Odyssey Storytelling Presents: Awkward
Curated by Roscoe Mutz
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Doors at 6:30, show at 7
The Screening Room 127 E. Congress St
$8 Adults, $6 Students
Cotton mouth, sweaty palms, and squirming. The pregnant pause after you ask someone when they are due. The taste of your foot in your mouth or the smell of stepping in it. Come get awkward with Odyssey as these storytellers bravely share true 10-minute stories about situations that probably could have gone better:
Mel Blumenthal is on the executive board of FST! Female Storytellers and is launching pilot programs to bring storytelling into the public school system to empower the next generation of tellers of tales. She is a retired professional ballroom dancer who still enjoys a good milonga and loves to salsa and bachata until unreasonable hours of the evening. She is the Vice President of the Advocacy Council for the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona. The other cape she wears during the day is as a retirement consultant and community finance educator specializing in financial education and financial planning for women. Likes: Boozy cereal and bathrobes. Dislikes: Right wing politics and skinny jeans.
Richard Dooley is the youngest of 10 children. While he was an art student at U of A, he won a statewide contest 
to design the scenic route sign for the state of Arizona. Twenty years later he became a nurse. Between his graduation from art school but before becoming a nurse, he was a failed Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa, tended bar from Seattle to the Virgin Islands, and while he was still a bartender and a nurse, he created an upscale Margarita mix called Dick’s Mix. He has some stories.
Born in Mexico in 1973, Karla Campillo-Soto came to the U.S. in her early twenties as a teacher. Karla’s love for storytelling started when she had the opportunity to listen to a nationally recognized storyteller who came to her school …and it was love at first sound. Karla currently resides in Douglas with her husband and her three children. She is a member of Tucson Tellers of Tells and has had the opportunity to tell her stories at the National Library of Congress.
Melissa Sheely is an aspiring indie author, office manager who makes sure bills are paid, and a single mother of two girls. She has been stumbling along this world trying to be an excellent example to her girls and just be a decent human being. In her short 30 years, she has experienced much and uses those lessons to guide her.
Patty Walmann is a former lap swimmer, former fiber artist, former teacher for Gifted and Talented Children, former lawyer representing victims of elder abuse. Currently she is mother to three Gifted and Talented Adult Children and three grand-girls. She will celebrate her 50th Wedding Anniversary with Jim Walmann in June by walking the Camino de Santiago. She keeps busy by volunteering at the Amerind Museum and at the Saint David Cultural and Historical Society doing oral history related projects.
Cate Bradley tries to see the humor in awkward situations that happen to her. Depending on the degree of awkwardness, it can take some time to get there. Tonight she’s gotten there for this story telling. And while getting up on a stage to tell 100 strangers an awkward story feels a bit weird, she has dug deep to share the shame. And hopefully there will be no wardrobe malfunctions. She has been involved in fundraising since she was a Girl Scout – a long time ago.
By day Jeff Whitehead is a restaurant proprietor, volunteer and walking partner for his furry companion. By night and weekend he transforms in to one of the most dominant recreational soccer goalkeepers of the modern era. In his free time he continually strives towards his goal of mastering irony and sarcasm.
