays. This includes two children’s plays, two adaptations, a Spanish language one-act and the book for a musical comedy, running somewhere in America for the last 17 years and produced three spinoffs.

Jim has written and performed twelve one man plays that were commissioned and produced by six different theaters in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. His work has also been performed in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, in a big blue tent in Northern Wisconsin, an Art Center in Mexico, a theater in Guatemala, a school in Nicaragua, a banana plantation in Honduras and a jungle village in Brazil.

NOTE: Starting on March 31, 2025 Hennepin Ave 26th St to Douglas Ave will be under construction. Check our ‘Getting Here’ page for parking options.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.

 

Sufian Zhemukhov “An Immigrant’s Guide to America”

An Immigrants Gide to America

A renowned immigrant scholar is forced to test his own intercultural theories in real life when he immigrates to the United States. Can he survive in the wild among these mysterious species he studied – Americans? The awkward professor goes through painful culture shock and endless missteps before fully assimilating into American society. In this humorous solo show, award-winning author and performer Sufian Zhemukhov will have audiences reevaluate what they thought they knew about Americans.

Sufian ZhemukhovTeller bio: Sufian Zhemukhov is an award-winning author and performer. Sufian’s solo shows have been featured off-Broadway and nationwide. NPR presented his show Flirting Like an American as “a show about romance, culture, and one immigrant’s story” and his show From Russia Without Love as “an escapist James Bond parody.” Sufian’s stories are based on his personal experience as a first-generation immigrant and political analyst, which might be funnier than it sounds. He served as the 2023 Teller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center, received the 2020 JJ Reneaux Emerging Artist Award from the National Storytelling Network, and his research won the 2019 Best Book Award from the International Studies Association.

NOTE: Starting on March 31, 2025 Hennepin Ave 26th St to Douglas Ave will be under construction. Check our ‘Getting Here’ page for parking options.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.

Timothy Young “The Poza Rica Rotary Club & The North Pole Police”

Poza Rica Rotary Club & The North Pole Police

Poet Timothy Young presents stories and poems about a young man’s predicaments in Mexico and Alaska, while soul singer, David Ballman, provides an acapella Soul-Chorus commentary.

NOTE: Starting on March 31, 2025 Hennepin Ave 26th St to Douglas Ave will be under construction, but Douglas Ave WILL BE OPEN. Check our ‘Getting Here’ page for parking options.

Timothy Young

Author bio: Timothy Young has five books of published poetry and numerous chapbooks and essays.  Scribner’s The Best American Poetry of 1999 includes his poetry and Garrison Keillor has read his poetry on The Writer’s Almanac. Since 1982 he has performed with musicians in many genres and recorded three CDs of his poetry with musical compositions.

He has also worked as a state cattle inspector, a maintenance man at a Totonac Indian Clinic in Mexico, a police dispatcher in North Pole, Alaska, a small newspaper editor, and a teacher at the juvenile correctional facility in Red Wing, Minnesota. For over forty years he has taught, organized or served as president for the Minnesota Men’s Conferences, begun by Robert Bly.

David Ballman is a singer and songwriter who founded and regularly performs with The Midnight Choir and Social Club. He sang with Robert Robinson and the Twin Cities Gospel Choir for many years.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.

Jim Stowell “National Park Stories”

Jim Stowell National Park Stories

These are stories of a 46 year love affair. What Jim calls his, Spoken Story Book, starts with the first time he went camping and ends with the last night he worked for the National Park Service 46 years later. The stories of a young man who knows absolutely nothing about camping or the wilderness but becomes a National Park Ranger. A young man who cannot stand being alone with himself and years later feels good all over when surrounded by miles of solitude.

His wilderness and National Park stories take you to very different places. Camping in a Sequoia tree grove, a short stop in heaven. Discover the true meaning of, “Evolution in Action!” Why Jim’s older brother Lorenzo was unanimously voted in as President for life of the Intergalactic Mis-direction Society and what is the miracle of the Miracles of Wow?

Quotes from reviews of his work. “Mr. Stowell is a great American storyteller.” “Stowell is the area’s premier storyteller.”

Teller Bio:
Learn more at Jim Stowell’s website

Jim Stowell

A professional actor, director, playwright and storyteller for around fifty years, Jim has written and directed eleven full cast plays. This includes two children’s plays, two adaptations, a Spanish language one-act and the book for a musical comedy, running somewhere in America for the last 17 years and produced three spinoffs.

Jim has written and performed twelve one man plays that were commissioned and produced by six different theaters in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. His work has also been performed in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, in a big blue tent in Northern Wisconsin, an Art Center in Mexico, a theater in Guatemala, a school in Nicaragua, a banana plantation in Honduras and a jungle village in Brazil.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.

Jim Stowell “National Park Stories”

Jim Stowell National Park Stories

These are stories of a 46 year love affair. What Jim calls his, Spoken Story Book, starts with the first time he went camping and ends with the last night he worked for the National Park Service 46 years later. The stories of a young man who knows absolutely nothing about camping or the wilderness but becomes a National Park Ranger. A young man who cannot stand being alone with himself and years later feels good all over when surrounded by miles of solitude.

His wilderness and National Park stories take you to very different places. Camping in a Sequoia tree grove, a short stop in heaven. Discover the true meaning of, “Evolution in Action!” Why Jim’s older brother Lorenzo was unanimously voted in as President for life of the Intergalactic Mis-direction Society and what is the miracle of the Miracles of Wow?

Quotes from reviews of his work. “Mr. Stowell is a great American storyteller.” “Stowell is the area’s premier storyteller.”

Teller Bio:
Learn more at Jim Stowell’s website

Jim Stowell

A professional actor, director, playwright and storyteller for around fifty years, Jim has written and directed eleven full cast plays. This includes two children’s plays, two adaptations, a Spanish language one-act and the book for a musical comedy, running somewhere in America for the last 17 years and produced three spinoffs.

Jim has written and performed twelve one man plays that were commissioned and produced by six different theaters in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. His work has also been performed in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, in a big blue tent in Northern Wisconsin, an Art Center in Mexico, a theater in Guatemala, a school in Nicaragua, a banana plantation in Honduras and a jungle village in Brazil.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.

Gerald Fierst “Maybe I’m Crazy- But Maybe I’m Not”

Maybe I’m Crazy- But Maybe I’m Not

“Maybe I’m Crazy- But Maybe I’m Not”- a one-man show written and performed by Gerald Fierst

Our lives are the embodiment of energy, and actors, artists, teachers, and preachers are modern day shamans lifting us into another dimension. What is crazy? And what is truth?

With traditional and personal stories, Gerald Fierst explores alchemy, UFO’s, and the power of our stories to challenge our ingrained assumptions about the world and the road we travel.

Gearld FierstTeller bio: Gerald Fierst is one of America‘s most acclaimed storytellers. As a performer, he has appeared throughout the US, in Europe, and in Asia, telling original stories, stories from his own Jewish tradition, and stories from world folklore; as a writer and teacher, he has worked for school systems and universities across the US, leading workshops for teachers and students in writing and performance. He has served as a Co-director of the MidAtlantic Storytellers‘ Gathering, as a member of the board of The New York Storytelling Center, and as artistic director of the Jewish Storytelling Center at the 92nd St Y in NYC. Fierst has been a featured teller and ghost story teller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN, and a Storyteller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center.

To register:

  1. Add the number of tickets you want by clicking the ‘+’ button
  2. Click the ‘Get Tickets’ button.