Literary Arts and The Moth are bringing a new lineup of storytellers to Portland. Each Moth Mainstage show features five tellers who have developed their true stories with help from The Moth’s directors. Join us on December 13 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and celebrate the ability of stories to honor both the diversity and commonality of human experience, and to satisfy a vital human need for connection.
This year’s theme is “The Ties That Bind.”
THE HOST:
Peter Aguero was born and raised in the wilds of South Jersey. He’s been working with The Moth since 2007 as a storyteller, instructor, and host. His solo show Daddy Issues has played the far reaches and middle grounds of North America, mostly to acclaim (except for one guy in Fresno, CA. That guy hated it). He spends most of his time listening to The Allman Brothers while making profane ceramics in Queens.
THE STORYTELLERS:
Alistair Bane is a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. He is a storyteller, writer, and visual artist. His writings have been published in Readers Digest and the award-winning anthology Alone Together: Stories of Love, Comfort and Grief in the times of Covid 19. In his free time, he volunteers at a sliding scale veterinary clinic and has fostered over 300 dogs. His favorite dogs to foster are feral dogs. He says it’s a very rewarding way to spend time, if you don’t mind a tiny bit of growling.
Andrew McGill is a stand-up comic and storyteller born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. You can catch him all over NYC doing stand-up and telling stories. He also teaches English at a high school in Brooklyn.
Jenny Nguyen is the owner and founder of The Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, the first women’s sports bar in the world. Jenny is an only child and was born and raised in Portland by her two parents who immigrated from Vietnam during the War. She has always had an intense passion for basketball and food. Jenny grew up playing basketball and played four years of varsity basketball in high school and continued to play non-competitively in pickup games and leagues around Portland as an adult. Jenny attended Western Washington University and graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor in Creative Writing. She then received her associates degree in Culinary Arts from Western Culinary Institute in downtown Portland and had a successful career as a chef for over 15 years. She can be found doing her thing at The Bra, birding at Tualatin Wildlife Refuge or hibernating on the couch watching Netflix.
Cat Powell-Hoffmann is a published fine artist and writer from the Pacific Northwest. Her more recent pieces were a collection of her experiences as a Korean-American adoptee. Cat’s sold-out art has been exhibited in galleries up and down the West Coast. In addition, Cat is currently working on a book of essays about adoption, love, midlife hiccups, retail sales, and motherhood. When she’s not painting or writing, you can find Cat binge-watching Netflix with her husband, son, and fur-baby in their Portland, Oregon home.
Marguerite Maria Rivas, a native New Yorker, is a poet, a scholar, and a storyteller. The author of two poetry collections, she has published both poetry and essays widely. Her work touches on the way the world and the heart are broken and mended. An Associate Professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College of The City University of New York, Rivas teaches both literature and creative writing and mentors first-generation college students. A welder in her spare time, she also performs improvisational poetry with blues and jazz musicians. In 2019, she was appointed the first Poet Laureate of Staten Island.
THE MUSICIAN:
Canadian/American cellist Trevor Fitzpatrick joined the Oregon Symphony in 2005 and has since embedded himself into the musical community around him. He is an avid chamber musician, collaborating with groups such as: 45th parallel, Fear no Music, Third Angle New Music, Chatter New Mexico, and his own RTK Piano trio.Trevor also recently won a position with Portland Opera’s cello section. A Graduate of the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, the Cleveland Institute of music, and the New World Symphony in Miami, Trevor has performed in major concert halls throughout the USA, Canada, South America and Europe. In addition to his orchestral and chamber career, Mr. Fitzpatrick now has fun teaching his own batch of future cellists with a private studio in Portland. He is the proud father of 2 little cellists (ages 2 & 6) and lucky husband to cellist Marilyn de Oliveira.
Tickets are selling fast for The Moth: Mainstage in Portland, on Tuesday, December 13, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Don’t miss out! Get tickets now for an inspiring and enlightening evening of live storytelling.
