RSVP only required for the March 15 Storytelling Event. Please RSVP for Part One or Part Two of the evening.
Location: Vanda Gallery, 379 Huguenot St, New Rochelle, NY 10801
5pm-5:30pm - Opening Reception
PART ONE: 5:30pm - 6:15pm - Readings by Ava Drutman, Jill Casey Drum, Barbara Worton, Ivy Eisenberg and Carol Krinsky
6:15pm - 6:35pm - Intermission & Reception
PART TWO: 6:35pm - 7:25pm - Dance performances by Grace Deane & Claire Deane and readings by Caroline Reddy, Ernestine Colombo and Christie Derrico
7:30pm-8pm - Closing Reception
In celebration of International Women's Day (IWD) 2024, we have been invited to curate a Storytelling show at Vanda Gallery located at 379 Huguenot Street in New Rochelle on Friday, March 15th at 6pm-8pm.
The first International Women's Day was held in March of 1911, and in its more than a century of history, has evolved into a day, actually a month, of collective global activism and celebration of those who have paved the way thus far and those who continue to fight for women's equality. The IWD theme for 2024 is: INSPIRE INCLUSION. Appropriately, the mission at woman owned Vanda Gallery is to cultivate an inclusive space that celebrates diverse artistic voices.
Featured Storytellers:
Caroline Reddy’s work has appeared in Active Muse, Calliope, CulturalDaily, Ghost City Press, Grey Sparrow, Starline, and Tupelo Quarterly Review among others. In the fall of 2021, her poem “A Sacred Dance'' was nominated for the Best of The Net prize by Active Muse. A native of Shiraz, Iran, Caroline’s work has also appeared in the anthology Iranian Women Speak to raise awareness for ZanZendegiAzadi/WomenLifeFreedom (International Human Rights Arts Festival.) Her first manuscript Shake the Atmosphere to Reclaim an Empty Moment has been published by Pierian Springs Press. For more information please visit her website: https://www.carolinereddy.com/
Barbara Worton is an author, poet, playwright, songwriter and blogger. She is the author of Bedtime Stories: The Short, Long and Tall Tales of a Sleepwriter, Too Tall Alice and “London Calling.” She co-authored If I’m Talking, Why Aren’t You Listening? with Linda Dini Jenkins and The Adventures of The Baker’s Daughter with Rochelle Udell. Her story "The Fabric of Life" was published in the Fall 2023 Ovunque Siamo. Paterson Literary Review is publishing her stories, "Sunday Sauce" and "Pre-Wedding Nerves" in Spring 2024. Her writing has appeared in literary, women’s service and business publications. Surviving on LES, an independent film she worked on as Associate Producer, won the Bowery Film Festival’s Feature Film Award, and the Chelsea Film Festival’s Audience Feature Film Award.
Jill Drum is excited to return to her passion of writing. She is a teacher, docent, poet, political activist, student, traveler, reader, singer, gardener, friend, mother, wife, kayaking cat person who is always searching for a new adventure. If you have one, contact her at jillcdrum@yahoo.com.
Ava Drutman is an English professor who has coached young writers for more than twenty-five years. She is a veteran writer of text books and recently started writing stories focusing on the women who raised their children in the 1950’s. As a child who grew up in that era, Ava felt their loneliness and alienation and was disturbed by the inequality between men and women, compelling her to tell their stories.
Ivy Eisenberg is an award-winning humor writer, Moth StorySLAM winning storyteller and comedian, who performs throughout the Greater NYC area and Washington, DC. She has appeared in PBS’s Stories from the Stage, She Makes Me Laugh Comedy Festival, Generation Women, and several other shows. Ivy has written and performed two full-length solo shows: Loud, Large, and Funny, a musical about a surprise layoff at 56 years old, and You Would Cry Too, a show about her chubby, sweet, sad, funny childhood, set against the backdrop of the 60s to 70s . By day, Ivy runs an IT and Innovation Consultancy, Our IdeaWorks, LLC.
Ernestine Colombo is a writer currently living in a suburb of New York City with her partner and their two cats. She is currently focused on writing short non-fiction stories and poetry, possibly to be gathered into a book-length presentation. When she's not writing, she spends a lot of time working in her garden, enjoying the first crocus and snowdrops of spring, and keeping an eye out for the hummingbirds to stop by for their first sips of nectar.
Christie Derrico is a writer, podcaster and established Westchester attorney. She is pursuing an MA in literature at Bread Loaf School of English (projected graduation summer 2024). She is working on the final edits of her novel, A GLEANER OF TIME, a historical fiction work with a time travel time twist, best described as Jane Eyre meets The Time Traveler's Wife. The work was inspired by her great-grandmother, Alberta Meally, a lifelong New Yorker who hid a secret past where she was committed to the Sister of the Good Shepherd reformatory--Alberta was a woman who inspired and loved all, especially abandoned children in need of love and a home.
Carol Krinsky lives in New Rochelle in the house she grew up in since 3rd grade. She is a writer, yoga enthusiast, cook who loves to entertain, and world traveler. She is a devoted mother to her two grown sons, Mitch who lives in Florida, and Paul who lives in Boston and a loving, caring friend and mentor to many. "I have a full life, and I’m grateful to be able to be here," is Carol's mantra.
Dance Performers:
Grace Deane is a dancer, artist, and teacher based in New York City. She grew up in New Rochelle, New York, surrounded by a family of dancers. At the University of Wisconsin in Madison Grace started to make work using dance and text as the primary medium. For Grace, the need to communicate through art led her to dance. She is a certified Pilates instructor and holds a BS in Dance and Mathematics (UW-Madison) as well as MA in Dance Education (CUNY Hunter). Grace is currently a dance teacher at the Theater Arts Production Company in the Bronx.
Claire Deane, from New Rochelle, New York, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Purchase College, SUNY with a BFA in Dance Performance. Claire co-founded A-Y/dancers, a professional modern repertory company based in Beacon, NY, in 2017, and became Artistic Director in 2021. With A-Y, she has performed work by Merce Cunningham, José Limón, Doug Varone, and Hannah Garner, and presented a full length premiere by Skyla Schreter featuring dancers of New York City Ballet. Claire has appeared as a solo dance artist in performances curated by Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, iHeartDance NYC, Made By Women Festival at Arts on Site in New York City, and the Durang Dance Collective in Lancaster, PA, among others. Claire has served on faculty at the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY, Vassar College, and Ballet Arts Studio in Beacon, NY.
RSVP only required for the March 15 Storytelling Event. Please RSVP for Part One or Part Two of the evening.