NYS Social Workers can earn 2 contact hours of Continuing Education for each show attended. To receive CE hours:
SIGN IN when you arrive at the theater. Stay for the show and discussion. Complete an evaluation. Sign out when you submit the evaluation.

Venue: The Performing Arts Studio
224 E. Main St.
Port Jefferson, NY 11777

For real-life psychotherapist Jude Treder-Wolff, change is her bread and butter. Sometimes a fantastic new start, sometimes a tragedy, it is the human reality. She’s also an improviser who takes a “make the leap and figure it out as you go” approach to change, married to a guy who does lots of looking before making any moves and has a strict "no leaping" clause in the marriage contract. That’s a human comedy.

As the speed of change accelerates in all our lives our world transforms more quickly - and more often - than our brains are built to process. FASTER weaves the personal with the universal in a comedic breakdown of the struggle between stepping on the gas to keep up and braking to stay in control as we hurtle toward an uncertain future. True stories told by an expert in not knowing what will happen next.

Elizabeth Bojsza (she/her) is passionate about community engagement, empowering voices, and asking good questions. She is a facilitator and curriculum designer for the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, where she is an assistant professor of practice. She finds it incredibly rewarding to apply the skills of analysis and feedback that she honed as a theater artist to designing curricula and guiding learning through applied improvisation for scientists and healthcare professionals. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in theater and has trained instructors and teachers in various contexts including non-profit theater and higher education. Elizabeth is the lead designer of the Alda Healthcare Curriculum, which focuses on interprofessional healthcare communication. This curriculum has been offered at Stony Brook Medicine as part of a Health Resources and Services Administration grant for the past year and a half, cumulatively training over 550 healthcare professionals across five departments in the hospital. She is also an executive board member of the Stony Brook Child Care Center and an appointed Suffolk County Human Rights Commissioner.

Online Webinars - solo storytelling shows live-streamed in 2021 available for Continuing Education hours

Listen, Can You Hear Me Now? is Gloria Rosen's autobiographical story that centers on a child growing up with deaf parents but not allowed to sign. Forbidden the use of their language, yet still the voice of her family, she lives between the worlds of deaf and hearing. Not fully belonging to either, she follows her singular path to find her own voice.

This show was an Official Selection for the New York International Fringe Festival, was awarded Best Autobiographical Script at United Solo Theatre Festival, best of Hollywood Fringe and had its first international performance at Treasured Gifts: A Weekend of Coda Storytelling at the Campus St. Jean, University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. A selection was performed at the International Codahaven Confernece in Rhode Island, and the full show at the historic St. Ann’s Church For The Deaf, founded by the Reverend Thomas Gallaudet.

Joining for a post-show discussion: Phillip Gehman, the Director of Disability Services at Stevens Institute of Technology, an experienced university administrator with expertise in the area of disability legislation. In this field, Phil specializes in disability as a form of diversity. His passion for the social model of disability energizes hihs work in creating equal access to university programs, and drives his interest in disability related policy and initiatives.

THANK YOU FOR PLAYING features stories and monologues by therapist and writer/performer Jude Treder-Wolff (RISK! PBS Stories From The Stage, Story District, Whitefire Solo Theatre Festival) about the human comedy that is our relationship to change in a rapidly accelerating world. Through characters and events at a teen bereavement camp, at "Face Your Fears" Retreats, in the corporate world, this show shows and tells about the power of play and creativity to navigating a stress-filled world. Interspersed with improv scenes inspired by the monologues performed by some of New York's best improvisers the result is a mental health comedy mash-up showing how making things up together helps us deal with reality.

Dangerous When Wet: Booze, Sex and My Mother written and performed by Jamie Brickhouse takes us from Jamie's childhood in Texas to a high-profile career in book publishing in New York and a near-fatal descent into alcoholism. About his memoir by the same name that tells this story, Mary Karr, New York Times best-selling author of The Liar's Club wrote: "A blisteringly funny, wrenching account of wrestling way too close to - and later loose from - booze, sex, drugs and his adorable, infuriating mother. The 5-time, award-winning show received deluge of rave reviews, including the San Francisco Chronicle, which said, "Brickhouse [has] a vocal range finely calibrated to the unique needs of each beat...he writes with fiendish pith."

Called "a natural raconteur" by the Washington Post, Jamie Brickhouse has appeared on PBS-TV Stories From The Stage, is a four-time Moth StorySLAM champion, has been featured on the national podcast of The Moth, is a Grand Slam winner of the National Storytelling Network, a Literary Death Match champion, and has appeared multiple times on RISK! (live show and podcast), Story Collider (live show and podcast), performs throughout New York City, and has appeared in Mexico, Los Angeles, San Francisco, D.C., Minneapolis and Asheville. He has also performed stand-up comedy and recorded voice-overs for the legendary cartoon TV show Beavis and Butthead. He is an international keynote speaker on a range of topics, from alcoholism/addiction, recovery, suicide prevention, overcoming HIV stigma, dementia and so much more. Read more about Jamie Brickhouse's speaking, writing and storytelling at www.jamiebrickhouse.com

Post-show discussion featuring: Eric Marcus, founder and host of the award-winning Making Gay History podcast, which mines his decades-old audio archive of rare interviews — conducted for his oral history book of the same name about the LGBTQ civil rights movement — to create intimate, personal portraits of both known and long-forgotten champions, heroes, and witnesses to history. His other books include Is It A Choice?, Why Suicide?, and Breaking the Surface, the #1 New York Times bestselling autobiography of Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis. Eric is also co-producer of Those Who Were There, a podcast drawn from Yale University’s Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies.

Tech Babies written and performed by Jessica Robinson is an intimate story about the medical and psychological realities of what seems like the most natural and simple thing in the world - making a baby. Jessica is very active in the storytelling scene, and hosts Better Said Than Done, which produces live storytelling shows and is based in northern Virginia but now streaming around the world.
Jessica Robinson is the founder of Better Said Than Done, which produces true, personal storytelling shows in the northern Virginia area and beyond. She has performed stories for Story District in Washington, DC, TEDx, Tales In The Village, The Grapevine, Stories In The Round, Perfect Liars Club and George Mason University's Fall For The Book Festival, and as such venues as Jammin' Java, Epicure Cafe, Franklin Park Performing Arts Center, The Auld Shebeen, Town DanceBoutique, and Dance Place. She has been a regular commentator for WAMU, DC's NPR station. Her personal story "The Game" was published in the short story collection Sucker For Love. Her story "What Are The Odds" was published in The Northern Virginia Review, Volume 29 and "The Talk" is included in the anthology Roar: True Tales Of Women Warriors. She is the author of the urban fantasy novel Caged published in 2016 and is currently writing the sequel.
Joining for a post-show discussion:

Mandy Schmeider Cummings is an actress, improviser and writer whose short film Unnatural deals with the realities of the infertility struggle and is currently winning awards on the film festival circuit. She can be seen as "I'm So Bad" Mandy, the bi-curious fitness student, the apologetic scientist, and the pregnant cannibal, as a recurring guest on Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer.

Bonnie Gardner, a former journalist who changed careers to work in IT, has performed on Better Said Than Done, The Scheherazade Project's #101 Nights series, Stories For Healing, Artists Standing Strong Together's NEW-ish, and GOOD Storytellers show. When she's not at her day job, she's helping run Big Big World Project - www.bigbigworld.org, a non-profit supporting children in two orphanages in Vietnam. She's based in Northern Virginia, where she can be found alternately nagging and getting up to some hijinks with her teenager.

February 25, 2021 in honor of Black History Month we presented: Black Voices Matter. This show is available to watch on Youtube at no charge. Featuring:
Nick Baskerville who is active in the storytelling scene, having been featured on The Moth, The Story Collider, Better Said Than Done, Mistakes Were Made, and Perfect Liar’s Club). He can be seen on the Clean AF Comedy Show every Friday night (https://www.facebook.com/cleanafcomedy ) His blog is Story Telling On Purpose at www.stop365.blog
Helena Lewis, DSW, a theatrical scholar-practitioner who uses qualitative research and social work theories to illuminate social justice issues. Her solo show We Are Still Human - based on her research about the struggles of incarcerated women - has been performed internationally.
Donna Washington has won numerous awards for her many books, writing and storytelling performances over her international career. She has been featured at numerous storytelling festivals including the 2004 National Storytelling Festival, The Illinois Storytelling Festival, The Three Rivers Festival, The St. Louis Storytelling Festival, among many others. Find out more at www.dlwstoryteller.com
Rosann Hamilton is a biomedical Imaging Specialist for the Department of Veterans Affairs, who served in the US Army from 1994 - 2005, and was named the United States Military Academy (USMA) West Point Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) of the Year among many other honors.
Michelle Gilliam is a voice actor and improviser. She has been involved in the improv comedy scene for over 20 years. Michelle has had the pleasure of performing all over the country and being immersed in the Milwaukee, Chicago, and Boston improv scenes, which gives her a unique and well-rounded perspective. Michelle currently coaches, teaches, and performs in Milwaukee, WI. Michelle is also the owner of Improv MKE LLC, and is passionate about connecting the global improv community through online and in-person classes, workshops, skill-based drop ins, and jams.

BODY PARTS featuring Carla Katz explores 4 perspectives organ transplants: needing one, donating one, caring for the organ and the people involved, the power of stories to heal and social impact of telling them.
CARLA KATZ is a Jersey born and bred storyteller living in Hoboken. Her new solo show, ANGELINA, debuted at the SOLOCOM 2019 Comedy Festival at the Peoples Improv Theater. Her solo show BODY PARTS sold out at the SOLOCOM 2017 Comedy Festival.  She is a Moth StorySLAM Champion, has performed widely in New York including at the Comedy Cellar, the Fat Black Pussycat, Story Collider, The Liar Show, The AWFNH Show at the Kraine Theatre, NYC’s Secrets and Lies and Generation Women at Caveat, Sideshow Goshko and a wide a variety of shows at the Magnet Theater and the Tank. She has also performed across New Jersey including in Hoboken's On The Waterfront Storytelling Series, Word of Mouth Storytelling by the Bucks Country Playhouse in Lambertville, and This Really Happened at the Hopewell Theatre. Carla is co-producer with Adam Wade of the Hoboken-based On the Waterfront Storytelling Series. By day, she is also a labor lawyer, professor, and union leader.
JANINE ALLEN: Originally from England, Janine lived in France and Italy as a young child. She moved to New Jersey in 1996. She attended Seton Hall Law School and works as a defense attorney in North Jersey. Janine is a mother of 4 children, 5 fur kids, a frequent volunteer in her community and always strives to be the best human she can be.
DR. RYAN GOLDBERG, board certified in internal medicine and nephrology, joined the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division in 2010 from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado. While there, he completed two fellowships, both in AST/ASN renal transplant and general nephrology, and a residency in internal medicine. He received a post-baccalaureate degree from the University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, Colorado, and an undergraduate degree from Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.
TINA BAKEHOUSE MA is an executive communication coach, who develops and facilitates a wide-range of creative communication workshops for educators, managers, and other professionals in the Omaha-metro area, specializing in storytelling for professionals from diverse fields, including health care, business and not-for-profits. For 15 years she taught at Creighton University Communication Studies Department, has spoken at TEDx and conferences throughout the midwest and performed in storytelling shows in Iowa and New York. www.tinabakehouse.com    

THIS ISN’T HELPING written and performed by Jude Treder-Wolff; Guest host Peter Michael Marino
This Isn’t Helping is a comedic account of a long-time therapist’s struggle with burn-out after 20 years of treating trauma culminating in the impact of treating survivors of the attacks on the World Trade Center.  Her search for renewed hope and the spark to continue doing the work she loves means facing some dark emotions, difficult truths about mental health and surprising encounters with some fascinating people who thought they could help, including an overly-analytic supervisor, a clueless, enthusiastic life coach, and a New Age healer who calls herself an oracle.
The North Hollywood Arts District describes this show as “a voyage of mutual discovery, by Jude and the audience…This is one woman on stage for over an hour being real and speaking, or sometimes singing, her truth and discovering the things we all search for - Why are we here? What do we need and how can we be better? Its uplifting, profound and ultimately very, very funny.”
The New York Daily News says “Self-medicate with real-life therapist Jude Treder-Wolff. Expect the unexpected. And without the hourly rates!”  Clinical social workers and public health educators rated the show 5 stars, saying “Funny, insightful, and poignant!” and “I always feel like I’ve had a transfusion after one of Jude’s shows.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSION includes MARGOT ESCOTT, LCSW for a discussion about burn-out, improv and the arts in healing. Margot is host of the Improv Interviews podcast, keynote speaker for National Association of Social Workers-NJ, University of Oklahoma School of Social Work, MSA Coalition annual conference.