Odyssey Storytelling Presents: Emergency
Curated by Tracey Kurtzman
Thursday, July 6, 2017Doors at 6:30, show at 7
The Screening Room 127 E. Congress St
$8 Adults, $6 Students
Screams and shouts!… Fight or flight!… Lights and sirens!… Embarrassing autocorrects! …Diaper explosions! …Wardrobe malfunctions!… Emergencies take many forms and we’ve ALL been there. Whether hideous, horrendous, or hilarious, they often make for great stories. Folks who’ve lived to tell their tales will share them with us at Odyssey’s next show. If this is a medical emergency, please hang up and dial 911. If not, join us at The Screening Room on July 6th!
Storytellers include:
Avai d’Amico is a filmmaker and adventurer who moved to Tucson for the warm climate and inexpensive cost of living, but quickly fell in love with dangerous hobbies like scaling vertical cliff faces and barreling full speed toward patches of cholla while riding on only two wheels. He lives in what is possibly the smallest house in southern Arizona. In between documentary film productions and life-threatening excursions, Avai also does social work during the day and dances the blues at night.
Lara Howard Smith is not a famous anything, so she’s keeping this bio thing short and sweet. If her celebrity status changes after this Odyssey gig all bets are off. By day she heads up Internal Communications at Arizona’s largest credit union. By night she reads books, talks about books, and blogs about books. She also raises a usually delightful teenaged son and always delightful rescue Boxer. If you ever join Lara for a meal or a movie, beware! She’s one of those people who Instagrams her food and movie ticket stubs all the while knowing it annoys you.
Todd Nardi: My dreams are my reality. I am blessed to be able to combine my love for Mother Nature with my passion for emergency medicine. My day job as triage medic for Pima County Adult Detention Center balanced with Wilderness Medical Lead for Destination Trail, the Arizona Trail Association, and soon to be with National Outdoor Leadership School Wilderness Medicine Institute. Locked into a facility addressing arrestees medical needs right off the street then off to the trails to teach and treat endurance athletes in some of the most beautiful places in the country.
A father of two human adults and one canine, a former infantry United States Marine, a nationally certified Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician, and a friend of Bill W., I have seen and lived through a few emergencies.
The crow and the hawk the way that I walk, the hawk and the crow the way that I go.
Andy Pfannenstiel is an Arizona kid through and through. He was born and raised in Flagstaff and moved to Tucson, gulp, ten years ago for college and feel in love with the city. In college Andy Majored in History and minored in Italian and Classics in order to ensure that he sounded pretentious and was guaranteed as few well-paying job opportunities as possible. Andy became basically the only thing he could with his college degrees, a High School History teacher. He has had the privilege of teaching some of the smartest and most enjoyable kids in town. Andy loves movies, T.V. shows, music, and sports and having absurd conversations with friends about these topics and any stupid thing possible. He is especially excited to talk about Bruce Springsteen, horror movies, Arizona Basketball, and the Denver Broncos.
Equal parts starry-eyed idealist and crusty construction worker, Joe Silins is originally from Phoenix but has been in Tucson nearly long enough to call himself a local. A newly minted entrepreneur, Joe doesn’t have excessive amounts of free-time, but in the time he does have he likes spending time with friends, yoga-ing, and talking about how he should be camping and hiking more.
Rachel Cramton is a perpetually busy momma doc who always finds time for one more thing that tickles her fancy. She grew up in Philadelphia (her elementary school is in the opening credits to Fresh Prince of Bel Air) and has called Tucson home since 2009. She is adapting to desert life with a fantastic rocket man and two beautiful boys, as well as veritable menagerie of critters. A late bloomer in the world of medicine, she spent 10 years teaching profoundly deaf children. Now when she is at work, Rachel is a pediatrician who takes care of hospitalized children. The most meaningful and joyful part of her work is the time she spends providing palliative care for children complex medical needs and life-limiting illnesses. Oh yeah, and she is an incredible baker.
Tracey Kurtzman (curator) is a securely imperfect human, spouse, and parent who lives by the rule: “If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.” In her real life, she’s a pediatrician at El Rio Community Health Center where she cares for transgender and gender-expansive youth, children with chronic illness, and underserved families. In her fantasy life, she’s a Broadway actress who can sing and dance and has legs like Tina Turner. She moved to Tucson in 1988 and lives in a home that also houses a one sexy husband, two nerdy kids, and three barky mutts. Tracey is especially proud of the fact that she can say “Thank you” in 28 languages, 29 if you count Pig Latin. She really can!
