FEBRUARY 10
Flash Feb!
Flash fiction by RoseMary Covington, Jim Misner and Maureen O'Leary
performed by Sam Misner and Megan Smith
Flash Feb!
Flash fiction by RoseMary Covington, Jim Misner and Maureen O'Leary
performed by Sam Misner and Megan Smith
RoseMary Covington Morgan retired from a successful career as a transit planning and development executive manager to accept a new challenge as an author. A lifelong writer, she picked up the pen again almost four years ago.
Most recently, RoseMary published the short story “The Song" in the anthology Storytellers: Tales from the Rio Vista Writers’ Group. She also has three short stories — “My Big Red Shadow," “T'was" and “School Shopping” — and two poems published in the Northern California Publishers Anthologies. The Sacramento Branch of the California Writer’s Club published her short story “Minnow Mildred” in their 2022 literary review Visions.
She has completed several other short stories, one novel and one novella. As of this date, she is moving toward publishing more of her work. RoseMary grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and has lived in Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. Presently, she lives in Sacramento.
Check out RoseMary's interview with Sue Staats here.
Jim Misner, native San Franciscan, was first introduced to the literary world as a paperboy for the Independent Journal in Mill Valley, CA. Mr. Belgrade’s Advanced English at Drake High further fueled his interest in writing and the poet Lew Welch’s Introduction to Afro-American Literature at College of Marin in the ’60’s cinched it.
It was late in the game, though, that he returned to writing after taking early retirement from the entertainment world. In consideration of his wife’s words that he better find something to do besides playing tennis and card-room poker, he attended a creative writing class at the local college, which turned out to be just the ticket. Subject never looked back.
Over the next half-dozen years, Jim wrote a thousand words per week in short story form (flash fiction), a size best suited for writing workshops. Public readings followed and eventually several stories were submitted and selected for literary magazines (including the excellent West Marin Review).
When Covid19 caused isolation, many of the stories were compiled in book form and published with the aid of for-mentioned wife’s editing and formatting skills. Much excitement ensued in bringing out A Short Ride in the fall of 2021.
Check out Jim's interview with Sue Staats here.
Maureen O’Leary is a writer and teacher living in California. Her short stories, poems and essays can be found recently and soon in Bourbon Penn, Nightmare Magazine, Reckon Review, Occulum Journal, Flame Tree Press' anthology Alternate History and Sycamore Review, among other places. She has recently been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and serves as the managing editor of The Black Fork Review. She is a graduate of Ashland MFA.
Check out Maureen's interview with Sue Staats here.
Most recently, RoseMary published the short story “The Song" in the anthology Storytellers: Tales from the Rio Vista Writers’ Group. She also has three short stories — “My Big Red Shadow," “T'was" and “School Shopping” — and two poems published in the Northern California Publishers Anthologies. The Sacramento Branch of the California Writer’s Club published her short story “Minnow Mildred” in their 2022 literary review Visions.
She has completed several other short stories, one novel and one novella. As of this date, she is moving toward publishing more of her work. RoseMary grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and has lived in Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. Presently, she lives in Sacramento.
Check out RoseMary's interview with Sue Staats here.
Jim Misner, native San Franciscan, was first introduced to the literary world as a paperboy for the Independent Journal in Mill Valley, CA. Mr. Belgrade’s Advanced English at Drake High further fueled his interest in writing and the poet Lew Welch’s Introduction to Afro-American Literature at College of Marin in the ’60’s cinched it.
It was late in the game, though, that he returned to writing after taking early retirement from the entertainment world. In consideration of his wife’s words that he better find something to do besides playing tennis and card-room poker, he attended a creative writing class at the local college, which turned out to be just the ticket. Subject never looked back.
Over the next half-dozen years, Jim wrote a thousand words per week in short story form (flash fiction), a size best suited for writing workshops. Public readings followed and eventually several stories were submitted and selected for literary magazines (including the excellent West Marin Review).
When Covid19 caused isolation, many of the stories were compiled in book form and published with the aid of for-mentioned wife’s editing and formatting skills. Much excitement ensued in bringing out A Short Ride in the fall of 2021.
Check out Jim's interview with Sue Staats here.
Maureen O’Leary is a writer and teacher living in California. Her short stories, poems and essays can be found recently and soon in Bourbon Penn, Nightmare Magazine, Reckon Review, Occulum Journal, Flame Tree Press' anthology Alternate History and Sycamore Review, among other places. She has recently been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and serves as the managing editor of The Black Fork Review. She is a graduate of Ashland MFA.
Check out Maureen's interview with Sue Staats here.
Sam Misner is happy to be part of Stories on Stage Sacramento for the first time. His regional theater credits include Indiana Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Geva Theatre Center, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and four seasons with Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Local credits include Sacramento Theatre Company and Capital Stage. Sam is also a songwriter and tours regularly with the Americana/folk duo Misner & Smith. They have released five critically-acclaimed albums and have composed original music for productions at Sacramento Theatre Company (The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird) and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (As You Like It). They tour extensively in both the U.S. and England and are currently in the studio recording their new album, due out later this year.
Megan Pearl Smith is an actor and musician based out of Davis, California. She's worked in productions at many theaters over her career such as Capital Stage, Sacramento Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theater, Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Playhouse, Colorado Shakespeare Festival and many more. She is also half of the band Misner & Smith, which plays its own brand of story-driven, harmony-filled, acoustic folk/rock music. Check out Jessica Laskey's interview with Megan here.
Check out Misner & Smith at www.misnerandsmith.com!
Megan Pearl Smith is an actor and musician based out of Davis, California. She's worked in productions at many theaters over her career such as Capital Stage, Sacramento Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theater, Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Playhouse, Colorado Shakespeare Festival and many more. She is also half of the band Misner & Smith, which plays its own brand of story-driven, harmony-filled, acoustic folk/rock music. Check out Jessica Laskey's interview with Megan here.
Check out Misner & Smith at www.misnerandsmith.com!
APRIL 15
Literary Death Match
A special Saturday event in partnership with
Literary Death Match and the Chills at Will Podcast
Literary Death Match
A special Saturday event in partnership with
Literary Death Match and the Chills at Will Podcast
Literary Death Match, co-created by Adrian Todd Zuniga, marries the literary and performative aspects of Def Poetry Jam, rapier-witted quips of American Idol’s judging (without any meanness), and the ridiculousness and hilarity of Double Dare.
Each episode of this competitive, humor-centric reading series features a thrilling mix of four famous and emerging authors (all representing a literary publication, press or concern — online, in print or live) who perform their most electric writing in seven minutes or less before a lively audience and a panel of three all-star judges. After each pair of readings, the judges — focused on literary merit, performance and intangibles — take turns spouting hilarious, off-the-wall commentary about each story, then select their favorite to advance to the finals.
The two finalists then compete in the Literary Death Match finale, which trades in the show’s literary sensibility for an absurd and comical climax to determine who takes home the Literary Death Match crown.
It may sound like a circus — and that's half the point. Literary Death Match is passionate about inspecting new and innovative ways to present text off the page, and the most fascinating part about the LDM is how seriously attentive the audience is during each reading. We've called this the great literary ruse: an audacious and inviting title, a harebrained finale, but in-between the judging creates a relationship with the viewer as a judge themselves.
Our ultimate goal is to perform the Literary Death Match all over the world, and to continue to showcase literature as a brilliant, unstoppable medium.
Each episode of this competitive, humor-centric reading series features a thrilling mix of four famous and emerging authors (all representing a literary publication, press or concern — online, in print or live) who perform their most electric writing in seven minutes or less before a lively audience and a panel of three all-star judges. After each pair of readings, the judges — focused on literary merit, performance and intangibles — take turns spouting hilarious, off-the-wall commentary about each story, then select their favorite to advance to the finals.
The two finalists then compete in the Literary Death Match finale, which trades in the show’s literary sensibility for an absurd and comical climax to determine who takes home the Literary Death Match crown.
It may sound like a circus — and that's half the point. Literary Death Match is passionate about inspecting new and innovative ways to present text off the page, and the most fascinating part about the LDM is how seriously attentive the audience is during each reading. We've called this the great literary ruse: an audacious and inviting title, a harebrained finale, but in-between the judging creates a relationship with the viewer as a judge themselves.
Our ultimate goal is to perform the Literary Death Match all over the world, and to continue to showcase literature as a brilliant, unstoppable medium.
Meet the LDM Sacramento lineup!
AUTHORS
Drama: Anthony D’Juan is a Sacramento, California, director-playwright who has been active since 1996. He served as assistant and protégé to Ed Claudio from 1997-2005. Playwriting credits include THEORY OF THE DREAM, SAFE AT HOME: THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY, KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE, MEN IN RIFFS, 3: BLACK GIRL BLUES (with Danielle Moné Truitt), THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED, THE PURVEYORS, US & THE REST OF ‘EM, BIRDMOCKING and ANY’PERSON. Directing credits include SUBURBIA, OTHELLO, FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (THE MUSICAL), ENDGAME (Best Drama, 2004), BASH, OUR TOWN, THE SEAGULL, THE DUMB WAITER, A TIGER WITHOUT MERCY (world premiere), BOOTYCANDY & SKELTON CREW (both at Big Idea Theatre), THE MOUNTAINTOP, PASS OVER and THE ROYALE (all three at Capital Stage), TOPDOG/UNDERDOG and DIRECT FROM DEATH ROW: THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS (both at Celebration Arts Theater) and 3: BLACK GIRL BLUES (the Sofia, Home of B Street Theatre).
Creative Nonfiction: Clare Frank started firefighting in California at 17 and was promoted up the ranks, becoming the state’s first and only female Chief of Fire Protection. Along the way, she earned a BS in fire administration, an MFA in creative writing and a JD. She has lectured at colleges, universities and state and national fire conferences, and lives near Lake Tahoe with her husband and two dogs. Burnt: A Memoir of Fighting Fire is her first book — an inspiring, richly detailed and open-hearted account of an extraordinary life in fire.
Poetry: Marcelo Hernandez Castillo is the author of Children of the Land: a Memoir (Harper Collins), which received acclaim from Vanity Fair, LA Times, Wall Street Journal and New York Times and was a finalist for the International Latino Book Award. His first book of poems, Cenzontle, was the winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. prize (BOA editions). He is a founding member of the Undocupoets, which successfully eliminated all citizenship requirements from every major first book poetry prize in the nation, for which he received the Barnes and Noble Writers for Writers award. He was a distinguished fellow for the Marshall Project’s Art For Justice initiative from the University of Arizona, which advocates for prison reform, and he teaches in the St. Mary’s College MFA Program and the Ashland University Low-Res MFA program.
Fiction: Naomi J. Williams is the author of the novel Landfalls (FSG), long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals, garnering a Pushcart Prize and a Best American honorable mention. Distinctions also include a Sustainable Arts Foundation grant and residencies at Hedgebrook, Djerassi and Willapa Bay AiR. Educated at Princeton, Stanford and UC Davis, she teaches creative writing with Saint Mary's College and the low-residency MFA program at Ashland University. A biracial Japanese-American, Williams was born and partly raised in Japan. She currently lives in Sacramento, California.
Creative Nonfiction: Clare Frank started firefighting in California at 17 and was promoted up the ranks, becoming the state’s first and only female Chief of Fire Protection. Along the way, she earned a BS in fire administration, an MFA in creative writing and a JD. She has lectured at colleges, universities and state and national fire conferences, and lives near Lake Tahoe with her husband and two dogs. Burnt: A Memoir of Fighting Fire is her first book — an inspiring, richly detailed and open-hearted account of an extraordinary life in fire.
Poetry: Marcelo Hernandez Castillo is the author of Children of the Land: a Memoir (Harper Collins), which received acclaim from Vanity Fair, LA Times, Wall Street Journal and New York Times and was a finalist for the International Latino Book Award. His first book of poems, Cenzontle, was the winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. prize (BOA editions). He is a founding member of the Undocupoets, which successfully eliminated all citizenship requirements from every major first book poetry prize in the nation, for which he received the Barnes and Noble Writers for Writers award. He was a distinguished fellow for the Marshall Project’s Art For Justice initiative from the University of Arizona, which advocates for prison reform, and he teaches in the St. Mary’s College MFA Program and the Ashland University Low-Res MFA program.
Fiction: Naomi J. Williams is the author of the novel Landfalls (FSG), long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals, garnering a Pushcart Prize and a Best American honorable mention. Distinctions also include a Sustainable Arts Foundation grant and residencies at Hedgebrook, Djerassi and Willapa Bay AiR. Educated at Princeton, Stanford and UC Davis, she teaches creative writing with Saint Mary's College and the low-residency MFA program at Ashland University. A biracial Japanese-American, Williams was born and partly raised in Japan. She currently lives in Sacramento, California.
JUDGES
Performance: Vicki Gonzalez is a Murrow and Emmy Award-winning journalist with nearly 15 years of experience as a reporter, news anchor and producer. Prior to her role as CapRadio’s Insight host, Vicki spent five years as a reporter at NBC’s Sacramento affiliate KCRA, where she produced daily assignments, special reports, breaking news and a documentary. She also worked as a reporter, news anchor and producer at KSNV-TV in Las Vegas, KXFV-TV in Texas and KABC-TV in Los Angeles. Born in Los Angeles, Vicki is a California native and proud of her roots. Her abuelos (grandmother and grandfather) are from Guadalajara, Mexico, her grandmother from Kobe, Japan, and her English grandfather was born and raised in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and a member of Mensa International. Vicki loves calling Sacramento home with her husband and cats. When she’s not working on Insight, you can find Vicki at the farmer’s market, floating down the American River, on the Jedediah Smith bike trail or bouncing around local restaurants. Outside of town, Vicki is usually exploring the endless trails, lakes and rivers Northern California has to offer.
Intangibles: Neketia Henry is a professional actress, model, host and voiceover artist whose previous experience includes over 10 years of commercial, print, voiceover and TV/film. She can be seen/heard on Disney Pixar's animation series Doug Days, Finding Happy and the upcoming ABC series The Prank Panel. Aside from entertainment, her passion for life and fitness also landed her the coveted role of an Official Adidas Ambassador. She is a wife, mother and advocate who truly believes in being a voice for the voiceless and never giving up on YOU.
Literary Merit: Robert S. Nelsen became Sacramento State’s eighth president on July 1, 2015. As the first in his family to attend college, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science before earning his doctorate at the University of Chicago’s John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought. Dr. Nelsen served in various faculty and administrative roles before being named president of the University of Texas-Pan American. Dr. Nelsen enjoys reading and watching Westerns if he ever finds a moment of leisure. His zeal for theatre and dance makes him a loyal supporter for his students. At Sacramento State, President Nelsen is committed to ensuring that Sacramento State’s students are able to graduate on time with less debt. He is a sports enthusiast who loves to support the University’s athlete students. He wants students to become lifelong learners and critical thinkers and have an inclusive, safe and healthy experience on campus.
Intangibles: Neketia Henry is a professional actress, model, host and voiceover artist whose previous experience includes over 10 years of commercial, print, voiceover and TV/film. She can be seen/heard on Disney Pixar's animation series Doug Days, Finding Happy and the upcoming ABC series The Prank Panel. Aside from entertainment, her passion for life and fitness also landed her the coveted role of an Official Adidas Ambassador. She is a wife, mother and advocate who truly believes in being a voice for the voiceless and never giving up on YOU.
Literary Merit: Robert S. Nelsen became Sacramento State’s eighth president on July 1, 2015. As the first in his family to attend college, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science before earning his doctorate at the University of Chicago’s John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought. Dr. Nelsen served in various faculty and administrative roles before being named president of the University of Texas-Pan American. Dr. Nelsen enjoys reading and watching Westerns if he ever finds a moment of leisure. His zeal for theatre and dance makes him a loyal supporter for his students. At Sacramento State, President Nelsen is committed to ensuring that Sacramento State’s students are able to graduate on time with less debt. He is a sports enthusiast who loves to support the University’s athlete students. He wants students to become lifelong learners and critical thinkers and have an inclusive, safe and healthy experience on campus.
JUNE 9
Former Directors Night
Writing from former SOSS directors
SEPTEMBER 8
Volunteers Night
Work from some of our dedicated SOSS volunteers
OCTOBER 13
Friday the 13th Horror Night
Creepy tales that are sure to give you goosebumps
More details to come!
Performances are held at
The Auditorium at CLARA
1425 24th Street
Sacramento, CA 95816
Doors open at 6:30 pm. All performances begin at 7 pm.
Tickets are available for presale and at the door.
Former Directors Night
Writing from former SOSS directors
SEPTEMBER 8
Volunteers Night
Work from some of our dedicated SOSS volunteers
OCTOBER 13
Friday the 13th Horror Night
Creepy tales that are sure to give you goosebumps
More details to come!
Performances are held at
The Auditorium at CLARA
1425 24th Street
Sacramento, CA 95816
Doors open at 6:30 pm. All performances begin at 7 pm.
Tickets are available for presale and at the door.
