(Covington, KY) Cincinnati’s favorite storytelling event returns to Westwood this November with three nationally recognized storytellers taking center stage. Lyn Ford, Andy Offutt Irwin, and Paul Strickland will delight audiences young and old over three days of live storytelling at West Side Brewing, the Westwood Town Hall, and the Westwood Branch of the Cincinnati Public Library.
Thursday night’s shows, “Gather Round” and “Twisted Tales,” will both be held at West Side Brewing in the back room. Last year’s “Gather Round” sold out, so it is recommended to secure advance tickets. Friday night’s shows include “Laugh Riot!” at West Side Brewing, a short dinner break, and then the much-anticipated ghost story show “Spooky Stories” across the street at Westwood Town Hall.
Saturday will include a wide variety of programming, starting with “Children’s Stories,” a free show for children and families at the Westwood Branch of the Cincinnati Public Library, and then a guest performance at Town Hall featuring the best of “True Theatre.” “Old Tales Told New” will feature masterful and entertaining reimagining of age-old stories, and the closing show “Two Truths and a Truth, Hosted by a Liar” is sure to delight and entertain.
Most shows are for adults and children ages thirteen and up, with the exception of the Saturday afternoon library show which is specifically for children and families, and the Thursday night late show which is restricted to adults ages 21+.
Advance tickets and passes are on sale now. cincystoryfest.com/buy-tickets.
FESTIVAL HISTORY
The Cincinnati Storytelling Festival, founded in 2020, is a weekend event featuring professional storytellers from a variety of backgrounds and traditions. 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 three festivals, the Cincinnati Storytelling Festival has brought nationally-recognized storytellers to Cincinnati audiences, including Bil Lepp, Lyn Ford, Sheila Arnold, Adam Booth, Megan Hicks and Antonio Rocha. For the fourth festival, to be held this November, Artistic Director Paul Strickland is bringing back Ohio storyteller Lyn Ford for a second appearance and introducing Georgia storyteller Andy Offutt Irwin.
LYN FORD
Lynette (Lyn) Ford is an internationally respected, fourth-generation Affrilachian storyteller, author, poet, and workshop presenter. Lyn’s folktale adaptations and original stories are rooted in her family’s multicultural Black Appalachian (or Affrilachian) heritage.
Lyn’s work has taken her to major storytelling festivals and literacy and storytelling conferences across the country, as well as in Australia and Ireland, and, via the Zoomiverse, in Germany and for the Federation of Asian Storytellers story swaps. Lyn is an Ohio Arts Council Teaching Artist and a Thurber House mentor for young authors, with more than thirty years of experience and several award-winning publications. Lyn is a two-time recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s ORACLE Circle of Excellence award, and a 2023 recipient of the National Association of Black Storytellers’ Black Appalachian Storytelling Fellowship and NABS’ prestigious Zora Neale Hurston Award. Lyn is a member of the Writers Council of the National Writing Project and the National Association of Black Storytellers’ Brother Blue Circle of Elders.
Lyn is also a certified laughter yoga teacher and, occasionally, pretty weird. She was featured at the inaugural Cincinnati Storytelling Festival in 2020 and will be featured for the second time in the festival’s history this November. storytellerlynford.com.
ANDY OFFUTT IRWIN
With a manic, Silly Putty voice, astonishing mouth noises, and heart-filled stories, Andy Offutt Irwin is equal parts mischievous schoolboy and the Marx Brothers, peppered with a touch of the Southern balladeer. He has been a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival eleven times and is a perennial favorite at the International Storytelling Center’s Teller-in-Residence series.
A storyteller, theatre director, singer-songwriter, and Shakespearean actor, Andy was Artist-in-Residence at Emory University’s Oxford College from 1991 to 2007. He has performed at LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in New York, The Library of Congress, Walt Disney World, and a whole mess of theatres, colleges, and festivals all over the United States.
Andy lives in Covington, Georgia. He thinks he is funny. andyirwin.com.
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. Always adapting to whatever audience is in front of him, Paul loves telling stories in every imaginable environment, from comedy clubs to elementary and middle schools, corporate events and even two prisons – where he was not an inmate at the time. Collections of his stories have won “Best of Fest” honors more than 18 times at Fringe Theatre Festivals in the US and Canada, and his shadow and flashlight ghost story play was featured Off-Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse. Selections from his comedy performance “Levels of Difficulty” are still played nearly every day on SiriusXM radio.
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.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE AND TICKETS
- Full Weekend Pass: $55
- Friday Pass: $25
- Saturday Pass: $30
- Single Tickets also available ($12-$20 per show)
- Advance Tickets: https://www.cincystoryfest.com/buy-tickets
- Ticket Fees: Advance tickets will have an additional ticketing fee added to the total price to pay for our ticketing service, Cincy Ticket.
- Ratings: All shows are recommended ages 13+ unless otherwise noted.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Preview Night, West Side Brewing, 3044 Harrison Ave.
- “Gather Round” at 7pm (60 min.) $12
- “Twisted Tales” at 8:30pm (60 min.) FREE, Ages 21+
Friday, November 15, 2024
- Happy Hour Show, West Side Brewing, 3044 Harrison Ave.
“Laugh Riot!” at 6pm (60 min.) $12 - Dinner break from 7:15-8:15pm
- Main Event, Westwood Town Hall, 3017 Harrison Ave.
“Spooky Stories” at 8:30pm (90 min.) $20
Saturday, November 16, 2024
- Special Family Event, Westwood Library, 3345 Epworth Ave.
“Children’s Stories” at 2pm (45 min.) FREE - Main Events, Westwood Town Hall, 3017 Harrison Ave.
“True Theatre” at 4:30pm (60 min.) $15
“Old Tales Told New” at 5:45pm (60 min.) $15 - Dinner break from 7-8:15pm
- “Two Truths and a Truth, Hosted by a Liar” at 8:30pm (90 min.) $20
Oct. 5-8, 2023
CINCINNATI STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
Sheila Arnold is a Professional Storyteller, Character Interpreter and Teaching Artist. Through her company, History’s Alive!, Sheila has provided storytelling, character interpretation and professional development programs at schools, libraries, professional organizations, museums and churches in 41 states since 2003. Sheila has been a featured Storyteller all across the United States including at the National Storytelling Festival (Jonesborough, TN); Paris Storytelling Festival (Paris, KY); Connecticut Storytelling Festival; Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival and many more. She also has been a Teller-in-Residence at the International Storytelling Center, Jonesborough, TN. Sheila collaborates with storyteller, Darci Tucker, to produce the Tucker-Arnold Storytelling Concert and Retreat in Williamsburg, VA featuring nationally known Storytellers. She is a graduate of UNC-Charlotte with a B.A. in African-American & African History. 
Adam Booth‘s original stories blend traditional mountain folklore, music, and an awareness of contemporary Appalachia. As a nationally touring artist his professional telling appearances include premiere storytelling events across the United States, including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, the International Storytelling Center, the National Storytelling Festival, the Appalachian Studies Association Conference, the National Storytelling Conference, the National Academy of Medicine, and as a Spoken Word Resident at the Banff Centre (Alberta, Canada). He is a member of the Recording Academy and his recordings have received a Parents’ Choice Gold Award, two Parents’ Choice Silver Honors, and four Storytelling World Awards and Honors. He is a four-time champion of the West Virginia Liars’ Contest. Adam is the inaugural Storyteller-In-Residence at Shepherd University. 
Paul Strickland has been a Cincinnati Favorite since moving here in October of 2014. Most of Paul’s stories were told to him by his Ain’t True and his Uncle False, who live in Big-Fib Cul-de-sac, a small trailer park just off the coast of Factual in the mythical American south. His hilarious and heart-felt tall tales have won “Best of Fest” over fifteen times at Fringe Festivals in the U.S. and Canada. Strickland has performed at theaters, festivals, comedy clubs, and more, including two prisons, where he was not an inmate at the time. Selections from his show Levels of Difficulty can be heard on XM Sirius radio. 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
