Tag: Palm Circle Press

No, YOU Did It! Celebrating 2022

Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons here! Sending out accolades for all YOU helped us accomplish this year. Heck, over this past DECADE (wow…), with your love and support.

Keep us in mind for your end-of-year giving to support 10 more years! Click here to make your tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor The Field.

Want to make a donation via a Donor Advised Fund (DAF)? Yes, you can do so in support of No, YOU Tell It! through The Field. Contact us at noyoutellit@gmail.com for all the info.

Now, let’s take a look at 2022! Starting with this fantastic 10-year anniversary logo designed by alum storyteller, Zoom guru, and the all-around fabulous Noah Diamond.

JANUARY
WATCH No, YOU Tell It! “Anniversary Apart”

Kicking off our anniversary season, storytellers Chris Crowthers, Gaby Martineau, and Jenna Struble swap tales for our virtual show, “Anniversary Apart,” with support from Tim Lindner & Amanda Sisk as story coach(es) and director! And, of course, the aforementioned Noah Diamond.

All of our story trivia winners received a donation in their name in support of our friends at Friends with Four Paws. Plus a puppy named after them!

MARCH
WATCH No, YOU Tell It! “What I Know” 

In celebration of women’s history month, storytellers developed true tales inspired by the theme “What I Know” on the page. Watch them step into each other’s life experiences on stage. Featuring: Michele Carlo, Julia Granacki, Hannah Leland, and Sheria Mattis

Big thanks to our “What I Know” directors, Erika Iverson and Marcos Stafne.

Fun fact: Sheria Mattis and Michele Carlo’s swap is the most recent pair in the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology 2022, featuring a beautiful introduction by their director, Erika. Give it a read!

Special shoutout to Lee Anderson and Palm Circle Press for making the No, YOU Tell It! anthology a reality.

SEPTEMBER
WATCH No, YOU Tell It! “Punch Up” 

For our September Brooklyn Book Festival “Book End” Event, storytellers who write for the page and the stage developed true stories inspired by the theme “Punch Up.” Featuring: Jenn Wehrung, Aida Zilelian, Matt Storrs, and Maria Rubio.

Plus, guest host and director Ellie Dvorkin Dunn and fab story coaches Tim Lindner and Pichchenda Bao. 

No, YOU Tell It! was proud to receive a 2022 Queens Art Fund (QAF) grant. Both of our live shows at Culture Lab LIC were made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Thank You, QCA!

NOVEMBER
We celebrated the launch of the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology 2022 from Palm Circle Press with the first in-person event at The Astoria Bookshop since March 2020!

Thank you to contributors Ellie Dvorkin Dunn and Jeff Wills, who read that evening, and to everyone who came out.

Get or GIFT a copy of our anthology to read through ten years of stories and behind-the-scenes insights for the series. Local to NYC? We encourage you to purchase it through The Astoria Bookshop to support a small, local business.

DECEMBER
Just when you thought all of our anniversary fun was done…
Last week we were honored to receive one of THE BIG GIVE 2022 “Pay Your People” Grants from IndisSpace!

Check out this blog post on IndieSpace website with the links to the names and websites of all of the Pay Your People grant recipients at The Big Give 2022. Please visit their websites to learn more about their work and upcoming productions.

WHEW!! I’m so excited to tell you about the exciting No, YOU Tell It! plans for 2023, but I think I need a nap first…

All my love and gratitude for the support from our amazing No, YOU Tell It! friends and alums all these years. What an amazing journey; I can’t wait to see what the next decade brings.

Happy Holidays and wishing you a bright new year!
Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons

Episode 69 – Punch Up (Part 1)

Lose yourself in school-age nostalgia in our first story, “Confection Resolution,” written by Matt Storrs and performed by Maria Rubio, which finds our hero fighting the same childhood foe … three times.

Switching it up, “The Great Unknowns,” written by Maria Rubio and performed by Matt Storrs, follows an exhausted nurse in the middle of the global pandemic who carves out time for herself with a surfing lesson.

Returning as a Bookend Event for the Brooklyn Book Festival, our “Punch Up” show also celebrated the release of the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology from Palm Circle Press.

You can also WATCH the full show live-streamed from Culture Lab, LIC. Or, watch “Punch Up,” and other past shows on the NYTI YouTube channel.

Top left: Matt Storrs; Top right: Maria Rubio; Bottom left: Ellie Dvorkin Dunn interviews storyteller Matt Storrs

Huge thank you to alum and guest host Ellie Dvorkin Dunn! Give a listen as she punches up the evening with her warmth and humor.

Here’s how to check out ALL THE THINGS that Ellie mentions in the show:

Watch “Punch Up” to Win!

Have you watched our “Punch Up” show yet? Don’t miss out on these stellar story swaps! There is also still a chance to win the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology 2022.

Watch the show on YouTube, play along with the story trivia at the end, follow @noyoutellit on IG, and DM us three correct responses to win a free copy!!

Left to right: Ellie Dvorkin Dunn, Tim Lindner, Maria Rubio, Matt Storrs, Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons, Aida Zilelian, Jenn Wehrung, Pichchenda Bao

THANK YOU for another amazing show!

Thank you to:

The storytellers for sharing and performing your work.
The creative team and story coaches for making this event possible.
Ellie Dvorkin Dunn for hosting!
Culture Lab LIC for the venue and all your help.
Brooklyn Book Festival Bookends Committee and Coordinator Stephan Herrera for having us for another #BKBF Bookend Event.
Queens Council on the Arts for helping make this possible.
Palm Circle Press for taking on the challenge of getting the anthology out into the world.

And everyone that came or live streamed the show! We couldn’t have made it 10 years without this community!

Episode 68 – Legacy Anthology Reboot

In anticipation of our forthcoming ten-year anthology from Palm Circle Press, we are flashing back to 2014 when we participated in The Brick’s Comic Book Theater Festival in Brooklyn.

For this show, we tried something new. Usually, we give our storytellers a theme to inspire their true tales. This time, we only provided the theme “Legacy” to comic artist Sha-Née Williams and asked her to interpret it into a visual prompt. Then we gave this image to our storytellers without the word “Legacy” or any further context.

After they completed their first drafts, Sha-Née joined our story meetings and drew unique illustrations for each of their true tales. In spite of the fact that we didn’t share the theme, our storytellers ended up thinking about the personal legacies we leave behind. Give a listen to the results and don’t forget to follow us on Insta @noyoutellit to check out more of Sha-Née’s “Legacy” artwork

Top left: Sha-Née Williams and Nicole Greevy with “Nerd: The Next Generation” artwork. Bottom left: Sha-Née’s “Legacy” image. Bottom right: E. James Ford with “League of Absence” artwork by Sha-Née Williams.

 

Stories were performed live on June 8th, 2014 at The Brick:

“League of Absencewritten by E. James Ford and performed by Nicole Greevy.

“Nerd: The Next Generation written by Nicole Greevy and performed by E. James Ford.

 

Episode 67 – No Regrets Anthology Reboot

As we’re readying the release of our ten-year anthology this fall from Palm Circle Press, we’re rebooting some of the podcasts with improved audio so you can listen while you read.

Here’s our first ever tri-flip at Fairleigh Dickinson’s MFA in Creative Writing summer residency, featuring stories by Letisia Cruz, Tazio Ruffilo, and Heather Lang-Cassera.

Original artwork by Letisia Cruz inspired by her performance of Tazio Ruffilo’s story, “In Spite of Ourselves”

Keep an eye out for these No Regrets stories in the anthology, along with a special introduction from series creator, Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons, describing how this FDU show represents one of the core values of our series: Cooperation over Competition.  

NO REGRETS performed on August 14th, 2016

Fairleigh Dickinson University | New Jersey

“The First Tattoo” written by Letisia Cruz and performed by Heather Lang-Cassera

“In Spite of Ourselves” written by Tazio Ruffilo and performed by Letisia Cruz

“A Midwestern Purgatory” written by Heather Lang-Cassera and performed by Tazio Ruffilo

 

 

 

Ten-Year Anthology!

Big News! We are thrilled to announce that we’ll be publishing a ten-year anthology collection with Palm Circle Press. In this anthology, you’ll find several stories from the past decade along with behind-the-scenes insights from storytellers and the No, YOU Tell It! creative team.

Coming out in September! Stay tuned for more information!