One of the things I’m most grateful for in 2021 was producing and hosting our first live No, YOU Tell It! show in two years at Culture Lab, LIC. Made possible, in part, by my #CityArtistCorps grant.
Preparations for the new year have begun and I am excited to get back out there in 2022 with more for our upcoming 10th anniversary!
CLICK HERE to help support our No, YOU Tell It! 2022: Ten-Year Anniversary Season. (Plus, your donation is tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, The Field.)
Wishing everyone peace and love at the end of this often trying year – looking forward to swapping more stories in 2022!
As Pride month comes to a close, I’m thrilled to announce that our next No, YOU Tell It! show is another team-up with Lambda Literary.
More information soon about No, YOU Tell It! “Defiant” coming in September as part of the Brooklyn Book Festival and produced in partnership with Lambda Literary and The Astoria Bookshop!
From top left clockwise: Heather Quinlan, Sokunthary Svay, Gail Thomas, Charlotte Marchant, Nita Noveno, Calvin S. Cato, Nancy Agabian, Nicole Shawan Junior.
We were rehearsing for our first show at Sunnyside Plays and looking forward to an in-person Lambda Literary story swap when COVID-19 cases exploded in NYC back in March. Our future quickly became uncertain and we weren’t sure if we’d be swapping stories ever again.
Despite technical difficulties, a different genre of performance, and a huge learning curve, we were pleased to deliver two virtual story swaps. We hope listening to the stories provided a needed respite.
Storytelling has both the power to elicit empathy and create connection, and though we couldn’t physically be together we hope both of these things came through the screen. We’re especially grateful to everyone who came out to support the storytellers. And if you missed the shows, check out our podcast!
Thank you so much to our storytellers, partners and sponsors, producers, and especially our audiences for making the best out of this chaotic virtual year.
Shows like these are possible because of your support – if you’d like to donate, you can do so here: thefield.org/sa/620242
Top: Calvin S. Cato and Bottom: Nicole Shawan Junior swap stories in Ep 54.Top: Charlotte Marchant and Bottom: Nancy Agabian swap stories in Ep 55
What a blast teaming up with Lambda Literary to produce our first virtual No, YOU Tell It! show, which was also an official 2020 Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend Event.
We also asked each storyteller that if we, the listeners, wished to summon them directly to our room what three items might we place in a magic circle to do so. As you see and will hear, a wide variety of ingredients are needed to complete the spell!
Give a listen to these dynamic story swaps on the No, YOU Tell It! podcast. Available at noyoutellit.com and all the podcasting places.
Honored to have spent the last couple of weeks with these fantastic storytellers as we worked together to developed their true-life tales inspired by the theme “Coming & Going” on the page.
No, YOU Tell It! “Coming & Going” Crew
Join us tonight at 7:30 as they trade tales and take the virtual stage to tell each other’s stories.
Listen to story swaps from our live shows on the No, YOU Tell It! podcast at noyoutellit.com (available on iTunes, AudioBoom, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts).
In the spirit of Giving Tuesday and considering the question of “Why?” … Why donate to No, YOU Tell It! Why do I, personally, put so much work in? The answer resides in these words of trepidation that I often hear from participants about the value of their personal story:
“Why had I agreed to do this? Who was I to even attempt a prose form? A performance piece? Why did I think I deserved to have any kind of attention?” – poet Pichchenda Bao, NYTI “aMuse”
The NYTI creative team gives each show our all because we believe:
YOUR SLICE OF LIFE IS AS VALUABLE AS ANYONE ELSE’S IN THE WORLD!
Everything we do is worth witnessing storytellers speak each other’s words aloud to empower their voices on the page and stage. In 2019, we:
Worked with 17 storytellers
Curated 3 live shows
Plus 1 special student story swap event!
Produced 6 new podcast episodes
All to give life and attention to the value of each other’s stories.
As of today, we need 23 people to donate $25 to REACH our 2019 goal of $5000 raised! Can you be one of them?
