Tag: Student matinee

“Before & After” Part 2: Carl M. Banks and Nicole Greevy (Episode 80)

Give a listen to the second half of our first-ever student matinee, performed at the beautiful Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space on March 13, 2025. Listen to Part 1 here.

The fantastic Najah Imani Muhammad hosted the show for a theater full of high school juniors from Global Learning Collaborative and Talent Unlimited High School to help inspire the personal stories they want to tell in their college application essays.

Story partners Carl M. Banks and Nicole Greevy embodied the low and high notes of each other’s musical true tales, captivating our student audience with both story and song.

Thank you to NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program) for helping us make our first-ever student matinee a reality. Here’s to what we hope is the first of many!

Photo credit: Russ Rowland

Podcast narrated by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons.

Stories

  • “Carl’s Lucky Dollar,” by Carl M. Banks, performed by Nicole Greevy, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons.
  • “Of Axes and Tree Surgeons,” by Nicole Greevy, performed by Carl M. Banks, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons.

Bios

Carl M. Banks is a troubadour and musical nomad. Born in the heartland of Saint Louis, Missouri, he found his rhythm in the bustling streets of New York City, now calling Astoria, Queens, his home.  Traversing the country as a touring singer-songwriter, his lyrics and melodies echo the highs and lows of the American landscape while his stories touch on personal and profound narratives. He has been featured on The Moth Radio Hour and WFUV’s local artist spotlight, “New York Slice.” Carl is also an ultra-marathon runner and co-creator of Queens-based “Bridge and a Slice Half Marathon” and “HotDog Eater 50 kilometer.”

Nicole Greevy is a playwright and actor and is thrilled to be returning to No, YOU Tell It! You can read one of her previous pieces, “Nerd: The Next Generation,” in the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology. She is a New York State Council of the Arts 2025 grant recipient for playwriting. If you love her dulcet tones today, you can hear her as Sheriff Rowland, and many others, on the award-winning fiction podcast Uncanny County, where she contributes as both performer and writer.

Meet “Before & After” Host Najah Imani Muhammad

Our first student matinee is tomorrow, 3/13, at 1 pm at Symphony Space!! We are extra excited to introduce our “Before & After” guest host, Najah Imani Muhammad.

Najah was a storyteller for our “College Try” show. Look at that show’s highlights and learn more about Najah below!

Najah is a director, educator, actor, and host based in Beacon, New York. Regardless of the hat she is wearing, Najah uses the arts as a communicative tool to connect. She has directed new works in multiple NYC Festivals, as well as developmental workshops for companies such as InterAct Theatre, Full Out Creative and NC Black Rep. Najah’s passion for arts education has led her to direct students in musicals, plays, and Shakespeare, as well as teaching acting intensives on to students near and far! She currently directs shows for two of her local school theatre programs, while balancing work for companies such as Beacon Performing Arts Center, Disney on Broadway, and The New Victory Theatre. Najah is also the Director of Education for Leaders by Choice, which teaches leadership skills through the arts. She holds a degree in Theatre Education and Acting from Emerson College. Follow along her journey @najahknows

2025 NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund

We are thrilled to announce that No, YOU Tell It! has received a grant from the 2025 NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund! Check out the other winners of the 2025 Creative Opportunity Fund here.

Our second story meeting is tonight for No, YOU Tell It! “Before & After” at Symphony Space on March 13 at 1 pm. The four storytellers will read each other’s revisions aloud and receive feedback on strengthening their true tales on the page.

Next week, they will swap stories on stage for the junior class at Global Learning Collaborative, who have been working with Kelly Jean on the stories they want to tell in their college application essays.

Thank you to NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program) for helping us make our first ever student matinee a reality. Here’s to what we hope is the first of many!