How To Build A Fire (August) @ Open Source Gallery
Thursday, August 17th, 7pm-9pm
Where:
Open Source Gallery
306 17th St, Brooklyn, NY 11215
What:
Theme: hiatus/ breathe
4 x 15 min Stories
This month, the gallery is an open space – no installation, just us and our tall tales. It’s August, there’s a chunk of summer left and we need to revel in it. Drink some squint-tart lemonade, some rum punch, some crisp cider. Run through a sprinkler, take a long walk through Shirley Chisholm State Park, ride the ferry out to the Rockaways. Get out of town (but not on the 17th!) and take in someone else’s city. And, when you’re ready for a little camaraderie, come over to Open Source and HTBAF. We have a double theme for August: “hiatus / breathe.” Come take a break with How to Build a Fire, step out of your everyday and inhale the summer night as you listen to four fabulous stories.
Lillian Bustle:
Lillian Bustle is an award-winning Burlesque performer and emcee, published essayist, TEDx speaker, podcaster, vocalist, and gleeful loudmouth about body liberation. You can hear Lillian on All The Fucks, a podcast about caring too much, with actor and writer Jen Ponton, and messages from her TEDx talk, Stripping Away Negative Body Image, have been shared by millions across the globe. Performing Burlesque since 2012, Lillian has been featured in shows and festivals across North America, from Anchorage to Austin. In 2019, Lillian’s performances came under fire from local government, being classified as obscene. She fought back, won, and helped rewrite Jersey City’s antiquated laws around nudity and “obscene devices.” She received a ruling from the NJ Attorney general deeming her work “legitimate entertainment”, and received the Women of Action award from Jersey City for her free speech advocacy. She currently co-produces Bounce House: A Burlesque Celebration of Body Diversity with Abby Fantastic, performing to all sold-out audiences. Her personal mission is to help us all redefine the word “beautiful.”
Will Purpura:
Will Purpura is a New York based comedian who’s been performing all over the east coast for close to a decade. Will has been featured in the North Carolina Comedy Festival, DC Comedy Festival, and will be in the Altercation Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas later this year. In addition, Will has performed on Don’t Tell Comedy in Washington DC and Boston. In 2019, Will was a finalist in both the NC’s Funniest competition and Ultimate Comedy Challenge in North Carolina, and have headlined at the Woolen Mill Comedy Club in Vermont and The Elbow Room in Connecticut.
Glorelys Mora:
Glorelys has gained recognition in various media outlets, including Refinery29, Teen Vogue, the New York Times, Ain’t I Latina, Remezcla, and Latinas Poderosas. You’ve seen her on Vice, Fuse TV, Cleo TV and now on MituTV. Her unique comedic voice has resonated with audiences, and her witty presence on stage leaves a lasting impression. Off stage, Glorelys is diligently working on becoming the Latina Oprah through building her production company, @glorelysmoraproductions. She curates outstanding comedy IRL experiences such as #GlorelysFest, her own annual comedy birthday bash, and Morir Sonando, a platform dedicated to showcasing Dominican Stand-Up Comedians. In her free time, she enjoys playfully trolling people on the internet by impersonating Rihanna and spending quality time with her adorable nieces Sophia and Melody. Glorelys has recently achieved significant milestones, including being a finalist for the PalanteMax x NYLFF Latino Stand-Up Competition, performing at the NY Comedy Festival, and contributing as a writer on the Audible Original “Michelle Rojas is Not Okay” featuring Dascha Polanco. As she sets her sights on Hollywood, she continues to make history as a trailblazing Dominican Stand-Up Comic from the East Coast.
Chesney Snow:
How to Build a Fire is a community storytelling series where a diverse group of individuals share real-life, personal narratives centered around a different theme each last Thursday of the month. At times funny, at times sad, their stories weave together a broad illustration of the human experience. How To Build A Fire will takes place at Open Source Gallery -a welcoming, nurturing, intimate, safe environment- where, monthly, one can see a new exhibition installed by an array of up-and-coming and established visual artists.
How To Build a Fire was founded by Terence Degnan. This year Stacie Evans and Lana Siebel will be co-curating and co-hosting.
Stacie Evans writes in long hand. With a fountain pen. Because she’s that girl: the wannabe homesteading, selectively Luddite girl who is addicted to her phone and regularly overshares online. She met James Baldwin in Paris … which will ever and always be the most glamorous and dramatic thing about her. Her writing has appeared in New South, After Ferguson, Bellingham Review, and The Rumpus.
Lana Siebel performs all over the US, including NYC, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, NJ, and Washington DC. She was selected as a featured comedian at The Connecticut Comedy Festival along with comedians such as Gilbert Gottfried, The Headliner Series in NY, The Punch Line Comedy Club in Philadelphia, as well as the Fairfield Comedy Club in Connecticut. As an actress, Lana is featured in numerous films and off Broadway plays. She studied acting at Lee Strasberg Institute and HB Studios with Austin Pendleton. Lana was also a competitive International Latin style Ballroom dancer ranked internationally and 7th in the US! She immigrated as a refugee from Kharkiv, Ukraine when she was seven years old with her family to Brooklyn, NY where she grew up and now resides.
This program is supported by the Puffin Foundation
