The Next Chapter: Reading & Storytelling

We here at The Next Chapter love your moms and dads. Maybe especially if you don’t. Better material.  So join us, on Wednesday, May 16, for a night of madcap entertainment at The Gallery at LPR (Le Poisson Rouge). Doors open at 7, show starts at 7:30pm sharp. Don’t miss a minute!

Lisa Kirchner has written for The Washington Post, Salon.com, and BUST among numerous others. Her show, HELLO, Female Lady Creature, is based on her memoir. She is the host/producer of The Next Chapter.

Kambri Crews is the author of Burn Down the Ground (Random House). She has performed on The Moth’s Mainstage, The 92Y, SXSW Comedy, Risk!, UCB Theatre, Gotham Comedy Club and given speeches at SXSW, DeafHope, and Montgomery Middle School many other venues and events.

Kendra Cunningham is a writer/filmmaker/
performer. She has been in Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival, Boston Comedy Festival and Women in Comedy Festival. Her blog Blonde Logic was featured in the New York Times and her short film lonelygirl48 won several festivals.

Bronwen Hruska is the publisher of the Soho Press. A graduate of Yale and the Columbia School of Journalism, she’s written for the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, and the Village Voice.  She is the author of the forthcoming novel, Accelerated.

Jenny Rubin has been hosted and produced her own comedy shows since 2003 and has appeared on ABC, WE TV and LOGO and IFC. You may also recognize her from the recent viral hit video, “Shit Native New Yorkers Say.” Jenny is currently working on her memoir about growing up in New York City.

Heavens to mergatroid, we’re turning one! Celebrate with us on April 18 at The Gallery at LPR. Doors open at 7pm (show starts 7:30pm sharp!) and admission is free. Woot woot! The top five ways to celebrate? Like Soylent Green. It’s people! (RSVP here.)

David Crabb is a writer and performer whose solo show, “Bad Kid,” recently ran at the Axis Theater to great acclaim. He is co-host, co-producer and co-creator of Ask Me Stories.

Ophira Eisenberg, named one of New York Magazine’s Top 10 Comics, has appeared on Comedy Central, VH-1′s, Fox, E! Channel, the Oxygen Network, and the Discovery Channel. She hosts NPR’s new trivia show, Ask Me Another.

Robin Gelfenbien is a writer and performer who has performed at the Moth, The Liar Show, HEEB Storytelling and RISK! Her storytelling series, “Yum’s the Word,” features her homemade ice cream cakes.www.robingelfenbien.com.

Court Stroud’s writing has appeared in the New York Post, Out, The Advocate, Instinct, Gay City News, and many other publications. Stroud resides in NYC’s Chelsea neighborhood with comic Eddie Sarfaty and their two cats, Dash and Julia.

Kate Tellers is a columnist with the Gorgeous Ladies of Comedy and a co-founder of “See Me, Hear Me: A Picture  is Worth a Thousand Words” (Magnet, PIT). Her writing has appeared in New York Press, Ducts and onstage with the BTK Band as well as in her own solo show.

And your host, Lisa Kirchner, who was once simultaneously the religion editor for a gay and lesbian newspaper,  bridal editor for a society rag, and an alt newsweekly dating columnist. Her solo show, HELLO, FEMALE LADY CREATURE!, is the basis for her memoir.

Sometimes humor is blue. We like that. But sometimes it’s black. We LOVE that.

On Wednesday, March 21, at The Gallery at LPR (Le Poisson Rouge), The Next Chapter brings you “The Art of Darkness” with:

Mark Sam Rosenthal is a writer/producer at Comedy Central and several acclaimed solo shows, including I Light Up My Life: The Mark Sam Celebrity Autobiography and Blanche Survives Katrina in a FEMA Trailer Named Desire. He hails from Baton Rouge.

Karen Sklaire has performed standup and appeared on Saturday Night Live, In the Mix and The Imus in the Morning. She is currently working on Drama at the Point, her solo show about teaching in the South Bronx.

Brad Lawrence is a host of USA Network’s Characters United Tour, The Moth StorySlams and is the only storyteller to win back-to-back Moth GrandSLAMS. He performs with the BTK Band and the story/burlesque show And I Am Not Lying.

Frank Lesser is an Emmy Award-winning writer for The Colbert Report. He studied fiction and film at Brown University and edited the school’s humor magazine. He is the author of Sad Monsters.

February 29, 2012 gives us a natural theme for the February show–Leap Years and Other Rarities. Maybe we’re talking about the Santa Jew Poppopp. Or maybe someone who lied to Katie Couric. Me? I’ll be reading from my memoir; telling what it was like to be a green-eyed red head trying to supervise a Muslim man in Qatar. And then I’ll give you the post script.

Doors open at 7pm. Show starts at 7:30pm. The Gallery at LPR, 158 Bleecker Street between Thompson and Sullivan.

Check out this  lineup!

Mary Adkins is a writer and nonpracticing lawyer. Her plays have been reviewed in the New York Times and Time Out New York. Her writing has appeared in Slate, New York Daily News, thegloc.com and the Frisky.com. She currently writes for Pipture.com. She won the Fringe Festival’s Outstanding Playwriting Award in 2009.

Halley Bondy is a writer, editor, cabaret enthusiast, verbal assassin, and lady about town. Her writing has appeared in the New York Daily News, the Village Voice, the Star Ledger, MTV Iggy, Back Stage and in her awesome new book, Don’t Sit On The Baby. She won the Fringe Festival’s Outstanding Playwright Award in 2008.

Andy Ross is a writer and storyteller originally from Wisconsin. He’s contributed humor pieces to The Onion News Network, Comedy Central’s Indecision Forever blog, and MAD Magazine. He’s performed stories at The Liar Show, Stripped Stories and the Moth GrandSLAM. He also hosts Real Characters. Find out more at andyrosscomedy.com.

Katherine Wessling’s stories have been heard at Moth Slams, Purge, You Went to College for That? and on WNYC. She is the author of Backstage at a Movie Set and contributed to Women’s Wear Daily: 100 Years, 100 Designers, as well as the anthology Have I Got a Guy For You. Her writing appeared in Marie Claire, Elle and CosmoGirl! among others.

Charles Salzberg is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in New York, Esquire, GQ and the New York Times. His non-fiction books include From Set Shot to Slam Dunk and Baseball’s Worst Teams. His novel, Swann’s Last Song was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel. The sequel, Swann Dives In, will be published in 2012. He teaches writing at the Writer’s Voice and the New York Writers Workshop.

Lisa Kirchner’s work has appeared in The Washington Post, Salon.com and BUST among others. She was once simultaneously the religion editor for a gay and lesbian newspaper,  bridal editor for a society rag, and an alt newsweekly dating columnist. Her solo show, HELLO, FEMALE LADY CREATURE!, is the basis for her memoir. She is the producer and host of the show. 

Hey y’all, thanks for coming to the show. We had an amazing time. If you didn’t make it, check out the fun here…

Curious on your opinion about the music. I was just playing around with it, clipping just little enough not to run into infringement. Still can’t help but wonder if it’s working. Whatcha think?

xoLisa

This month we’re all about the loving. Note, not the love. We mean the loving.

Join us Tuesday, January 31 at The Gallery at LPR (Le Poisson Rouge) for the “Corset Busters” edition of The Next Chapter. Doors open at 7:30pm. Admission is free. Le Poisson Rouge is at 158 Bleecker Street.

Jo Weldon is the Headmistress and Founder of the New York School of Burlesque. Internationally renowned as burlesque personality Jo Boobs, she’s rounded her heels on stages from Coney Island to Las Vegas. She’s the winner of such exotic titles as Best Bump N Grinder, Best Teacher and Mentor, and Biggest Cougar in Burlesque! She has worked with performers from Leonard Cohen to Spinal Tap, and has been featured on television shows from CBS Sunday Morning to Gossip Girl. Her book, The Burlesque Handbook: A Backstage Guide, featuring a foreword by Margaret Cho, was released by HarperCollins/ItBooks in June 2010.

Jack Silbert has written for publications from Weird New Jersey to the New York Times. He is the author of several books, including Santa in Space (Golden Books) and The Modern Con Man: How to Get Something for Nothing(Bloomsbury). Jack is an occasional emcee and a weekly Internet radio DJ. His humorous ramblings can be found at saltinwound.com.

Jennifer Ostrega is the author of the blog OHMEIMFINE.com. She is a teacher of writing and improvisation to international students at Pratt Institute and School of Visual Arts. Jennifer has written for BettyConfidential.com and is the creator of the one-woman comedy Tower of Babble at the New York Fringe Festival. Her most recent project, the birth of her son, began in 2009, and is a co-production with Daniel B.Gold.

Charles Sanchez is an openly gay writer/performer living in Manhattan. He started his career as a child in the Phoenix Boys Choir, toured Europe, sang for the president, traveled the country. Then his voice changed and it’s been downhill ever sincefrom Lincoln Center to Off-Broadway, regional theatre, touring children’s theatre, and finally, a stint at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is currently writing a solo show (working title: “Pink Sheep”) based on his experiences growing up in a Catholic, Mexican-American, Republican household, hiding his sexuality while doing musical theatre, coming out, and living with AIDS in the modern world.

Lisa Kirchner‘s work has appeared in The Washington Post, Salon.com, BUST Magazine, The New York Post, Budget Travel, Kirkus Reviews and TheHuffingtonPost.com, among numerous others. Before moving to the Persian Gulf, she was the religion editor for Pittsburgh’s gay and lesbian newspaper, the bridal editor for its society rag, and an alt newsweekly dating columnist. Her flash essay, “My Husband: My Moto,” appeared in the compilation Learning to Love You More (Prestel Publishing, 2007). Her solo show, HELLO, FEMALE LADY CREATURE!, is the basis for her memoir. 

Something to tide you over til we return January 31, 2012 with CORSET BUSTERS (Jo “Boobs” Weldon, reading and demoing burlesque how-to; Charles Sanchez, on coming out; and Jack Silbert, on women, and off…). I am going to try and scrounge up a copy of Scruples, my first most erotic reading. Besides Carrie. Yeah, there was a sex scene in Carrie…