What to See at the 15th First Person Arts Festival
Nimisha Ladva will perform Uninvited Girl: An Immigrant Story on November 15th. Photo by Jen Cleary
You’re out of luck if you don’t already have tickets to Friday’s sold-out “i found god in myself,” a conversation with award-winning playwright and poet Ntozake Shange. And next week’s All Star Slam is sold out too. But don’t despair: There are other plenty of other storytellers you won’t want to miss in this year’s First Person Arts Festival.
It’s the 15th year for the festival, which blends the storytelling chops First Person Arts is known for with dance, theater, comedy and film. Also, puppets.
Tonight, Jennifer Teege reads from her bestselling memoir, My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me, at the National Museum of American Jewish History. Teege, who’s black and German, discovered by accident that her grandfather was Nazi commandant Amon Goeth (portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List). There will be a discussion afterward led by Stephanie Renee of WURD.
Comedian Dave Hill does a stand-up/storytelling mix at Christ Church Neighborhood House on Friday, November 11th, drawing from his second collection of essays, Dave Hill Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. This one is marked “mature.”
On Saturday there’s a free performance at WHYY: In A Letter to My Father / A Letter to My Son, “males of color share deeply personal letters addressed to their sons, fathers, father figures, and mentees.”
Author Nimisha Ladva tells her tale in Uninvited Girl: An Immigrant Story, at Christ Church Neighborhood House on Tuesday, November 15th.
On November 16th and 17th, puppeteer and political satirist Paul Zaloom performs White Like Me: A Honky Dory Puppet Show, which follows White Man as he lands on Earth, becomes its savior, and has a problem adapting to “his approaching minority status.” It’s also at Christ Church Neighborhood House.
The festival runs through November 19th. Tickets and details on all the events are here.
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