One of America’s most beloved radio shows, The Moth Mainstage features stories by luminaries in the arts and sciences, newsmakers and news breakers, and every day heroes (and even a few reformed villains).
Each Moth Mainstage show features five storytellers who develop and shape their stories with the Moth’s directors. Beyond a mere theatrical experience, The Moth is an ever-growing community where entertainment, enlightenment and festivity merge. The theme of the evening on June 2nd is “Fish Out of Water.”
The host for the evening will be Ophira Eisenberg. Ophira Eisenberg is a comedian, writer and host of NPR’s weekly comedy trivia show, Ask Me Another. Selected as one of New York Magazine’s “Top 10 Comics that Funny People Find Funny,” and featured in the New York Times as a skilled comedian and storyteller with a “bleakly stylish” sense of humor, Ophira has also appeared on The Late Late Show, Comedy Central, The Today Show, MSNBC, and more. Her debut memoir, Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy, was recently optioned for a feature film with Zucker Productions. She is a regular host and teller with The Moth.
There will be 5 story tellers during the show. Here is a sneak preview of 4 of them.
Cybele Abbett is a mother, grandmother, artist and humanist. Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, she has lived in Southern Oregon for the last 19 years. Last summer Ms. Abbett left her job as the executive director of a non-profit to pursue a life long dream to sail around the world with her consort Michael.
Pam Flowers is the author of Alone Across The Arctic: One Woman’s Epic Journey by Dog Team and Ordinary Dogs, Extraordinary Friendships: Stories of Loyalty, Courage, and Compassion. A former registered respiratory therapist, Pam has earned her living over the past twenty years as a public speaker and author. She has been a guest on dozens of radio and television programs across America including NPR’s 51%, appeared twice on ABC’s Good Morning America, spoken at the Smithsonian, the St Louis Science Center, written numerous magazine articles, and has spoken at over 1500 schools as a visiting author. Pam has crossed the arctic 2,500 miles alone by dog team, reached the Magnetic North Pole three times, completed the Iditarod Dog Sled Race, and thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail. She is the recipient of the Gold Medal from The Society of Woman Geographers. Pam is also the author of four children’s books. She currently lives near Talkeetna, Alaska with her black laborador Grace Greenwood (aka Gracie) where she is working on her next book How I Became A Team Player: The Memoir of a Reluctant Sled Dog.
Cole Kazdin is a writer, performer and four-time Emmy-winning television news producer living in Los Angeles. Her work has been published in the New York Times “Modern Love” column, Salon, and featured on NPR as part of The Moth Radio Hour. She has produced television for ABC News, HBO Documentaries and Discovery. She tells stories across the country with The Moth’s Mainstage and performs all over Los Angeles where she is a proud three-time Moth GrandSLAM champion. Cole has survived amnesia, living in New York City, and a very awkward interview with Kirk Cameron during which he told her she was going to hell. She has no regrets. www.colekazdin.com
Adam Mansbach is the author of the instant New York Times bestsellers Go the Fuck to Sleep and You Have to Fucking Eat. His latest novel, Rage is Back, was named a Best Book of 2013 by NPR and the San Francisco Chronicle and is currently being adapted for the stage; his previous novels include the California Book Award-winning The End of the Jews and the cult classic Angry Black White Boy. Mansbach is the recipient of a Reed Award, a Webby Award, and a Gold Pollie from the American Association of Political Consultants for his 2012 campaign video “Wake The Fuck Up,” starring Samuel L. Jackson. He was the 2009-11 New Voices Professor of Fiction at Rutgers University, a 2012 Sundance Screenwriting Lab Fellow, and a 2013 Berkeley Repertory Theater Writing Fellow, and will be the 2015 Artist in Residence at Stanford University’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, Esquire, The Believer, Salon.com, and on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. His middle grades novel, Benjamin Franklin: Huge Pain in my Ass, co-written with Alan Zweibel, will be published in September, and he is currently writing an original screenplay about a young Barack Obama for director Vikram Ghandi. He lives in Berkeley, California.
Vin Shambry grew up in Portland and after getting a degree in musical theater, he performed on Broadway and in several national tours before moving back to the Rose City. Locally, he has won a couple Drammy awards for his acting. In his day jobs, Vin works with youth as an acting coach, choreographer, and director. He is also a dedicated Blazer fan and a new dad.
