The Ark expands programming for 36th annual Storytelling Festival
The Ark’s annual Storytelling Festival expands to three days for 2023! With three varied and distinct shows over the February 24-26th weekend, there’s something for everyone at this year’s event.
Friday, February 24, 2023, 8:00pm
The Ark’s First Annual Liars Contest
Tickets: $10
Liars have been around since the snake first hit it off with Eve. By some accounts, contests celebrating liars have been around since the 15th century, but these accounts may be apocryphal. Today, liars contests are held in countries all around the globe, and The Ark is joining the fray with its First Annual Liars contest, which is part of the new and expanded 36th Annual Storytelling Festival. The event will feature six of the best liars in the region, each telling a ten-minute story and competing for highly valuable bragging rights, a crisp $100 bill, and a fabulous trophy for the winner! Each of our distinguished celebrity judges has a special relationship to the fine art of prevarication.
The Liars: Larry Castleberry, Jennifer Otto, Rich Swanson, Jeff Doyle, Genot Picor, Mike Cox
The Judges: Kathleen Daniels/Married to Jeff Daniels, a man who makes his living by pretending to be other people; Karl Fink/As a retired District Court judge, he spent most of his life listening to liars … and not just the attorneys; Christopher Taylor/Mayor of Ann Arbor, a politician—need we say more?
Our Friday night MC is The Moth’s Amir Baghdadchi. Amir Baghdadchi is a writer and director. So far, he’s failed at nearly every other job he’s put his hand to, including paper boy, oyster shucker, scholar of antiquity, parade leprechaun, personal chef, résumé fixer, and candidate for public office. Hosting Moth events (and we hope liars contests) is something he has not failed at! His latest work is always at amirforamerica.com.
Saturday, February 25, 2023, 8:00pm
Traditional storytelling from Bill Harley, Sheila Arnold, and Steve Daut.
Tickets: $30
Bill Harley is a songwriter and storyteller whose commentaries have been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and he has long been a favorite on the Ark stage. He’s equally at home performing for adults and for families, and a refreshing breath of fantasy is just around the corner in everything he does. Tonight Bill performs a special one-man show, appearing in character as a figure from a story by wilderness advocate John Muir, called “Stickeen.” One of the great tales of the American wilderness, the story recounts Muir’s adventures in Alaska with a brave, curious little dog. The performance will be followed by a Q&A.
Sheila Arnold brings stories, historic individuals, new ideas, new perspectives and old knowledge to schools, libraries, professional organizations, museums and churches.
Sheila Arnold has a talent for storytelling, a passion for history, and compassion for people.
She is co-founder and Artistic Director of Artists Standing Strong Together (ASST) a source of
inspiration, strength and action in the storytelling and artists world. Sheila has been honored as a 2021 MacDowell Artist Fellow, a 2020 Mt. Vernon Research Fellow and a 2019 Hewnoaks
Artist Colony summer residence Noted Artist. We are excited to welcome her for her first appearance at The Ark’s Storytelling Festival.
Steve Daut serves as our MC for the Saturday evening show and will also contribute some engaging storytelling of his own. Steve is well known to Michigan audiences for his adaptations of the stories of Mark Twain to the storytelling medium. He is a champion of the art of storytelling, and a longtime active member of the Ann Arbor Storytellers Guild.
Sunday, February 26, 2023, 1:00pm
Family Show
Tickets: $15 adults; $10 kids
Sunday’s matinee show will feature tellers from the Saturday program in a show for families. Tickets are on sale Friday, October 7 at 10am for all three events of The Ark’s 36th Annual Storytelling Festival. Visit theark.org for more.
About The Ark
Considered one of the top music clubs in the world, The Ark is renowned for the quality and breadth of its programming. The Ark is an intimate 400-seat club presenting performers who fall into the wide-ranging genres of folk and roots music. The Ark, now in its 57th year, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the enrichment of the human spirit through the presentation, preservation and encouragement of folk, roots and ethnic music and related arts. The Ark provides a welcoming atmosphere for all people to listen to, learn about, perform and share music. Visit our website.
