Now in its twelfth year, the Gotham Storytelling Festival brings together diverse storytellers to do what they do best. Whether you’re looking to escape into someone else’s story, to commiserate with an artist or laugh out loud, Gotham has something for you. This year’s festival was curated by storyteller Brad Lawrence.
Adam Wade's Solo Show: UPS AND DOWNS
Written & Performed by Adam Wade
November 3 @ 9:30 PM
The new solo show from Adam Wade, the 20-time Moth Story Slam winner, creator of the #1 Best Selling Audible Original You Ought To Know Adam Wade and from TV’s Inside Amy Schumer and Girls.
Thirty And Change
Written & Performed by Calvin S. Cato
November 4 @ 9:30 PM
A one-person show about dating and finding companionship while leaving your 20s and 30s behind.
The OutCast!
Written & Performed by David Hu
November 6 @ 7 PM
David Hu is a 1st Generation Asian American who was born and raised in The Bronx. David’s parents immigrated from Hong Kong in the 1970’s for a better life. Growing up, David faced many different hurdles throughout his life, from racism to social and financial problems. Throughout David’s life he dealt with depression, insecurity, alienation and eventually health issues. Ironically David came to terms with the different hurdles throughout his life through storytelling in his late 30’s. Storytelling taught David that being vulnerable is not a weakness but as strength!
Adam Wade's Storytelling Class Student Spotlight Showcase
Presented by Adam Wade
November 6 @ 8:30 PM
A curated show featuring some of Adam Wade’s awesome Magnet Theater storytelling students presenting the stories they worked on in his class!
It Came From New York
Hosted by Michele Carlo
November 7 @ 7 PM
It Came From New York is a storytelling show that features both native New Yorkers and and a token (transplant) telling what it was like to actually grow up in (or come to) the city so many want to/wish they could move to.
SIGHTED PEOPLE SUCK!
Written & Performed by Leona Godin
November 8 @ 7 PM
Writer and performer Leona Godin has lived on pretty much every notch of the sight-blindness continuum and has been on all kinds of stages. From presenting animals to other kids at the San Francisco Zoo, to banging drums in a New Orleans punk band, to finding love and her (decisively not-angelic) blind voice in an East Village basement theater open mic, she’s learned a lot. Like how to handle a boa constrictor, play the accordion, have Blind Pride in an ocularcentric world, land a TV commercial and wield a white cane with authority while wearing high-heel boots (OK, maybe she’s still working on that one). Most importantly, she’s learned the hard-fought lesson that blindness isn't really the problem. It's just that sighted people kind of suck!
Pearl Necklace: A Gay Sexcapade
Written & Performed by Jamie Brickhouse
November 9 @ 7 PM
Jamie Brickhouse’s sex life gives new meaning to the term parks and recreation as he takes audiences on a hilarious, bawdy and touching romp through his amorous adventures in bathhouses, beaches, libraries and appallingly decorated apartments. Called “a natural raconteur” by the Washington Post, this 5-time Moth champion’s darkly comic stories of his sybaritic journey reveal his struggle to shed shame and guilt and discover self-acceptance and one true love.
The Real Black Swann Confessions of America’s First Black Drag Queen
Written & Performed by Les Kurkendaal-Barrett
November 9 @ 8:30 PM
This is the true story of William Dorsey Swann—former slave who became the Queen of Drag in the late 1800’s and the first queer activist.
Martin Dockery: Every Good Story Ends With One
Written & Performed by Martin Dockery
November 10 @ 7 PM
A funny, TRUE story about an unbelievable, mysterious romance. Martin Dockery has won 50 fringe circuit awards at festivals across the world, including 2022 Vancouver Pick of the Fringe. “Highly recommended. Absolutely delightful.” -Orlando Sentinel
Geeked Out: Stories from the Geek Side of Life
Hosted by Marc L Abbott
November 10 @ 8:30 PM
Being a geek has grown in fashion in recent years but there was a time when being a geek bore a stigma and those of us geeks had to keep things under wraps. But there were times we just couldn't hold it back. Six storytellers will tell true stories about the times they let their inner geek shine. Whether it was meeting that idol that inspired them to pursue their passions, finding that collectable or special item they longed to have or throwing caution to the wind and letting the world know they're not ashamed of being a geek.
An Intimate Evening of Issues
Hosted by Tess Henry
November 10 @ 10:30 PM
You are cordially invited to An Intimate Evening of Issues hosted by Tess Henry. With so much going on in the world to worry about i.e war, climate change, the subway costing 15 cents more, take a night to focus on what really matters, other people's problems. Sit back, relax and enjoy the issues.
Big Honor Student Energy
Written & Performed by Alisa Rosenthal
November 11 @ 7 PM
Kicked out of ballet lessons at 4 for being “too much,” Alisa Rosenthal has carried this same joie de vivre through her whole life. From an ill-fated semester at clown school to unnecessarily enthusiastic job interviews with AI recruiters, she somehow always finds herself underworked and overprepared.
The Big Secret
Written & Performed by Brad Lawrence
November 11 @ 8:30 PM
When Storyteller Brad Lawrence was 14, a friend in his Evangelical youth group told him a secret and made him promise to tell no one. And he didn't. For over thirty years. At first it was to keep a promise, then it was just on principle, then it was to honor the dead but ultimately it just became a habit. But eventually something happened in the outside world that caused him to tell someone the secret for the first time and doing so, after decades, became a lesson in how keeping the truth under wraps can warp it, change it and sometimes make it not the truth at all.
