Let Me Tell You! A Curated Story Telling Jam
‍

Ages: 18+ yrs.
Day: Monday
Date: October 7
Time: 7:00-9:00 pm
Fee: FREE
Location: Joseph C. Vallez Activity Center, 1529 Harlem Ave.

‍

A free monthly storytelling event hosted by 2-time Moth winner Errol McLendon

Everyone tells stories. At family gatherings. In bars and coffee shops. Here is your opportunity to share your personal stories with your community. Stories can be funny or poignant. About love or tragedy, or maybe both. They can be about something you learned or something you wish you had never done. Something historic you witnessed or were a part of.

If you would like to participate in our upcoming Jams please submit a description of a 7 - 8 minute story you would like to tell to errol.mclendon@gmail.com to be included in an evening of friends sharing stories with friends. First time tellers are welcomed and encouraged.

A free Zoom workshop will be offered two weeks prior to each show to help enhance your story in a relaxed, informal environment. One-on-one coaching will also be available.

Concessions will be available for purchase

Meet the Tellers

Ada Cheng

‍

An educator-turned artist, storyteller, and curator/producer, Ada Cheng has utilized storytelling to illustrate structural inequities, raise critical awareness, and build intimate communities. Committed to amplifying and uplifting marginalized voices, she has created numerous storytelling platforms for BIPOC and LGBTQIA community members to tell difficult and vulnerable stories. She was named 2023-24 Lund-Gill Chair at Dominican University. She is one of the honorees for the Illinois Humanities Public Humanities Award in 2024. Her interests encompass academia, storytelling/performance, and advocacy.

‍

Clint Cargile

‍

Clint Cargile is the manager of public programs at the Gaylord Building Historic Site in Lockport, Illinois. He has worked as a historian, public radio producer, English instructor, freelance writer, book editor, magazine editor, academic conference coordinator, landscaper, dish washer, car washer, dog washer, and veterinary assistant. At WNIJ, Northern Public Radio, he was the creator and host of the podcast Drinkin’ with Lincoln and the series This Week in Illinois History. He is the author of two history books, Five Mile Spur Line: A Railroad History of Sycamore, Illinois (2014) and In Search of a Fair Wind: The Sea Letters of Georgia Townsend Yates, 1891-1892 (2017). He and his wife, Gillian, also publish children’s picture books about Type 1 Diabetes.

‍

Richard Pniewski

‍

Richard Pniewski is a retired CPS English and Drama teacher. He has directed plays for Artcraft Theatre in the Beverly neighborhood, Evergreen Park's Candlelight Theatre, 23 Miles South in Homewood, and Spotlight Performance Academy, also in Homewood. After years of appreciating the storytelling stage at the Fox Valley Folk Festival, he decided to join the storytelling community. He has appeared at Do Not Submit, This Much is True, Homewood Stories, Life out Loud, as well as other venues, and is a Moth winner.

‍

Pam Schumacher

‍

A creative and passionate storyteller, Pam Schumacher grew up on a farm in rural Iowa, the seventh of 10 kids, so the middle of the middle children (and always fighting for attention 😊). She earned a journalism degree at Iowa State University, married her college sweetheart (still happily hitched after 40 years), had a mere two kids, and paid her dues in corporate America. Now she considers herself gainfully UNemployed, although she does freelance writing and tells stories about her crazy siblings through the Goodman Theater’s GeNarrations Program, the Moth, People Tree, Fillet of Solo, and at open mics around the city.

‍

Joy Wright

Joy Wright is a best-of-the-net nominated writer, activist, and mom. She spends her days fundraising for an ant-racism organization and evenings telling stories around Chicago. The recent accomplishment she's most proud of is completing the Sexier-Than-a-Squirel training with her dog, Sydney.Buzz Hunter is a teacher and principal, who, though retired is still working in the field of education. He is also a songwriter, hoping to become the geriatric Justin Bieber. And he is a sometime story-teller looking forward to presenting some of these life episodes to you.

‍

Buzz Hunter

Buzz Hunter is a teacher and principal, who, though retired is still working in the field of education. He is also a songwriter, hoping to become the geriatric Justin Bieber. And he is a sometime story-teller looking forward to presenting some of these life episodes to you.

‍

‍

‍

‍