Our Biggest Show Yet! 8/11/11

Story League is collaborating with Brooklyn-based science-story series The Story Collider on our biggest show yet: Eight fantastic stories from eight fascinating people in one fantastic venue: Artisphere.

Our stellar lineup includes actors, authors, comedians, teachers, at least three PhD’s, at least one Moth storyslam winner, locals as well as people coming down from New York and Los Angeles to regale you with big-bang stories about the difficulties of trying to teach evolution in a yeshiva school, the bad idea of making friends with lab monkeys, the debate over whether DNA exists (!), winning over Michelle Obama, and more.

The place has a bar in the lobby, and you may take your drink into the Dome Theatre, where our show will be. Artisphere is mega-accessible by public transportation (Rosslyn Metro and Circulator bus stop are two blocks away) and there is free parking with validation on site!

After the show we will be at Continental, a few blocks north of Artisphere, for a casual after-party. Hope to see you Thursday!

The Performers

CAITLIN BRODNICK is from Bethesda, MD, and now lives in NYC, performing with the storytelling team Mimsy and working with Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She has a BFA in Acting from Syracuse University. Her film work includes Step Up 3D, Happy New Year, and The Untitled Carter Smith Project. Her first showbiz experience was a Magnum P.I. commercial at age 3, and it changed her life.

R. DOUGLAS FIELDS is Chief of Nervous System Development and Plasticity at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (part of the NIH) and Adjunct Professor in the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program at University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Fields is a scientific advisor to Scientific American Mind and Odyssey, and author of the book The Other Brain.

BEN LILLIE a particle physicist from Corvallis, OR, has lived in NYC for 3 years. Co-founder of The Story Collider, he writes for TED.com by day and has performed stories by night for The LIAR Show, Mimsy, How I Learned…, TOLD, The Adam Wade from New Hampshire Show, Drawn Out Storytelling, Stories at the Creek, Storytelling at Perch, Campfire Stories, My Bad, and This Is Awkward.

CHUCK NA is a technology transfer professional working with government bioscience inventions. He earned a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and has professional experience as a teacher and in industry research and development and biotech operations. Chuck lives in Columbia, MD, with his wife and their pet hedgehog.

JASON PITTMAN, the National Science Teachers Association 2011 Early Educator of the Year, teaches at Hollin Meadows Science and Math Focus School in Alexandria, VA. He has performed stand-up at Vijai Nathan’s Fan-Freaking-Tastic and stories at SpeakeasyDC, and he was co-creator of and performed in the techno-comedy “e-Geaux (beta)” at 2011 Capital Fringe.

ADAM RUBEN is a molecular biologist who has appeared as a recurring guest expert on Food Network’s “Food Detectives,” writes the humor column “Experimental Error” for Science, and has performed for SpeakeasyDC, Story League, DC Improv, The Stoop, Mortified, Capital Fringe, and more. Adam is also the author of Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School.

GUY SCHAFFER is a science writer, cartoonist, and comic book scholar. He appears regularly on LiveScience.com, where he writes about modern research from the point of view of a (fictional) mad scientist. He’s just weeks away from starting a PhD program in Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York.

SUSANNA SPEIER is a Los Angeles-based journalist, blogger, and social media strategist published often in Scientific American and The Huffington Post, and she also writes feature film and television scripts. Susanna holds a BA from Hampshire College, an MFA from Brooklyn College – C.U.N.Y. and a post-graduate screenwriting certificate from Boston University.

PRODUCED BY SM SHRAKE AND BEN LILLIE