Okay, I'm going to be honest with you, we're still putting the lineup together - but Benjamin Wachs and Scott Lambridis give you their personal assurance, their words of honor, that this is gonna be great. We're talking with some people ... a publishing partner ... oh man, this is esciting. But we can't say yet.
It's all in Scott's little notebook.
Scott? You wanna come out and play?
But the point is: Thursday, June 25. Action Fiction! happens. Literary magic happens.
Where? At the San Francisco Institute of Possibility:
3359 Cesar Chavez St
(Just blocks from 24th street BART, between Van Ness Ave & Mission St)
Be there, or spend the remainder of your days hearing other people tell stories about what happened.
You've demanded literary excellence, and we resisted. We pushed back. "We are not monkeys who dance for your amusement!" we cried. "We will only return when we have something so extraordinary to say that the moon dips closer to the Earth and the mountains tremble to hear it!"
That time has come. Litquake 2014. 7:15 - 8:15. Oh it's on.
Join favorite writers Ben Black, Scott Lambridis, Sara Marinelli, Sommer Schafer, and Benjamin Wachs along with a cast of actors so exciting they are a leading cause of hypertension, as amazing stories are read by incredible performers in an outdoor setting so quirky they could only call it "Deepistan National Parklet." For real. It's all for real. We write fiction, but ony if its made of hard bedrock truth. Truths that will withstand an earthquake, and outlast the seas.
Those details again:
Action Fiction! (at Litquake)
Saturday, Oct. 18
7:14 - 8:15 pm
Deepistan National Parklet (in front of 937 Valencia)
San Francisco, CA
Truth
This event is free of charge.
We always start on time.
Join us, won't you? It might not change your life, but your month will be utterly transformed.
Featured writers and performers:
Ben Black, performed by Margarita Galindo
Scott Lambridis, performed by Sara Renauer
Sara Marinelli, performed by Dana Jakobson and Meghan Rutigliano
Sommer Schafer, performed by Sara Judge and Jen Terry
Benjamin Wachs, performed by Gray and Ian Paterson
But why?
Let's admit it: great writers are not always great performers. Great writing should be as passionate and engaging when read publicly as it is on the page. Readings should feel like war and love happening in front of you, not a museum exhibit. The Omnibucket Performance Academy believes that by providing compelling performances of original voices in extraordinary settings will create an aesthetic experience unlike any currently offered in San Francisco.
Watch videos from last year's LitCrawl event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_an_GLHq3wo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfzsxmD37Vc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g2gWmPVWe4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yww8eRj-mcA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx9_VNO9P00
For the full LitCrawl schedule go here: http://litcrawl.org/sf
Join the official Lit Crawl Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/LitCrawlSF
On Crawl night, there will be live Tweeting. Join in at #litcrawl2014.
Action Fiction! is presented by The Omnibucket Performance Academy - where readings become performances.
Two years of Action Fiction! means two things:
1) There will be Literary Magic;
2) There will be cake! CAKE! You know we don't lie.
Two years ago we invited an extraordinary group of writers and actors together to make something magical happen. Ten packed shows in four amazing venues later, it's time for another celebration! Cake, literature, acting - all curated by the twisted minds behind Omnibucket, Fiction365, and the San Francisco Writer's Community. So join us at the Chez Poulet on March 6, 7-9 p.m., for our 2nd anniversary show.
WHEN: Thursday, March 6, 7-9 p.m.
WHERE: Chez Poulet
3359 Cesar Chavez St
(Just blocks from 24th street BART, between Van Ness Ave & Mission St)
San Francisco
This event is free of charge.
We always start on time.
Featured writers (featured performers TBD):
Nona Caspers
Beth Hersh
Mũthoni Kiarie
John Haggerty
Shruti Swamy
Benjamin Wachs
But why?
Let's admit it: great writers are not always great performers. Great writing should be as passionate and engaging when read publicly as it is on the page. Readings should feel like war and love happening in front of you, not a museum exhibit. The Omnibucket Performance Academy believes that by providing compelling performances of original voices in extraordinary settings will create an aesthetic experience unlike any currently offered in San Francisco.
Action Fiction! is presented by The Omnibucket Performance Academy - where readings become performances - a partnership between Omnibucket.com, SanFranciscoWritersCommunity.com, Fiction365.com, and Madlab Theatre.
It's dark outside. It's cold. Only one thing can save us now: literary magic!
Come to our final show of the year. It will change your life.
Have we ever let you down before?
Details:
WHAT: Action Fiction!
WHEN: December 12, 7-9 p.m.
WHERE: the Chez Poulet
3359 Cesar Chavez St
(Just blocks from 24th street BART, between Van Ness Ave & Mission St)
San Francisco
This event is free of charge.
We always start on time.
Featured writers and performers:
Katrin Arefy, performed by Gray
Naomi Goldner, performed by Gillian Eichenberger
Kevin Halleran, performed by Robert Thomas
Amy Payne, performed by Margarita Galindo
Sommer Schafer-AuYeung, performed by judy b.
Olga Zilberbourg, performed by Mantra Plonsey
Salvatore Zoida, performed by Dana Jakobson and Jen Terry
Mmmmmmm ... that's good details!
But why?
Let's admit it: great writers are not always great performers. Great writing should be as passionate and engaging when read publicly as it is on the page. Readings should feel like war and love happening in front of you, not a museum exhibit. The Omnibucket Performance Academy believes that by providing compelling performances of original voices in extraordinary settings will create an aesthetic experience unlike any currently offered in San Francisco.
Action Fiction! is presented by The Omnibucket Performance Academy - where readings become performances - a partnership between Omnibucket.com, SanFranciscoWritersCommunity.com, Fiction365.com, and Madlab Theatre.
That's right, Action Fiction! will be in the 3rd leg of LitCrawl, the rowdiest most literariest and bar hoppinest final hour of LitQuake, and we'll make sure to close it down our way.
It'll be short, sweet, and intense, so we're putting together a line-up of founders, favorites and regulars.
When/Where?
LitCrawl, Phase 3
Saturday, October 19, 8:30 - 9:30pm.
La Movida, 3066 24th St @ Treat (http://www.yelp.com/biz/la-movida-wine-bar-and-community-kitchen-san-fra...)
This event is free of charge.
We always start on time.
Featured writers and performers:
W. Ross Ayers, performed by Jimmy Cross and Jim Lynch
Gabriel Bellman, performed by Robert Thomas and Brooke Lichtenthaler
Scott Lambridis, performed by Gray
Eric Myers, performed by Jen Terry
Benjamin Wachs, performed by judy b. and Dana Jakobson
But why?
Let's admit it: great writers are not always great performers. Great writing should be as passionate and engaging when read publicly as it is on the page. Readings should feel like war and love happening in front of you, not a museum exhibit. The Omnibucket Performance Academy believes that by providing compelling performances of original voices in extraordinary settings will create an aesthetic experience unlike any currently offered in San Francisco.
Action Fiction! is presented by The Omnibucket Performance Academy - where readings become performances - a partnership between Omnibucket.com, SanFranciscoWritersCommunity.com, Fiction365.com, and Madlab Theatre.
See past performances at http://omnibucket.com/omnibucket-events
For the full LitCrawl schedule go here: http://litcrawl.org/sf
Join the official Lit Crawl Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/LitCrawlSF
On Crawl night, there will be live Tweeting. Join in at #litcrawl2013.
You can't say we didn't warn you.
We TOLD you our last show, featuring our first ever performed screenplay, would be awesome. We WARNED you!
Think we can top that? We do. We think our next show is going to be even better.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Details
Thursday, July 25th, 7-9pm.
Chez Poulet, 3359 Cesar Chavez Street @ Mission (http://www.yelp.com/biz/chez-poulet-san-francisco)
This event is free of charge.
We always start on time.
Featured writers and performers:
Terry Bisson, performed by Robert Thomas and Mantra Plonsey
Sarah Broderick, performed by Caroline Scippa
Maxine Chernoff, performed by Dana Jakobson
Scott Lambridis, performed by Gray Performs and Anthony Villafuete
Marco Lean, performed by Marica Petrey
Simon Rogghe, performed by Gillian Eichenberger
Benjamin Wachs, performed by Andie Grace
But why?
Let's admit it: great writers are not always great performers. Great writing should be as passionate and engaging when read publicly as it is on the page. Readings should feel like war and love happening in front of you, not a museum exhibit. The Omnibucket Performance Academy believes that by providing compelling performances of original voices in extraordinary settings will create an aesthetic experience unlike any currently offered in San Francisco.
So come join us again in this unique arts space in the Mission. For years the Chez Poulet has been a home of underground events in San Francisco, and the local home for a range of traveling artists from around the world. A converted warehouse that hosts epic parties, gallery exhibitions, live events ranging from concerts to puppet shows, and even a radio station, it is a center of innovative performance.
We were back at Chez Poulet on Thursday, June 6th, and for the first time, in addition to great fiction read by great actors, a short screenplay was performed! And it was fantastic. We love thinking of ways to surprise and delight you!
Here's a sample of the word on the street:
'Last night was my first Action Fiction 'happening' and I am happy to report that it surpassed my expectations. It's the real McCoy. My intention is to be a regular. My hat's off to the organizers."
- Leo Maselli, San Francisco Writers Community
Unfortunately we weren't able to record this event. Those who attended - consider your experience a precious secret!
But you can still check out the full list of author and performer bios: omnibucket.com/playbill-2013-06-06
Performances
"The Woman Next Door” by Laurie Ann Doyle
> performed by Gillian Eichenberger
Story scheduled for publication in 2014 by Midway Journal.
"Babette” by Gabriel Leif Bellman
> performed by Jen Terry
Read it here.
"The Shift” by Mary Kalin-Casey
> performed by judy b.
Story coming soon...
Scenes from "A Stranger in Barcelona” by Bobby Bell
> performed by Jimmy Cross, Robert Thomas, and Jim Lynch
Read it here.
"Woodcutter's Wife” by Ben Black
> performed by Caroline Scippa
Read about it here.
"The Visit” by Cary Tennis
> performed by Sara Renauer
Read it here.
"Do you really want to know what happened to my eye?” by Colleen McKee
> performed by Mantra Plonsey
Read it here.
Just over a year ago we invited an extraordinary group of writers and actors together to make something magical happen. The result was five packed shows, in three amazing venues, over 12 months. This time, we celebrated by kicking it up a notch. And it was a smash.
On Thursday, March 14, Action Fiction! rode again, with a show that felt like thunder and lightning. Haunting Irish chants, Russian songs of love, synchronized swimming without a pool? Check check check. Also, there was cake. CAKE! Cake, literature, free wine, acting - all curated by the twisted minds behind Omnibucket, Fiction365, and the San Francisco Writer's Community.
Thanks to all the performers, writers, and an extraordinary audience for making this our most successful Action Fiction! yet. The place was packed, the cake was awesome, and the performances were extraordinary!
There are six videos for six performances. Sorry, we didn’t video the cake. Our bad.
Full list of author and performer bios available at: omnibucket.com/playbill-2013-03-14
Special thanks to Orin Zebest for videography!
Performances
"The False Knight Upon the Road” by Benjamin Wachs
> performed by Sara Renauer, Jimmey Cross, and Benjamin Wachs
Story coming soon...
“Owl Tree” by Ian Tuttle
> performed by Gillian Eichenberger and Robert Thomas
Story coming soon...
“The Goldfish’s Memory” by Katrin Arefy
> performed by Jen Terry
Story coming soon...
“Argentina Love” by Zarina Zabrisky
> performed by Meghan Rutigliano and Dana Jakobson
Story coming soon...
“Wrestler” by Shruti Swamy
> performed by Anthony Villafuete
Story coming soon...
“Soloist” by Julia Halprin Jackson
> performed by Gray
Story coming soon...
Author bios and playbill available at omnibucket.com/playbill-2013-03-14
We love you all, really, we do. Performers, writers, audience. You make this seem so easy. Thanks for another successful Action Fiction!. A game of spin the bottle between drunk underage latina girls? Yep. A hunchbacked old lady recalling a gunshot in France? You betcha. A pair of cannibals perusing a menu on a first date? That too. And Robert Thomas in dark goggles, straight-faced. Oh man I want it all again again...
FYI, we're working on tracking down the videos. In the meantime...
Chez Poulet has been a home of underground events in San Francisco for years, and the local home for a range of traveling artists from around the world. A converted warehouse that hosts epic parties, gallery exhibitions, live events ranging from concerts to puppet shows, and even a radio station, it is a center of innovative performance.
Performances
"Try My Shank" by Kenton Yee
> performed by Stephen Frothingham and Charlotte Speck
Try My Shank first appeared in PANK Magazine (May 2012).
You’ve been one-legged since the lasso trap. Your personal ad says “Kids: undecided” even though you desperately want two. When the maître d’ shows you to your blind date’s table, you are pleased with her prominent forehead and symmetric face. She has potential... Continue reading >
"Photographed in Drag" by Salvatore Zoida
> performed by Robert Thomas
“Photographed in Drag” was published in Writers’ Bloc.
That I was six years old and in the company of my father, whose inapproachability was increased by certain spatial proximities such as that which our weekly drive to the old-age home involved, with me seated next to him, silently counting the telephone poles flitting by... Continue reading >
"Milagros in the Bathroom" by Juliana Delgado
> performed by Margarita Galindo and Jen Terry
“Milagros, la verdad ó te atreves?”
“Truth”
“Did you make-out with the panadero on Monday?”
We all giggle. Rumor has it that half of the seventh grade has been fingered by the baker during recess behind the basketball court. Rumor also has it.... Continue reading >
"Mice on Fire" by Eric Myers
> performed by Sara Judge
The ants always burned too quickly for their adolescent pleasure. The three of them would spend weeks building the miniature metropolis in Sam’s back yard, and it was all over in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t fair. Or fulfilling. It would have to change. Continue reading >
"Rue Benoit Bunico: Night" by Scott Lambridis
> performed by Gray
Every night, around four in the morning, on the rue Benoit Bunico in Nice, there is a shouting match between a man and a woman and though they are not always the same man and woman the shouting match always ends with a gunshot. The man is the one clapping and laughing... Continue reading >
"Survivors" by Olga Zilberbourg
> performed by Sara Renauer, Anthony Villafuerte, and Jimmey Cross
"Survivors first appeared in Eleven Eleven.
A methane explosion sealed a coal mine, killing many and leaving seventeen miners trapped underground. They would be able to survive for six weeks on daily rations of two spoonfuls of canned beef, one biscuit, and vodka. They waited for communication from the surface, but so far none had come. After three weeks, a downward hole opened up just a few steps away from the miners’ shelter. It seemed to be filled with breathable oxygen, accented with a faint fragrance of rosehips. The mad Ivan was the first to say, “What if?” And after another three days of sleeping on the ground striated with smut, he hooked a rope ladder to the edge of the hole and climbed down. Continue reading at Eleven Eleven >
"The Paintings of the Suicide Machine" by Ben Black
> performed by Margarita Galindo
The suicide machine was created as a mobile unit, an in-home service available with just a phone call or an online order. It rolled on treads, and features many attachments that get the job done. Pincers, hoses, retractable lengths of rope, needles, and bludgeons come... Continue reading >
Thanks to everyone - performers, writers, and audience - for making this another successful Action Fiction! We managed to pack over 80 people onto the Tribune Tower balcony for third Action Fiction!, but as fun as that evening was (and as cool as the location was), we kept hearing how ideal the Chez Poulet arts space was for performance. So for our fourth, we took the suggestion and headed back. And the performers took that as an opportunity to step it up. Sock puppets? Check. Blue silk clown pants, gold sequins, a velour unitard? Check. Checkemout. There are 7 videos below for the 7 performances.
Chez Poulet has been a home of underground events in San Francisco for years, and the local home for a range of traveling artists from around the world. A converted warehouse that hosts epic parties, gallery exhibitions, live events ranging from concerts to puppet shows, and even a radio station, it is a center of innovative performance.
Performances
"We'll Always Have Parrots" by Alisa Golden
> performed by Don Menn, and Sara Renauer
Most of my pets I won. Except the two parrots. A real estate lady gave them to my wife as payment for doing typing and filing in her office over a bar. The lady had a room full of birds, my wife says, and asked her nosy questions about her love life while she typed. That was before I was involved, and now the birds are ten with forty or more good years ahead of them, which is probably more than I’ve got, due to my sedentary habits. The parrots came with the names Ilsa and Rick, and for some reason they like Mexican food and can weave and braid plastic cord. I don’t really know how to deal with birds, so my wife has the last word on their care. The parrots get along okay, but no baby parrots, yet, which is just fine. My wife taught them to say “I can talk, can you fly?” and “appearances are deceiving” and “reality is the best medicine for denial” so that’s what they say all day when I work at home because they know it bothers me. I thought about teaching them “time goes by” but I’m not really sure how to do that. Continue reading >
"Vaginas" by Gabriel Bellman
> performed by Stephen Frothingham
It was criminal, all those vaginas staring at me, frowning with their lips, swiveling with their hips, acting like they’d never met me from the crease of their jeans, from behind the scenes, waxed and combed and made presentable. It was like I was just a trophy to them. Continue reading >
"Vipers" by Kevin Halleran
> performed by Meghan Rutigliano
Tuesday, sometime around noon, Mrs. Marilyn Pierce, all thirty-nine years and seventy-three inches of her, stretched out on the sofa listening to the television. She lay on her back, her head propped against a soft green pillow, gazing at the familiar cream ceiling of the living room. Her long legs were wrapped in tight black yoga pants and crossed at the ankles. No makeup or lipstick, hair tied back plainly, no paint on her bare toes. John at work, Gerry at school, the laundry piling up, the refrigerator almost bankrupt, a Little League registration form sitting on her dresser, and the jasmine sunlight through the bay window keeping the room anesthetized. Continue reading >
"Abraham" by Benjamin Wachs
> performed by Andie Grace, Jen Terry, and Mark Plutynski
Abraham bundled his son Isaac up to protect him from the sun. God had said that Isaac must die like cattle and be turned into a burnt offering. Isaac belonged to God now. “Where are we going, father?” Isaac said, and Abraham did not have the heart to tell him. He hid the knife among the kindling wood. Continue reading >
"Queen Bee: The Goddess of Pheromones" by Abigail Jardine
> performed by Sarah Judge
My mother’s youngest cousin Eileen had a stunning form and was fully aware of having a body that inspired lust in every male who laid eyes on her. Her sweet face, with blue eyes and soft freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks gave her an impishness that defied her womanly body. The summer when I was eight years old, we drove north to visit Eileen and my mother’s family our home in Texas. Continue reading >
"Kitchen Blinding" by Sarah Griff
> performed by Gray
there is a fat, spherical little bumblebee on the windowsill. as she waits for the kettle to boil, she lowers her head and thinks to herself, oh, what a lovely coat he has, all yellow and black and stripy and furry. and soft, she imagines greedily, envisioning a long coat in those very colours that she would wear, made of the rarest and tiniest creature. a bumblebee fur coat, oh yes, thousands were killed, but this truly is an impeccable piece of clothing. revolutionary? very much so. it’s art, you say? I’d have to agree. Continue reading >
An excerpt of "Superassassin" by Lysley Tenorio
> performed by Robert Thomas
September, 1958. Coast City, California. The noble alien Abin Sur, protector of sector 2814 of our galaxy, crash-lands on Earth. Buried beneath the rubble of his spacecraft, he uses his last flicker of energy to summon test pilot Hal Jordan and offers him the fabled Ring of Power, a weapon created by the Guardians of Oa. With his dying breath Abin Sur asks, “Will you be my successor, Hal Jordan? Will you swear to use this ring to uphold justice throughout the universe?” Continue reading >
Thanks to everyone who came to this fascinating and rarely used location - on a rooftop balcony of Oakland’s most iconic building, near a neon clock. The creeping cold and darkness was a challenge, but you toughed it out and the audience had a blast, making this third event our most fantastic yet!
"Completely awesome."
- Cary Tennis
And we managed to capture this one on video...unfortunately, we also managed to do so for the first half of the event without the mic plugged into the camera. So, I'm sorry to say that the performances in the first half don't have any audio. That includes the performances of Mark, Meghan, Robert, and the first half of Caroline's performances. This makes me very sad since they were all great performances. We promise not to make this mistake again. I posted the audio-less videos on youtube anyway, along with the rest of the performances in all their auditory glory. All of the stories themselves (except Cary's) are now available to read on fiction365.com as well. Links to everything are below.
Performances
"Cut" by Joshua Citrak
> read by Mark Plutynski
Hey Baby wrung all the rings off her right hand before she slid it in between the iron bars of the security gate. She wiggled and twisted her whole body until her elbow popped free through the gap. Arched on tippy toes, she snuggled in tight, giving the gate a slow-dance reach-around that had me envious. She stretched for the lock, her fingers groping across the grating tickling each bar, and at full extension was just able to flip the latch. Continue reading >
"Where's Bob?" by Vanessa Hemingway Blumberg
> read by Meghan Rutigliano
It was the door slamming that woke Wilson. He never heard any car pull up, no key in the lock. Just the slammed door and June already inside the dark house. So he’d blown it. He knew right away there was nothing left to do but play it out. What else could he do? June had some mail in one hand, keys in the other, a purse as big as a small ice chest hanging off one shoulder. She went straight for the garbage in the cupboard under the sink. From where Wilson was, it looked as if she was just checking it―maybe to see how full it was―but probably she’d thrown something in. Then she went to the message machine by the phone―no messages―she only brushed the buttons with her fingers and then ran the hand through her long dark hair. From the refrigerator she pulled out a can of diet cola, popped the top, started toward Wilson, and stopped dead in her tracks. Continue reading >
"Ichiwa Ango" by James Warner
> read by Robert Thomas
Our first Christmas together, I bought Clarice an Ichiwa Ango suede shirt. It was embroidered with lurex thread, and had satirically over-sized cufflinks. Purchasing it was an ordeal. I dressed so scruffily in those days that, when I entered a high-end San Francisco boutique, the manageress assumed I was a shop-lifter and followed me around staring down the back of my neck. I was astonished to discover that a piece of clothing could cost more than a hundred dollars, but I bought it anyway, then grew scared Clarice would think I had paid too much, that she would accuse me of being bourgeois. Continue reading >
An excerpt of A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois
> read by Caroline Scippa
I began playing chess Saturdays in Harvard Square, against the old wizened men who charge you a dollar to lose to them. I did not grow up to be a chess prodigy—or any other kind, for that matter. But I find something compelling in its choreography, the way one move implies the next. The kings are an apt metaphor for human beings: utterly constrained by the rules of the game, defenseless against bombardment from all sides, able only to temporarily dodge disaster by moving one step in any direction. Continue reading >
"The Secret World of Dad" by Cary Tennis
> read by Jimmey Cross
(No story available at this time...)
"The Heap" by Scott Lambridis
> read by Andie Grace
After a day spent shoveling the heap into buckets and spreading it around as mulch, she’d gone to sleep, but woke a couple hours later, in the pitch of night, struggling to breathe. Her lungs wouldn’t open. She forced each slow inhale. She knew it was the heap’s fault. She tiptoed to the window on the other side of her apartment. Even in the blackness, smoke and fumes poured off the heap. Leaf and needle, bark and chip, sap and oil, she had coated every inch of her property with it, all the grass, dirt, brick, wood, gravel, asphalt, and yet the heap was still four feet high. Continue reading >
"Things Come to Life" by Sommer Schafer-AuYeung
> read by Margarita Galindo
One week after we scatter father’s ashes in Blue River and Sunny returns to his farm in upstate New York, mother takes a sledge hammer to the dark green couch in the guest room. She works on that thing all afternoon, establishing a sleek line of sweat in the space between upper lip and nose, and, by the smell of her, in more hidden places. Continue reading >
"Press Release" by Evan Winchester
> read by Charlotte Speck & Gillian Eichenberger
On that side of the conference table sits Courtney Bides. Her Klean Kanteen has the iconic print of planet Earth. Her briefcase is on the table and popped open. It is empty of paper. The papers are spread alluvially over her end of the table. Earlier today, eight people had sat at this table, where they had discussed. Now Courtney Bides capitalizes on their absence. She leans back in her chair, with her hands behind her neck so she can relax. The back of her chair is like the lobe of a large cactus. A quick survey of the tabletop. Newspaper clippings. Pens, pencils, a staple remover. The Cetacean Fact File, a three-ring binder with brightly colored images of dolphins, whales, porpoises, etc. Their ilk. At Courtney Bides’s end, a coffee warmer whose cord runs to a wall outlet. Courtney Bides had been number twenty, of twenty, in the 2006 office White Elephant Gift Exchange, and she had taken the hotplate from number nine, whoever that had been. It had been Elise Awad. Continue reading >
"This was the best reading I've ever been to. The stories were phenomenal, the actors were great. I was enthralled the whole way through."
- Ben Black
This second successful Action Fiction! was held in a unique arts space in the Mission. For years the Chez Poulet has been a home of underground events in San Francisco, and the local home for a range of traveling artists from around the world. A converted warehouse that hosts epic parties, gallery exhibitions, live events ranging from concerts to puppet shows, and even a radio station, it is a center of innovative performance. We brought in 75+ rapt attendees and kept them there until close. Take a look at what you missed.
Performances
"Destroy the Rich" by Daniel Roche> read by Anthony Villafuete + Meghan Rutigliano Notice to the SEC on demonization of the rich. My mother cheated on my father with Nasdaq, resulting in my birth being on an escalator rising up to the depths of Wall Street. I tied my umbilical cord as a Full Windsor and power walked before I crawled. My first word was an instructional presentation detailing the devastation caused by bottle-feeding economics “We will benefit from a survivalist mentality. Groupthink is death.” Continue reading >
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"A Moment of Weakness" by Olga Zilberbourg> read by Danielle Levin (clipped) Vasya enters the doorway of the building where his father lives, and a gust of unforgiving August wind shoves him deeper inside, sending with him a twister of wet maple and poplar leaves. Vasya pauses in the vestibule to shake the water off his cap and from the collar of his jacket. A stranger on his way out of the building—whose face Vasya doesn’t have time to notice, but whom he doesn’t believe to be one of the neighbors—bumps into Vasya and steps on his foot. O, a hapless descendent of a glorious family! Everything is going against him, the entire world has conspired to mark with pain every moment of his existence. Continue reading >
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"Dandelions" by Nona Caspers> read by Emma Shelton One afternoon I put on my watchman’s cap and my jacket, grabbed my wallet and keys and stepped outside my apartment building. The sun was taxiing through the clouds and leaving light vapors on the sidewalk. I stepped into light and then shadow and then light again, the air shifting from warm to lukewarm to warm. It was Sunday. I had nowhere to be. As I walked I thought about my mother in her house in the cold. I thought about the white expanse of her backyard. I could see a crow land in the middle of the yard, and my mother’s face at her window. She was pressing her forehead and lips against the glass, so her lopsidedness from the stroke was exaggerated. Continue reading >
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"We Are All Wearing Jackets" by Ben Black> read by Mark Plutynski In the interest of saving time and preventing confusion our Director issued a decree eliminating regional signifiers. We refer to each other as Countrymen, ignoring such distinctions as Southern or Northern or from this city or that. Even something like “out-of-towner” is illegal now. Those who enforce this policy, informers like George, receive supplemental income from the Information Office. I see him, George, leaving every morning on his way to his work. He returns around one in the afternoon, has lunch with his family, and goes out again at around 3. I am writing all this down in my log. I keep a record on him, like all the others. Continue reading >
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"What Would You Have Done?" by Gabriel L. Bellman> read by Robert Thomas What would you have done? I saw the belt buckle on the table and the underwear in the window and called the police. I suppose I was panicked, but who wouldn’t be? Have you any idea how embarrassing it can be to have underwear in your window and belt buckles on your table? At the very least, it’s unsanitary. I doubt there are very many people in the world today who would refute this. Continue reading >
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"The Black Metal Barreled BB Gun" by W Ross Ayers> read by Jimmey Cross Mom, Rich and I were driving down Rogers highway on the way to Tecumseh; the town twenty miles north of Blissfield. It was a beautiful hot Michigan summer day. The sky was blue with big white clouds. The fields where covered with short bushy soybeans and tall green corn stalks higher than our car. The green fields blurred by as we drove down the straight flat road. “Hey boys, there’s a garage sale. Wanna stop?” Continue reading >
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"RE- Sugar" by Scott Lambridis> read by Caroline Scippa + Don Menn Hi Joseph,
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"The Monk's Soul" by Benjamin Wachs> read by Devon Jones The monk could not find his soul. He rose, early in the morning, to pray to the saints for wisdom and to meditate upon the potent symbols of resurrection carried across generations for two thousand years. Through this process, he understood many things: why there is suffering, and how to heal it; why there is evil, and how to banish it. Demons did not set foot upon the same continent as the monk, for fear that he would see them. Continue reading > |
Literature fans flocked to this inaugural event of a new live performance series, where local actors perform original short fiction by the best local writers – turning literature into performance!
"Great stories with great acting. The actors brought their own style to each performance. The venue was beautiful and cozy and the atmosphere was relaxed. Highly recommended."
- Deergha Sahni on Meetup.com
Let’s admit it: great writers are not always great performers. Great writing should be as passionate and engaging in public as it is on the page. Readings should feel like war and love happening in front of you, not a museum exhibit. The Omnibucket Performance Academy believes that providing compelling performances of original voices in extraordinary settings will create an aesthetic experience unlike any currently offered in San Francisco.
This inaugural event was held in the beautiful and historical Westerfield House.
"Incredible venue, humorous fiction and serious acting made for an entertaining night. The stories were as varied as the owners of the Westerfield Mansion: romance, sex, power, humor, religion and the taboo. The quiet, captured audience spilled from the main salon, to the back salon, and into the hall--some experiencing the monologues in auditory, the sole shortcoming of the venue. The antique setting was otherwise apropos for the salon-style event. Being the inaugural evening, the sense of community was slightly apprehensive. Once the first reading got rolling, the audience warmed with each comedic moment, a perfect ice-breaker piece. By the time the last word was spoken, my only thought was, "When is it my turn?" I can see interest in Action Fiction! growing among writers and actors needing to do what they do best: entertain, intrigue and go public. Let's just hope there's more wine next time."
- Angelica from Meetup.com
Featured writers and actors:
- Ben Black - read by Sam Jackson
- Benjamin Wachs - read by Megan Rutigliano
- Beth Hersh - read by Charlotte Speck
- Carolyn Cooke - read by Gillian Eichenberger
- Cary Tennis - read by Anthony Villafuete
- Eric Myers - read by Jimmey Cross (and Eric Myers)
- Peter Orner - read by Danielle Levin
- Scott Lambridis - read by Caroline Scippa
presented by The Omnibucket Performance Academy - where readings become performances