Westport Country Playhouse will present The Moth Mainstage, featuring five storytellers sharing true, personal stories from their lives on the theme, The Ties That Bind: The Moth in Westport, for one-night-only, Friday, January 25, at 7:30 p.m. Among the storytellers are Westport residents Jane Green, New York Times best-selling author; and Dan Woog, Westport blogger. Others are Alistair Bane, Henia Lewin, and Trina Michelle Robinson. The evening's host is Dame Wilburn, a poet, storyteller, and writer, and former Moth GrandSLAM champion. Director is Meg Bowles; producer is Michelle Jalowski.
The Moth is a non-profit dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Since launching in 1997, The Moth has presented over 35,000 true personal stories, told live, without notes, to standing-room-only audiences around the globe. Renowned for showcasing a broad range of human experiences, The Moth produces approximately 600 live shows each year and has an ongoing presence in 29 cities worldwide.
The Moth has published two critically acclaimed books international bestseller The Moth: 50 True Stories (2013), and All These Wonders: True Stories about Facing the Unknown (2017). Its third book, Occasional Magic: True Stories of Defying the Impossible, will be released in spring 2019.
Additionally, The Moth runs storytelling workshops for high school students and adults through its Education and Community Programs, and MothWorks translates essential storytelling elements for corporate clients.
Storytellers for The Ties That Bind: The Moth in Westport :
Alistair Bane, a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Nation of Oklahoma, currently resides in Denver, Colorado. Besides being a storyteller, he is also a visual artist. He makes dance regalia, quilts, and paints. In 2016 he was a resident artist for the Denver Art Museum's Native American Arts Program. In his spare time, he rehabilitates feral rez dogs.
Jane Green, of Westport, Connecticut, is the author of 19 novels, 17 of which have been New York Times bestsellers. Three of her books have recently been made into movies by Lifetime, out in 2019. A former journalist in the UK, she contributes to various publications, both online and print, and has a weekly column in England's The Lady magazine.
Henia Lewin, born in Lithuania, earned a master's degree from the University of Vermont, where she became an instructor of Hebrew and Yiddish, and Hillel director. In 1997 she received a Covenant Award as an Outstanding Jewish Educator in North America. Lewin speaks regularly on surviving the Holocaust, and is a facilitator for memoir writing with Five College Learning in Retirement.
Trina Michelle Robinson, based in San Francisco, explores memory through video, archival materials, and text. Her video essay The Call has been exhibited in New York and the Bay Area. Her work has also screened at the Museum of the Moving Image during the Queens World Film Festival. She has worked as a drama and spoken word poetry teaching artist at New York's Women's Project and Productions.
Dan Woog is a lifelong Westporter and a graduate of Brown University. A fulltime freelance writer and the founder of the very popular 06880 blog, he has written 17 books. His work has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, and Sports Illustrated. He is also the head coach of the Staples High School boys soccer program.
Tickets are $40 and $45. The performance runs approximately two hours with 15-minute intermission, and is appropriate for ages 16 and up.
For more information or tickets, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), or view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).
ABOUT Westport Country Playhouse
The mission of Westport Country Playhouse is to enrich, enlighten, and engage the community through the power of professionally produced theater worth talking about and the welcoming experience of the Playhouse campus. The not-for-profit Playhouse provides this experience in multiple ways by offering live theater experiences of the highest quality, under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos; educational and community engagement events to further explore the work on stage; the New Works Circle Initiative, a program dedicated to the discovery, development, and production of new live theatrical works; special performances and programs for students and teachers with extensive curriculum support material; Script in Hand play readings to deepen relationships with audiences and artists; the renowned Woodward Internship Program during the summer months for aspiring theater professionals; Family Festivities presentations to delight young and old alike and to promote reading through live theater; youth performance training through Broadway Method Academy, Westport Country Playhouse's resident conservatory program; and the beautiful and historic Playhouse campus open for enjoyment and community events year-round.
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