STORY TELLERS who have told at Louder Than Words in past shows:

         Ken Galipeau   www.storynsong.com

Ken Galipeau, a storyteller for over 13 years, and has been the featured storyteller at numerous Tellabrations in NJ. He has presented a storytelling program at theNJ Storytelling Festival for the last 11 Years. Ken is also a favorite festival, coffeehouse and concert performer. Ken performs for people of all ages and accompanies himself on guitar, drum, and piano and sings a cappella. In addition to telling traditional tales, he tells personal stories. Some of these stories are tradition tales reworked as personal tales placing them in actual settings in his life. This will be his first appearance at Louder Than Words...

           Melvin George -

"The King of Smooth! tall, lean, bespectacled and armed with a brazen sense of "cool." A trained actor and director, Melvin used his theatrical training as a member of "The Kitchen Table Comedy Team" in New York, making appearances at Carnegie Hall, The Village Gate and on several local TV shows. Melvin has appeared in concert with such celebrated artists as Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Roberta Flack, Patti LaBelle, The Commodores, The Temptations and The Four Tops. He has been seen in the films "Mo’ Better Blues" and "Meteor Man". Melvin also appeared on Fox’s "Comic Strip Live", A & E’s "An Evening at the Improv", "Caroline’s Comedy Hour" and HBO’s "Def Comedy Jam." This is his first appearance at "...Louder Than Words", and we are getting the best of the bargain.



Whipsuit is [are?]  Rick Horner and Cubby. They are fixtures of the Philadelphia Improv scene with a passion for doing great improv, and a habit of doing it together. They have performed together as members of Zombie Shark, Hypnotoad, andThe Cabal. It's a wonder that they can even stand each other, much less consistently deliver award-winning improv as Whipsuit. Fortunately, for grateful audiences everywhere, they do just that. This is their first time at …Louder Than Words, telling a real story about a real person. One will tell the story; the other will do monologues from characters in the story. Everything should work out real fine, as long as we leave them alone, let them do their jobs.

               Zoe Muntaner

The cover story in Our Town Downtown newspaper last April: "THE PLOT THICKENS, The Moth and its Offspring Have Stories to Tell" catches her eye and the omen is revelaed. Zoe reads the article, shows up at a Moth Slamat the Bitter End in NYC and begins telling her stories in January 2007. She recently founded DARE TO TELL, a not for profit organization whose mission is to encourage and assist young girls and women tell their stories about sexual assault, and help them activate their injured voice. Dare to tell... Care to listen!!! Zoe has been a regularly featured story teller at SpeakEasy Stories.


                Deborah B. Santucci             

Deborah has over ten years of storytelling experience. She has performed stories for children in schools, libraries, summer camps, scout meetings, Sunday schools, and birthday parties. She tells stories for adults in nursing homes, worship services, retreats, and women's gatherings. She is a former Sunday school teacher and Director of Religious Education for a New Jersey Episcopal Church. And she is a certified N.J. Substitute Teacher who taps into tales with values held in common by humankind.  This is her first time at ...Louder Than Words, ...and let's just hope that if she ever substitute taught when you were in her class, you treated her better than most substitute teachers are treated.


      Don Shuman

Don Shuman may not have been born in Flemington, but he’s had 77 years of living in the community. As a real estate broker for more than 60 years, he’s had a wealth of experience meeting people from all walks of life, ranging from Depression era have-nots to members of the Forbes 400. On the basis of a monthly appearance, Don says he has enough stories to last several years. Considering his age, it gives him a good reason to hang around for a long, long time.

               Julia Miller

Julia Miller is a writer and performer who comes from a long line of eloquent Irish discontents who sleep too late and drink too often to ever achieve their full potential.  By day, she makes her living as a corporate trainer; by night, she watches “Project Runway” and thinks about getting out of the house more often.  She has studied with Second City in NYC, performed with an improv group called “The Mulligans” at Arlene’s Grocery, and has recently performed stories at Stripped Stories, SpeakEasy Stories and stand-up at Comix and The Duplex.  She has a novel in progress called, “Don’t Tell My Mother I Told You This. This is her first time at Louder Than Words, and is always proud to cross the Hudson River.

  Noah Harlan

Noah Harlan is a story teller, author, Emmy-award winning filmmaker, producer and sometime liar. Films he has produced have appeared in Cannes, Berlin, Venice and MoMA among other places. He is a frequent storyteller and teaches filmmaking to kids. He co-authored "Mind Your Manners, Dick & Jane", a post-modern exploration of truth and meaning in a society without borders... no, that was a different book, this is a children's manners guide... which is available everywhere from Penguin. Noah describes himself as "a large farm-raised Jew."  He has told stories on stage with groups including SpeakEasy, Heeb and the LIAR show and is a Moth GrandSlam finalist.

             Martin Dockery

MARTIN DOCKERY has recently completed a run of his extemporaneous monologue Wanderlust at the Barrow Group in New York. He is a frequent performer in New York City’s storytelling scene, appearing on the stages of Speakeasy, Talkingstick, Mouthpiece, The Liar Show, and is a seven-time finalist in The Moth’s bi-annual Grandslam Storytelling Championship. He received his B.A. in English from Kenyon College and his M.F.A. in playwriting from Columbia University.

            Mr. Patrick


Having reached enlightenment at the age of 4, Mr. Patrick has been work to change the Cornerstone of Humanity towards Good, ever since.  He painted for 20 years communicating only through his paintings, reaching the highest levels of our civilizations thinkers.  He has been sought by World leaders, Religious Individuals and global humanitarian organizations for his advice, insight and comfort.  In 2002 the death of a dear friend brough out the storyteller waiting inside. His truth stories can be seen monthly in Talkingstick at the Rubin Museum of Art  along with his friend and co-founder of Talkingstick,Master Lee.  He is often on stage in Manhattan  clubs and underground theatres and television.


                 Jim Cyr

Jim Cyr has had a life-long fascination with the power of stories to change people’s lives. His passion for storytelling began when he heard a story that touched a deep hurt in his life and started him on an adventure toward wholeness.

Jim is a member of the National Storytelling Network, the Healing Storytelling Alliance, and the Network of Biblical Storytellers. He tells stories of healing, wisdom, and faith in performances and workshops for mental health organizations, churches, and community groups, to lead people on an adventure toward wholeness. He shares stories and reflections in a monthly newsletter and a two-time-per-week blog. His own story, The Cracked Pot: Finding Grace in the Cracks of Childhood Abuse, published by Aventine Press, is available on Amazon.com.

   Curtis Leeds

Curtis Leeds is the long standing radio host of Rock House on WDVR, the 'diversification' station of Hunterdon County. Every Friday morning between 9am and noon, Curtis can be heard with his wacky sense of humor spinning tunes  from the world of classic rock & roll, with a wide variety of themed musical sets. He is also an accomplished photographer, and covers news all over Hunterdon County for the Hunterdon County Democrat newspaper. As a reporter, he penned an award winning series on the Lindbergh Baby "Trial of Century" in the paper on a weekly basis. This is his first time at Louder Than Words stories.

  H.R. Britton

H.R. Britton has been performing in NYC for nearly a decade.  As a storyteller, he gravitates towards the anxiously humorous.  His most recent monologue, “Jesus Rant” is a series of serio-comic ravings from his religious upbringing.   “From Madison to Madurai” is a wide-eyed, yet wry look at his pilgrimage to India. His adaptation of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is conversational, and emphasizes levity over fright. 

BackStage calls him “[a]n engaging storyteller ... one honest, likable guy telling his story with unaffected simplicity.”  H.R. regularly attends and performs at Speakeasy, the Moth, and the Liar Show, and he hosts "Lower East Side Stories" at the Tenement Museum.  He’ll be performing “Jesus Rant” at this year’s Philly Fringe. 

   Bernie Libster

Stories nobody else tells, or would dare to...

Enter a world in which a transparent boy vanquishes a tyrant by the force of his goodness and a Roman soldier offers water to the dying Jesus and gets an eerie reward. Visit the ruins of ancient Sicilian civilizations immediately after 9/11, the cathedrals of Polaris, which are “taller than your giant redwoods,” and the Bardo, where the soul goes between lives. Wander the Sahara with the ghost of Alexander the Great and medieval Italy with the original followers of St. Francis of Assisi...

Bernie draws on his love of American popular song, his halting Italian and his sense of the absurd to enliven stories from this life, lives going back beyond antiquity, and people and other beings he has known and loved time and again.

Bernie is a regular featured teller at the NJ Storytelling Festival,  has appeared on NJ Cablevision, and once performed a 3-hour solo storytelling marathon at Montclair’s Luna Stage. He is actively seeking venues for his “magnum opus,” Tales from the North Star, about which Jay O’Callahan, arguably the greatest storyteller in the English language, comments, “This is wonderful, strange, marvelous work. The expanse frees the listener. I loved moving from time to time. It really has a freedom that opens something new inside me and I’m sure every listener.”  

     Alexandra DeSuze

Alexandra de Suze is tall and "ethnically ambiguous," but her commanding stage presence is primarily due to her raw talent. Whether she hits or misses with a particular song, you sit up and take notice because de Suze has got de Voice.

In her recent show at Mama Rose's, Following My Voice, de Suze took on a wide range of musical styles....she displayed a gift for jazz, singing "Embraceable You" in homage to Sarah Vaughan. And she showed off a Broadway-style belt in renditions of "Mama Will Provide" and "Brand New Day," the latter performed a cappella.

Classically trained, de Suze also dazzled with an aria from Carmen...a very talented newcomer....She not only has de Voice, she also has de Personality and the de Looks to make a name for herself. If all of that comes together, Alexandra de Suze could loom large.


                       

                     Brian Longwell

Brian Longwell has worked for years as a conventional stand up comedian before re-defining himself as a sort of "non-motivational, non-inspirational" speaker.  He has written and performed sketch comedy and has written and produced comedic plays. 

Besides the non-motivational “Why Work?”, he frequently presents his tutorial on the American political process titled “Is Dick Cheney Evil?” including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, the Boston Comedy Festival, the DC Comedy Festival, the NY Comedy Festival and the NY Underground Comedy Festival.


          Lana Epstein

Lana
is a sixteen year old high school student, who told a story for the very first time on June 12th at Louder Than Words, as a guest 'teller'.  She told of her experience taking her driving test in New Jersey---a daunting task for anyone, especially a sixteen year old. Professional story teller Martin Dockery said of Lana’s first attempt: “... Thanks for the invitation to Flemington. It was a good time. And I think you've got to give that 16yr old girl a slot of her own!” 

So,  we  took his professional advice, and invited her back to 'tell' yet again.

                MICHELE CARLO

Michele Carlo, (aka Carmen Mofongo) is a native New Yorker, a Nuyorican and a natural redhead. She performs her character-based comedy at venues too numerous and sometimes too torturous to mention. Michele has appeared in "It Came From New York", stories from native New Yorkers. She remembers when a slice of pizza cost 50 cents.

Ted Skolits

TED SKOLITS is a veteran of World War II, and has several great stories from more than a half century ago. He was in Joey Novick’s stand-comedy workshop through the Hunterdon Adult Ed program, and has a great sense of humor himself. This is his first time at Louder Than Words...

    RYAN BRITT

RYAN BRITT  has appeared at The Liar Show, The Moth Slam and at Speakeasy Stories. Since birth, Ryan Britt's best friend has been his imagination. Though she got him into a lot of trouble in grade school, Ryan' imagination remains the most loyal friend he has ever had...and this is his first time at Louder Than Words, too. Ryan has stories that have appeared on Nerve.com, Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, and Really Small Talk.

       Jay Nachman

Jay Nachman’s show “I’m Not Oedipus” was performed in May at during Emerging Artist Theatre’s One Man Talking series in New York.. The show premiered at the 2006 Philadelphia Fringe Festival and the Philadelphia City Paper wrote, “A guy talking about the death of his mother may sound like a downer, however, Jay Nachman manages to find gentle humor in it all. … Nachman digs into his deepest feelings in lighthearted fashion.”  The online publication the Broad Street Review called the show a “highlight” of the Festival, with the reviewer writing “Some good new productions were … Triangle Theater’s ‘I’m Not Oedipus,’ a reflection on death and sex written and performed by Jay Nachman.”
His previous show, “SWM, 45 …” premiered at the 2004 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. He is currently working on a new show, “My Dad is Now Ready for His Sponge Bath.


 
                           Kathryn
 Weidener

Kathryn has been telling tales all her life. Joining the profession of Storytellers has been an opportunity to read and retell great tales with a little embellishment of props and audience participation. School assemblies to assembled senior citizens, the young and the young at heart can join her with fables, folktales, legends and lore. A degree in Speech Communication led to careers in Social Work, Accounting, and Motherhood. Storytelling has been a side profession for 20 years with help from two growing sons and many thanks to our counties great libraries and librarians.