Ex Fabula’s March Madness

Update: Club Garibaldi is a 21+ venue, and so will be the show! Also, due to the high capacity of Ex Fabula events, Club Garibaldi will not be serving dinner. If you were planning on grubbin’ before the show, head over to YELP! to find the best in Bay View.

 

Have you ever been green with envy? Did growing a green thumb change your world? Were you once green with inexperience and made a valuable mistake? Have you ever made a difficult sacrifice for those greenbacks? Or do you just have strong feelings on spinach?

Join Ex Fabula on Tuesday, March 12th for another round of true and personal stories at Club Garibaldi in beautiful Bay View. If it wasn’t already painfully obvious, the theme for the evening is “Green.”

The show starts at 7:30 and tickets are $5 (cash only). Come early and drop your name in the hat for your chance to share your own story on stage.

Ex Fabula is no stranger to Bay View and we’re excited about our first collaboration with Club Garibaldi. Located at 2501 S. Superior Street, Club Garibaldi is one of the city’s prime spots to catch new and unique music from the local scene and around the world. Past performers include Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Mark Olson (of the Jayhawks), The Meat Puppets and Megafaun. And on March 12, you!

For details and a full story slam schedule, visit our blog @ exfabula.com.

Ex Fabula: Story. Stage. You.

Ex Fabula Valentine’s Special

Running out of date ideas? Join us on February 13th at 7:30 p.m. for another round of true and personal stories at Stonefly Brewery in the heart of Riverwest. Have a beer, tell a story, have another beer (because hey, it’s already Wednesday). Come early and drop your name in the hat for the chance to command the stage with your own tale on the night’s theme: “It’s a date.”

Tickets are $5 at the door. If you bring a date, tickets are still $5. Sorry, but we only accept cash at this time. But never fear, Stonefly has an ATM!

Stonefly is located at 735 E. Center St. in Riverwest and has been home to one of Ex Fabula’s most popular shows for several seasons. Wednesday night is wine night at the local brewery (go figure?). Ex Fabula recommends flossing before the show to avoid an embarrassing mouthful of purple wine teeth once you take the stage (I’m looking at you, Gary). Plus, the theme is “It’s a Date,” so we want everyone looking their best.

After the great turnout for our Facebook promos, we’re doing it again! Starting on February 7th, post your Ultra Short story on the Ex Fabula Facebook page for a chance to win two free tickets. You can also enter our random drawing for tickets by RSVPing to the event page. The promotions end on Tuesday, February 12, the night before the show.

New Neighborhood, New Story Slam: January 15th!

Already have regrets from New Year’s Eve? Well you’re in luck. The theme for our January 15^th story slam is “Do Over,” so come on down and let’s start the New Year right with some of Milwaukee’s best unheard stories.

We’re also expanding into a new neighborhood! The Times Cinema, located at 5906 W. Vliet Street, is our newest venue in the Washington Heights neighborhood. It recently reopened with a bang this past December and will play host to our January show, as well as our April 17^th show (mark your calendars!).

For the January 15^th show, we will be hosting two ticket giveaways through our Facebook page. Starting on January 10^th, post your Ultra Short story (a couple of sentences) on the Ex Fabula Facebook page for a chance to win two free tickets. Or you can enter our random drawing for tickets with an RSVP to the Facebook event page. The promotions will end at midnight on January 13^th.

The show begins at 7:30, with doors opening at 6:30. As usual there, there will be a $5 cover to help fund future events. Come early for the best seats in the house and the best parking. If you’re planning on drinking much, take the bus! The Times is conveniently located off the 31 and 33 bus routes from downtown. And put your name in that hat and share a story, why dontcha?

Ex Fabula: Story. Stage. You.

Ex Fabula Season Opening Spectacular!

Ex Fabula’s Storytelling Spectacular

Ex Fabula invites you to Turner Hall on Thursday, December 6th at 7:30 p.m. for Milwaukee’s third annual Storytelling Spectacular. This year’s event is sure to deliver a night of compelling, true stories on the theme, “Game On!”

The Storytelling Spectacular is a special, non-competitive exhibition that is carefully curated by the founders and volunteers of Ex Fabula. While our regular season events feature five-minute stories, this showcase allows a handful of storytellers 10 minutes each to share their original story on the night’s theme. This year’s show will also feature a story told in the Rashomon format: A raconteur duo will share 15 minutes to recount their divergent perspectives of a shared experience.

If you have attended an Ex Fabula event, you are aware of the many genuine and gripping stories you may hear. Our regular season shows allow for only one Audience Favorite, so the season-opening Spectacular gives Ex Fabula the opportunity to celebrate many more amazing storytellers and put them on the big stage at the historic Turner Hall. Storytellers we’ve met in Sheboygan during our summer residency at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center will make this event extra spectacular. This year’s storytellers include Tom Strini, Tracy Lehrmann, Katy Richtor, Andrew Larsen, Evelyn Prevenas, Tom Dillon, and Frank & Mary Koczan.

This event is expected to fill up quickly, so be sure to purchase your tickets in advance. Tickets are $12 and available online through the Pabst Theater box office. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Ex Fabula: Story. Stage. You.

“Louder than a Bomb” at the Milwaukee Film Festival

Ex Fabula is thrilled to sponsor the film Louder than a Bomb, and we hope you’ll join us at the Milwaukee Film Festival in the interim before our fall season begins.
Louder than a Bomb follows a group of teens who tell their stories poetry slam style as they prepare for the world’s largest youth poetry slam – Chicago’s Louder than a Bomb fest. Spotlighting teams of prep-school prodigies and urgan troubadours, the event bridges cultural rifts and tempers the trials of adolescence through the performance, critique and revision of hundreds of original pieces. This film won audienceawards at six major festivals and is sure to be a hit in Milwaukee as well, so we hope you’ll join us for this inspirational film.

Tickets are on sale now on the Milwaukee Film website for the following screenings:

• Saturday October 1st, 5:15 pm at the Oriental Theatre on Milwaukee’s East Side (the director and film subjects are scheduled to attend)
• Sunday October 2nd, 7:15 pm at the Ridge Cinema, 5200 S Moorland Rd in New Berlin

Visit Ex Fabula’s Facebook page on Tuesday and Wednesday for chances to win a pair of tickets to the screenings. We’ll ask you to post your UltraShort story related to film or movies and then randomly select a winner from the responses.
See you at the Festival!

Storytellers for Ex Fabula ALL STARS announced

photos by Kat Berger.

our fabulous poster designed by dwellephant!

We’re thrilled to announce the line-up for the upcoming Ex Fabula ALL STARS event, which will take place at Turner Hall on Thursday, June 2nd, at 8 pm. This grand finale event of our second season will feature stories told by the ALL STARS – storytellers who were voted Audience Favorites at this season’s monthly events. Tickets are available for $10 at http://www.pabsttheater.org/show/exfabulaallstars .

The 2010-2011 ALL STARS are:

Brooke Maroldi (October, “Confessions”, http://www.ournextthing.com)

the Duo of Isaiah Rembert and Clifford Smith (November, “Neighbors”)

Bob Murray (January, “It Gets Better”, http://www.facebook.com/dateamerica)

Scott Heaton (February, “Valentine/Anti-Valentine”, ohscotty.tumblr.com)

Anja Notanja (March, “Emergency”, http://www.anjanotanja.com)

Amie Losi (April, “Theory & Practice”)

Each of the ALL STARS will share a new, ten-minute Solo or fifteen-minute Duo on the theme of “Secrets & Lies.”

The evening will also kick off “Terminal Milwaukee”, a seven-event series that will lead audiences through five distinctive neighborhoods of Milwaukee following the dynamic life story of Tom Crawford. Tom was a standout storyteller from Ex Fabula All Stars 2010 and is a self-described “terminal” Milwaukeean. As part of this kickoff, Tom will share a story on the theme of “Secrets & Lies”, Milwaukee Historian John Gurda will reveal some “secrets and lies” about our beloved Milwaukee, and the Terminal Milwaukee series video trailer will be screened for the first time.
“Terminal Milwaukee” is funded in part by a major grant award from the Wisconsin Humanities Council. The Wisconsin Humanities Council supports and creates programs that use history, culture, and discussion to strengthen community life for everyone in Wisconsin. The WHC receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Wisconsin.
Ex Fabula sponsors:
Ex Fabula ALL STARS sponsor:

Our New Series, “Terminal Milwaukee”

We at Ex Fabula are so proud to announce the details of our new project, “Terminal Milwaukee”. The project is a seven event series that will lead audiences through five distinctive neighborhoods of Milwaukee following the dynamic life story of Tom Crawford, a standout storyteller from Ex Fabula All Stars 2010 and self-described “terminal” Milwaukeean.

Through the “Terminal Milwaukee” series, we will see Milwaukee through the eyes of a lifelong resident, Tom Crawford, and visit the neighborhoods he grew up in and worked in over the years. He has worked as a longshoreman on Jones Island, a baker’s apprentice and a hide washer in a tannery. He began in radio in 1983 and eventually became Station Manager of WMSE, where he currently works as a community linchpin. Tom Crawford’s visceral personal stories are gripping, vivid and filled with detail and affection for the neighborhoods they are set in. Accordingly, each event will also feature storytellers preselected from residents of those neighborhoods. Milwaukee historian John Gurda will contribute historical vignettes to each event to fill out the evening. Throughout the course of the series, audience members will have the opportunity to share their memories and experiences in the neighborhood. The series will be documented in audio and video form and these will be shared throughout the year long project.

The series kicks off at Ex Fabula ALL STARS 2011 season finale on June 2nd at Turner Hall. In addition to Tom’s story on the evening’s theme of “Secrets and Lies”, this kick off will include the unveiling of the project’s video trailer. The first neighborhood event will take place at Club Garibaldi at 8 pm on Saturday July 23rd, and the theme will be “All in a Day’s Work”.  On Friday September 9 at 8 pm, Satin Wave will host an event with a theme of “Barber Shop”. Sherman Perk will host “Intersections” on Saturday November 5 at 8 pm. In 2012, the series travels to Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall for an event on the theme of “Generation Gap” on Saturday January 28 at 8 pm. Then on Thursday March 29, 2012 at 6 pm 91.7 WMSE will host an event in studio which will be broadcasted live; the theme will be “Frontier Radio”. The series will resolve in a final live storytelling and musical event, presented in cooperation with Alverno Presents; the theme of “Terminal Milwaukee” will come to life on Saturday April 28, 2012, at Alverno’s Pitman Theatre.

Admission to most events will be free with donations accepted to support this project as well as Ex Fabula’s mission of building community by connecting storytellers with audiences.

“Terminal Milwaukee” is funded in part by a major grant award from the Wisconsin Humanities Council. The Wisconsin Humanities Council supports and creates programs that use history, culture, and discussion to strengthen community life for everyone in Wisconsin. The WHC receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Wisconsin.

For more information about the “Terminal Milwaukee” series, email Amy Schleicher, Project Director, at (amy at exfabula dot com).

Seemed like a great idea at the time? Ex Fabula wants to hear it!

You’ve planned, you’ve envisioned and you’ve fantasized about that moment. You were sure it was going to work out just as you had hoped….What happened? Did it turn out as planned? Tell your true story -or just come to listen- at the next Ex Fabula event at 8 pm on Tuesday April 12th at The Bay View Brewhaus, 2535 S. Kinnickinnic Avenue. The night’s theme is Theory and Practice.

Think your true, personal story is so “out there” that no one would believe you, or so universal that everyone will feel like they’ve been there? Come to Ex Fabula! Dozens of people will be there to lend their ears and their support as you share your very own story on stage.  Those who are interested in vying for a storytelling spot on Tuesday April 12th should put their names in the hat by 7:45 pm. Would-be storytellers should prepare stories that tie into the night’s theme. Be sure to practice reciting your tale before the event (friends and pets make for a great audience). On stage, you must tell your story without notes and within five-minutes– there will be a cut-off cue if a story runs over the time limit.  The audience favorite of the night will have the opportunity to tell a story at the ALL STARS event in early June.

Speaking of ALL STARS, Ex Fabula fans should go to http://www.pabsttheater.org/show/exfabulaallstars and purchase their tickets for Ex Fabula ALL STARS, which will take place at Turner Hall on Thursday June 2nd. This event will feature brand new, ten-minute stories told by favorite storytellers as voted by audience members from our past monthly events.

Keeping within the theme of the evening, Secrets and Lies, Ex Fabula will also reveal a secret of its own: the trailer for a special, upcoming storytelling project starring a notable, terminal Milwaukeean. Put an excellent theory to practice and don’t miss the ALL STARS event!

For more information about Ex Fabula, go to www.ExFabula.com.

Ex Fabula Awarded Wisconsin Humanities Council Grant, Embarks on Project to Highlight Local Tales Told by Your Neighbors

We are proud to announce today that Ex Fabula has received a major grant award from Wisconsin Humanities Council to help fund our upcoming special community storytelling project – Reclaiming Milwaukee’s Narrative. The project is a seven event series that will lead audiences through five distinctive, but underappreciated, neighborhoods of Milwaukee– following the dynamic life story of Tom Crawford, a regular Ex Fabula storyteller and “terminal” Milwaukeean.

The Wisconsin Humanities Council supports and creates programs that use history, culture, and discussion to strengthen community life for everyone in Wisconsin. The WHC receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Wisconsin.

In the fall of 2009, the five founders of Ex Fabula began organizing live events in Milwaukee to provide meaningful shared experiences for individuals from different communities in the city. The fledgling organization was called “Ex Fabula” – Latin for “from stories”. Through Reclaiming Milwaukee’s Narrative, Ex Fabula seeks to build a greater awareness of the diverse and rich Milwaukee culture often bypassed in these neighborhoods, building a stronger sense of community between Milwaukee natives through the social power of story.

Each event in the series will take place in one of the featured neighborhoods where Tom and other neighborhood natives will share their true personal stories in the Ex Fabula tradition; during which, noted Milwaukee historian John Gurda will weave threads of the neighborhood’s culture and history into the background. The series will resolve in a live radio show on WMSE and a final live storytelling event at Alverno’s Pitman Theatre in April 2012.

A documentary of the project is planned of the featured Milwaukee neighborhoods.  Partnering with Ex Fabula in the endeavor are WMSE and Alverno Presents. Events will also be held at Turner Hall and four yet-unnamed sites in each of the featured neighborhoods.

Turner Hall, Photo by Kat Berger

The trailer for the Reclaiming Milwaukee’s Narrative project will be unveiled at the Ex Fabula ALL STARS grand finale event on June 2nd at Turner Hall, serving as the kickoff event for the series.
Until June 2nd, Ex Fabula has two remaining storyslams in their second season: March 16th at the Stonefly Brewery in Riverwest, and April 12th at the Bay View Brew Haus.

For more information about Ex Fabula or the Reclaiming Milwaukee’s Narrative project, go to www.ExFabula.com or call Amy Schleicher, Project Director, at 414-840-3930.

Ex Fabula brings you this “Emergency!” alert

On Wednesday March 16th at 8 pm, Milwaukee’s favorite storytelling series returns to the Stonefly Brewery located on 735 E Center St in Riverwest. Come listen to true, personal stories on the theme of “Emergency!”, or come throw your name in the hat for a chance to share a story of your own; you just might tell your way into Ex Fabula’s grand finale event, Ex Fabula ALL STARS.

For those who can’t drop everything to join us at on the 16th: never fear, you have one more chance to throw your name in the hat at our Tuesday April 12th event at the Bay View Brew Haus, where the theme will be “Theory & Practice.”

At both events, those who are interested in vying for a storytelling spot should put their names in the hat by 7:45 pm. Would-be storytellers should prepare stories that tie in to the theme and practice without notes and to the five-minute time limit as they will be cut off if they run over five minutes. Storytellers should pay particular attention to the first and last lines of their stories and ensure that they are vivid and compelling.

In addition, Ex Fabula fans should go to http://www.pabsttheater.org/show/exfabulaallstars and purchase their tickets for Ex Fabula ALL STARS, which will take place at Turner Hall on Thursday June 2nd. This event will feature new, ten-minute stories told by audience favorite storytellers from our season’s past monthly events. Keeping within the theme of the evening, “Secrets and Lies”, Ex Fabula will also reveal a secret of its own: the trailer for a special, upcoming storytelling project starring a notable, “terminal” Milwaukeean.  To miss the ALL STARS event would be an Emergency indeed!