High Water Stories: November 3, 2023

Building Five, Portland.

 

HIGH WATER STORIES: Storytelling for a Shared Awareness

GrosslyNormalLife is excited to take part in AUXART's High Water residency in NW Portland's historic Building 5.

Join us on Friday, November 3 @ 7:30pm as GrosslyNormalLife activates the space with a vibrant storytelling event called High Water Stories. TICKETS HERE.

High Water Stories brings together timely stories exploring climate change and our collective relationships to an emergency reality of droughts, floods, earthquakes and fire. We will explore the growing awareness of the vital need for sustainability, community, inter-connectedness and recovery.

  • Scott Sanders is an ex-actor, and ex-New Yorker, who moved to the left coast 20 years ago and is still wrestling with cross-cultural challenges. Scott has told stories in six Moth GrandSLAMs and three Moth Mainstage events. His stories have been featured on the Moth Podcast, NPR's Snap Judgement, and in storytelling / comedy venues throughout the Bay Area, NYC, LA and now Portland. Scott gave up acting when his dog became an acting superstar. He has been struck by lightning, and still, he never considers not jaywalking. His website is: grosslynormallife.com

  • Daria Eliuk moved to Portland in 1989 for college, and stayed for the amazing people. She has been a stalwart in local radio, television, theatre and storytelling. She has never been a bridesmaid and wears very high heels. She lives with her husband Dallas, their son Xander, and one naughty dog.

  • Travis Abels grew up the son of a preacher, fascinated by the infinite ways we use story to create meaning from the chaos of life. He shows unreasonable enthusiasm for squirrels, interactions of color, erotic thrillers from the early 80s, and exploring the collision points between forces - where the ocean meets a cliff, or our breath meets the outside world. He’s currently training with the Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble and developing his next one-person show for 2024’s Fringe Festival circuit. Catch him at travisabels.com or on IG @travisjay.

  • R Tod Kelly is a writer and long-form journalist who spends an unhealthy amount of time hanging out with America’s most fringe social, political and religious movements to see what makes them tick: cult leaders, exorcists, con artists, Grand Dragons, pick up artists, militia separatists, and — perhaps the weirdest of all — the Trump For President campaign. His work has been featured in the Atlantic, Newsweek, the Daily Beast, NPR and The Moth Radio Hour. Tod is the Executive Producer & Creative director for 7 Deadly Sins based in Portland.

  • Jasmine Nothing is the founder and creator of Telltale, a month storytelling show for people that like to get vulnerable and take no shit. She thinks we should all drink more water, and that there’s no excuse for not making pie crust by hand.

  • Former Minister of Propaganda @ Burningman

Storytellers will present from within Philip Krohn's large-scale architectural dome, creating a uniquely centering experience for both storytellers and audience. This is storytelling in the round: Community-building in the moment. Host Scott Sanders is curating a dynamic evening of shared human connection in this exploration of our common--and uncommon--experiences in a changing world.

With nearly 7,500 square feet and a several stories tall ceiling, Building 5 serves as a laboratory for workshop and site-specific installation, performance, interdisciplinary collaborative works, film and community exhibitions.

Combining large-scale sculpture installation with a sonic theater of special sound art, AUXART will create an immense setting called HIGH WATER. HIGH WATER combines architectural scale sculpture by artist Philip Krohn, with a curated sound environment from multi-instrumentalists Jose Medeles (1939 Ensemble), Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), Lisa Molinaro (Modest Mouse) and Raymond Richards (The Parson Red Heads).

Through a series of gathering and shared experiences activating this grand-scale, otherworldly space, AUXART is creating an immersive experiential arts space in both composition and presentation. The result is an experience that is challenging and contemplative.


AUXART’s High Water Residency opens Thursday October 19 and runs through Saturday November 11, 2023.

HIGH WATER STORIES, a storytelling experience presented by GrosslyNormalLife, takes place Friday, November 3, from 7:30-10pm.

CLICK TO BUY TICKETS HERE