The Story Collider Celebrates Eight Years of Science Stories

The Story Collider celebrates eight years of science stories, hosted by Erin Barker and Ed Yong, and featuring Dr. Jo Handelsman, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, and Josh Gondelman, only at Caveat 21 A Clinton Street, Manhattan. Doors open at 7:00pm.

The Story Collider, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing true, personal stories about science, will celebrate its eighth anniversary with its first ever fundraising event on May 1 at Caveat in New York City, featuring special guests Arielle Duhaime-Ross (VICE journalist), Josh Gondelman (Emmy-winning comedian, Last Week Tonight), and Jo Handelsman (associate director for science and technology policy under President Obama).

The Story Collider believes everyone has a story about science -- whether they're physicists or comedians, neuroscientists or writers, geologists or cops, doctors or bartenders -- and that those stories, whether heartbreaking or hilarious, have the power to transform the way we think about science and whom it belongs to. Since its first show in New York in 2010, The Story Collider has expanded to produce regular shows in eight other cities, from Atlanta to Wellington, New Zealand, and has partnered with dozens of publishers, scientific conferences, and universities, to produce one-off shows in places around the world.

With this fundraiser, The Story Collider hopes to raise money to find and elevate more voices and perspectives about science by answering demand for shows in new regions of the United States and the United Kingdom. "What we're doing is quietly radical," say Liz Neeley, executive director of The Story Collider. "Within science, there are powerful conventions about who gets to be on stage, what they are allowed to talk about, and how. Our shows are deliberately inclusive and intentionally emotional. It feels magical. Best of all? We have data about why and how that magic works."

The evening will be hosted by Ed Yong, science writer for The Atlantic and New York Times-bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes, as well as The Story Collider's artistic director, Erin Barker, an accomplished storyteller whose work has appeared on The Moth Radio Hour and in the New York Times-bestselling book The Moth: 50 True Stories. Reflective of The Story Collider's usual variety, the event's featured guests will share stories that range from heartbreaking to hilarious. Comedian Josh Gondelman will share a story about reviewing a sexual enhancement product for New York Magazine, while scientist Jo Handelsman will take the audience inside her experience working in the Obama White House.

Everyone is invited to come savor these performances along with imaginative small plates, sparkling libations, and spirited conversation! Tickets, which are on sale now at storycollider.org starting at $150-$300, include all food and beverages for the evening. The celebration begins at 7 pm at Caveat (21A Clinton Street) on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Dr. Jo Handelsman is currently the Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as a Vilas Research Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. Previously, she served President Obama for three years as the Associate Director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She received her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Molecular Biology and has served on the faculties of UW-Madison and Yale University. Dr. Handelsman has authored over 100 papers, 30 editorials and 5 books. She is responsible for groundbreaking studies in microbiology and gender in science.

Arielle Duhaime-Ross is the environment and climate correspondent for VICE News Tonight - the Emmy award-winning nightly newscast from VICE Media and HBO. Prior to joining VICE, she was a science reporter at The Verge, where she was granted the 2015 Herb Lampert Science in Society Emerging Journalist award for her coverage of a radical 1950s scientist who suggested memory could be stored outside the brain. Duhaime-Ross has previously written for Scientific American, Nature Medicine, The Atlantic, and Quartz. Originally from Canada, she has a bachelor's in zoology and a master's in science, health, and environmental reporting.

Josh Gondelman is a writer and comedian who incubated in Boston before moving to New York City, where he currently lives and works as a writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. In 2016, he made his late night standup debut on Conan (TBS), and he recently made his network tv debut on Late Night With Seth Meyers (NBC). Josh's newest comedy album Physical Whisper debuted in March of 2016 at #1 on the iTunes comedy charts (as well as #4 on the Billboard comedy chart) and stayed there for...well ... longer than he expected, honestly. Offstage, Josh has earned a Peabody Award, two Emmy awards, and a WGA Award for his work on Last Week Tonight. He is also the co-author (along with Joe Berkowitz) of the book You Blew It, published October 2015 by Plume. His follow-up, Nice Try, is set to come out Fall 2019 through Harper Perennial. His writing has also appeared in prestigious publications such as McSweeney's Internet Tendency, New York Magazine, and The New Yorker.

The Story Collider is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to true, personal stories about science. Since 2010, we have been working with storytellers from both inside and outside science to develop these stories, and we share them through our weekly podcast and our live shows around the world. Every year, we produce between 40 and 50 live events featuring more than 200 stories in total, and we share over a hundred of these stories on our podcast, which has been downloaded more than 9 million times and has featured MacArthur Fellows, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, Emmy-winning writers, bestselling authors, and comedians such as Wyatt Cenac, Aparna Nancherla, and Mara Wilson. We also use what we've learned about science and stories to teach scientists to use narrative in our university and corporate workshop program.

Caveat is New York's newest speakeasy stage for playful, intelligent nightlife. The core creative team includes a recovering theoretical physicist, a renegade museum tour guide, and a one-time Moth StorySlam champion. That love for science and unconventional storytelling is at the heart of Caveat's booking philosophy: Caveat regularly hosts comedy, science talks, storytelling, concerts, trivia competitions, live recorded podcasts, and special events that defy description ... you'll have to come experience them for yourself! The decor is Harvard Club meets CBGB - the wood paneled walls and shelves hold images, artifacts and books from all corners of the academic world. Caveat seats about 120, with cabaret style tables, armchairs and bar stools. The venue was created with podcasting and filming in mind with a state-of-the art light and sound system. The bar serves ten craft beers on tap, ten wines by the glass and by the bottle, a selection of ciders and digestifs, and some truly tasty specialty sodas. Caveat is finalizing a menu but are currently serving imaginative grilled cheeses, charcuterie plates, spiced nuts, chocolate and popcorn. Check out the menu for all the details.

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