StoryFest 2025
Schedule

NOTE: For descriptions of the sessions and background on the storytellers and presenters, please visit https://storyartsmn.org/storyfest2025

Start of the Day Activities

10:00 - 11:00 - Black Box Theater
Youth and Family Track - ASL interpreted
Youth and Family Story Concert
Host: Carol McCormick
Tellers: J.Emily Peabody, Dan Gruhlke, Nicholas Pawlowski, Phuoc Tran, Brotha Ase

10:30-12:00 - Rehearsal Hall
Paid Workshop (90 minutes)
Playful Creativity: Breaking Blocks, Deepening Telling, Fooling Your Insecurities Away, with Laura Packer
Please pre-register or sign up and pay at the StoryFest Welcome Table.

Session #1

11:15-12:15 - Dakota
Showcase: Sweet Potato Comfort Pie 
Baking a Better World: Sweet Potato Comfort Pie® as a Recipe for Justice and Healing

11:15-12:10 - Council Chambers
Youth and Family Track: Workshop
Improvise Your Way to Better Storytelling with Kate Button

11:15-12:10 - Black Box Theater
Daytime Performance: Poetry and Story
Khary Jackson, Paula Reed Nancarrow, Loren Niemi, Rose Arrowsmith, Dralanda Larkin

Lunch Break

12:10-1:30
Please enjoy the food trucks, and the information tables in the lobby

Session #2

1:15-2:10 - Rehearsal Space
Workshop
Personal Narrative, Culture and Myth with Jim May

1:15- 2:10 - Dakota
Youth and Family Track: Workshop
It’s Storytelling Time! with Danielle Daniel 

1:15 - 2:10 - Black Box Theater
Daytime Performance
Host: Pam Schweitzer
Leif Wallin: The Boys From North Dakota
Pam Schweitzer: Lyme Cardidas 
Christopher Nelson: Bad Dates 
Bambi Tran: TBD 
S.P. Jayaraj: TBD 

1:30- 2:25 - Council Chambers
Workshop
Storytelling in Business and Organizational Culture, with Loren Niemi

Session #3 

2:30-3:30 - Dakota
Showcase: The Center for the Art of Medicine 

2:30-3:30 - Rehearsal Space
Youth and Family Track 
Open Mic
Host: TBD 

2:30-3:30 -Black Box Theater
Daytime Performance
Host: Vicki Joan Keck
Kate Button: Liberia, My Daughter and Me
Larry Johnson: Gerda Pulls Harder Than the Horses 
Sufian Zhemkhov: Magic Talent 
Vicki Joan Keck: My Friend Fern 
Carol McCormick: Contemporary Snow White Fairytale

2:40-3:40 - Council Chambers
Workshop 
The Power C's: Character, Conflict, Conclusion, with Errol McLendon 

End of the Day Activities

4:00-5:00 - Black Box Theater
Open Mic (Sign up at the Welcome Table)
Host: Leif Wallin
Music: Sufian Zhemkhov 

5:00-7:00 - SUPPER BREAK
Explore the many restaurants in the Bloomington area.

7:00-9:00 - Black Box Theater
An Evening of Stories for Adults - ASL interpreted
Host: Laura Packer
Music: Mari Harris 
Tellers: Errol McLendon, Sue Searing, Jim Stowell, Howard Lieberman, Danielle Daniel, Tsganesh Selameab,  Jim May