National Tellers Announced for 5th Annual
Cincinnati Storytelling Festival
New Location at OTR’s Know Theatre
November 13-15, 2025
(Cincinnati, OH) Cincinnati’s favorite storytelling event returns for their 5th Annual Festival. This November, three nationally recognized storytellers are taking center stage in their new venue in historic Over-the-Rhine’s Know Theatre. Bil Lepp, Charlotte Blake Alston, and Paul Strickland will delight audiences young and old over three days of live storytelling once again.
Tickets go on sale October 14th. No stories are repeated, so come to as many shows as you like and enjoy them all.
The festival’s first events, “Gather Round” and “Twisted Tales,” have sold out the last two years, so it is recommended to secure advance tickets. Friday night’s shows include “Laugh Riot!”, a short dinner break, and then the much-anticipated ghost story show “Spooky Stories.” Who says spooky season ends October 31st?
Saturday will include a wide variety of programming, starting with a free show for children and families, and then a guest performance featuring the best of True Theatre. “Old Tales Told New” will feature masterful and entertaining reimagining of age-old stories, and the closing show “My Favorite Stories!” is sure to delight and entertain.
Most shows are for adults and children ages thirteen and up, with the exception of the Saturday afternoon show which is specifically for children and families.
FESTIVAL HISTORY
The Cincinnati Storytelling Festival, founded in 2020, is a weekend event featuring professional storytellers from a variety of backgrounds and traditions. Previously held on Cincinnati’s West Side, the festival brings communities together to enjoy fairy tales, scary stories, laugh-out-loud tales, and everything in between! Over the past four festivals, the Cincinnati Storytelling Festival has brought nationally-recognized storytellers to Cincinnati audiences, including Lyn Ford, Sheila Arnold, Adam Booth, Megan Hicks, Antonio Rocha, and Andy Offutt-Irwin. For the fifth festival, to be held this November, Artistic Director Paul Strickland is bringing back West Virginia storyteller Bil Lepp for a second appearance, and introducing Charlotte Blake Alston, whose brilliant tales have graced stages for over 30 years.
THE STORYTELLERS
BIL LEPP
Bil Lepp is an award-winning storyteller, author, and recording artist. He’s the host of the History Channel’s Man Vs History series, the occasional host of NPR’s internationally syndicated Mountain Stage, and a contributing columnist to the West Virginia Gazette-Mail. Bil’s humorous, family friendly tall-tales and stories have earned the appreciation of listeners of all ages and from all walks of life. Though a five time champion of the WV Liars’s Contest, Lepp’s stories often contain morsels of truth which present universal themes in clever and witty ways. Audiences all across the country, from grade schools to corporate execs to the Comedy Central’s Hudson stage, have been delighted by Bil’s hilarious tales and delightful insights into everyday life. leppstorytelling.com
Photo by Deborah Boardman.
CHARLOTTE BLAKE ALSTON
For over 30 years, Charlotte Blake Alston has graced stages in venues throughout North America and abroad. Venues are wide and include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Symphony Orchestra Narrations and at regional, national and international Storytelling Festivals. She is a frequent guest artist in universities, grade schools, museums and cultural arts institutions around the country but this former elementary school teacher also presents in Day Care Centers, for Special Needs populations as well as prisons and youth detention centers. Charlotte breathes life into traditional and contemporary stories from African and African American oral and cultural traditions. charlotteblakealston.com
Photo by Mikki Shaffner.
PAUL STRICKLAND, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Paul is a professional storyteller and theatre artist who lives in Covington, Kentucky. He has well over seven hours of unique family friendly stories in his repertoire, including reupholstered folk tales, fairytales for adults and future adults, tall-tales and even historical stories that just happen to have never happened. Paul has been a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival, the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, and many more major storytelling festivals across the U.S. Cincinnati audiences know and love Paul Strickland for his award-winning performances at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. He is one of the co-founders of the Cincinnati Storytelling Festival. ainttrue.com Continue reading
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