May 28 2025 @ 7:00PM
Tonight’s show is SOLD OUT! Never fear, Queens Memory is filming. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch soon.
First, take a look at our four “My Place” storytellers, who will take the stage to trade the true tales they started on the page earlier this month at our generative “My Place in Queens” workshop at the Queens Public Library, Broadway Branch.
Want to join in on the personal writing fun? Sign up for a PROM QUEENS workshop on June 8 or June 21! More info here.
Stories
- My Place or Bone China, William and Mary, and Me, by Mary Lannon, performed by Wichuda “Tang” McConnell, and directed by Erika Iverson
- Say My Name, by Wichuda “Tang” McConnell, performed by Mary Lannon, and directed by Erika Iverson
- Take a Walk With Me, by Ari Figueroa, performed by Francisco Delgado, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons
- Ashes and Stars, by Francisco Delgado, performed by Ari Figueroa, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons
Shout out to our fantastic No, YOU Tell It! story coaches Tim Lindner and Pichchenda Bao!
Special Guests
Bob Singleton, Executive Director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society, presents a British Soldier’s Story that he told as part of the “History Hub with Bob” at the workshop.
Ellen Stedfeld, who illustrated our “My Place in Queens” map, is creating original artwork at the show.
Bios
Francisco Delgado is a CHamoru writer of fiction, poetry, and literary scholarship on contemporary Native American and Indigenous literatures. His novella, On Remembering My Friends, My First Job, and My Second-Favorite Weezer CD, won the 2024 Clay Reynold’s Novella Prize and is published with Texas Review Press. Other recent work is featured in Mānoa and Poets of Queens, vol. 2. He teaches at BMCC (CUNY) and lives in Forest Hills with his wife and their son.
Carnie, librarian, drag queen, and teacher—these are just some of the faces Ari Figueroa has worn. But throughout their life, whether growing up in Massachusetts or evolving in New York, they have always been a writer. Everything they make, including poetry, short stories, & plays, is with the intent of connection. Ari is currently working on their first fantasy-humor novel and is always looking for more opportunities to create. They’d like to thank their fiancée Aria and their bestie Jesse, who have both been incredibly supportive but also invaluable sounding boards for Ari’s work. Thank you to Kelly Jean and No, YOU Tell It! for this new chance to share their stories.
Mary Lannon’s unpublished novel, Tide Girl, was a finalist for the 2023 PEN\Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Her stories have appeared at Necessary Fiction, Story, New World Writing, and elsewhere. She teaches writing and women and gender studies at Nassau Community College in Long Island, NY, and lives in Kew Gardens, where she runs a reading series at the local cemetery. More information at MaryLannon.com.
Wichuda “Tang” McConnell is a social worker, wellness coach, photographer, and storyteller. Born and raised in southern Thailand, Tang has found solace in being displaced through writing to help process the complex conflict between alienation from her native land and belonging in her adopted one—and feeling that it was taboo to feel either. Tang works as a supervisor at an agency supporting the NYC DOHMH Early Intervention Program, serving New York’s youngest with developmental delays through in-home therapies. Tang is also a wellness coach who has guided many middle-aged women to attain their best health through lifestyle modification. She presently lives in Queens, New York, with her husband and two children.
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This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.
This organization is funded in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation administered by Flushing Town Hall.
May 28 2025 @ 7:00PM
Grove 34 (3183 34th St., Astoria)
