AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal.
You’ll love our March guest, Beth Horner!Noted for her vivacious stage presence, comic sensibility and warm, energetic style, Storyteller Beth possesses a repertoire of stories that has been called “heartfelt, articulate and truthful.”
A National Storytelling Network Circle of Excellence Oracle Award recipient, Beth is a 40-year internationally touring spoken word artist who is sought after as a Storyteller, teaching artist, consultant and narrative coach.
She has performed multiple times at the National Storytelling Festival, for NASA, on Live From National Geographic, for the International Art of Storytelling Festival, the Starlight Educational Foundation of Taiwan, and for Lyrics & Lore: A Weekend with Songwriters & Storytellers at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort.
She is a former Board Member of the National Storytelling Association, conducted a series of workshops for NASA Engineers and Astrobiologists in California and Washington, D.C., and served as narrative consultant for NASA/Johnson Space Center’s Story Mining project for which she collected the stories of the scientists behind the Apollo Space Missions.
Ron (Beth Horner’s partner) driving Corvette
Most recently, Beth presented Storytelling: A Heart to Heart Connection for the American Parkinson Disease Association’s 2024 Annual Conference. Beth’s love of all kinds of stories – traditional, literary, family, musical, historical and hysterical – makes her a joyous emissary into the world of story.
Beth will regale us with the slightly terrifying hundred mile an hour racetrack experience that sparked her revelation as a care partner (pictured): that amidst the cacophony of financial worries, doctor’s appointments, overwhelming research, deluge of therapies, legal hurdles and all other care partner jobs, it is the care of the spirit that must soar above all else.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal.
For February we had a real treat of a guest – decades in the making! Yes, decades. It was our pleasure to have one of Rick’s oldest, and best friends (and AnCan Advisory Board Member) Mr. Mark W. Kissin, FRCS (Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons) join us. This has been a wish for years, and we are so grateful that Mr. Kissin was up so early (around 2:30 am UK time) to make it happen for us.
Mr. Kissin is a recently retired breast cancer and melanoma surgeon in the United Kingdom. He is recognized as a pioneer in sentinel lymph node biopsies, which help determine the spread of breast cancer. He has presented an amusing history of the breast at many medical conferences.
The National Health Service of the United Kingdom has presented him with an NHS Distinction Award for his work, dedication, and innovation; and he has received a British Citizen Award Medal of Honour. BBC television once broadcast him performing a full mastectomy and reconstructive breast surgery live to demystify the procedure and to help minimize women’s trauma about it.
In retirement. Mr. Kissin finds plenty of time to work on his golf handicap, grow vegetables, and enjoy his grandkids.
(For our US audience: UK and Commonwealth surgeons drop the title of doctor and revert to Mr. on surgical qualification. Your barber, or hairdresser, may be able to explain why!)
Mr. Kissin’s show was filled own songs, and he gave a short excerpt from his lecture, “The Illustrated Art History of the Breast,” which has been delivered at many high-profile medical conferences around the world.
This isn’t an interview, but a front row seat to a warm conversation between two life-long friends. You don’t want to miss this show.
Watch here:
Bonus! Here are the two pictures of Rick and Mr. Kissin featured in the show!
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
We’re back in action this 2024 with a fabulous guest, Ursa Miles!
Ursa is a performer and author from the Ozarks currently based out of Chicago. Her work has appeared on stage at the International Storytelling Center (through Jonesborough Storytellers Guild), The Mountain Makins Festival, Big Muddy New Play Festival, and This Much is True. Her book Passive Aggressive Fables for Adults is available wherever books are sold. Ursa is also a survivor of proxy supraventricular tachycardia who lives with neurocardiogenic syncope, hypoglycemia, and hypermobility disorder. She loves cheesecake.
Ursa tells stories about maintaining relationships with her passions for the outdoors and the arts while navigating her life as a heart and neurological patient.
Wild animals such as deer, bears, and raccoons make appearances. Oh my! You’ll be captivated the entire show.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
Avesha recently returned to her hometown of Chicago, where she has developed a passion for storytelling and the community surrounding it. During her twenty-two years in Los Angeles, she quickly ditched a legal career to put her whole heart and soul into arts and crafts. She spent ten years as a professional photographer before taking a risk to turn her childhood passion into a new career: ceramics. She founded a pottery studio and humbly and gratefully ran it full-time for eight years, crafting housewares and, more recently, whimsical gnomes. Now, she is counting the days until she can escape the city and start a small homestead, complete with chickens and goats.
She is deeply committed to speaking truth to story and bringing awareness to mental health and trauma-informed, shared human experiences. To her, connection is everything, to be human is to have trauma, and to heal, we first need to learn how to feel. She holds an MA in Spiritual Psychology, is trained in many healing arts, and was certified recently as a Breathwork Facilitator and Reiki Master.
Avesha will take us on a journey into the complex love between her and her father. She’ll tell of the time when her dad selflessly traveled to care for her when she was bedridden with meningitis. Years later, she found out that he had unexpectedly died alone, estranged from his relationships. She’ll tell the story of caring for the aftereffects of his life and continuing the journey of a relationship that still grows and heals through forgiveness, writing, music, and the love of nature he instilled in her.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
Are you ready for a jam packed show full of storytelling, life advice, laughter, and tears? Well, Geneva Norman will bring it to you.
Geneva is a Chicago-based storyteller and has been a student and actor at The Goodman Theatre, 2nd Story, Free Street Theater, About Face Theatre, The Looking Glass Theatre, and many others. The Goodman Theatre recruited her to be in their first cohort of storyteller teaching artists. She is also a vocalist, songwriter, musician, and music arranger. She has performed throughout Europe, including, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Poland, France, Spain, etc. She has performed with musicians along the west coast of Africa, traveling south along the Atlantic coast to South Africa, and in 47 of the 50 United States. She wrote the locally popular “Obama Vote Song” in 2007. She is the lead vocalist of the Geneva Convention Band and the G2 band. She has arranged many pieces of work throughout her career and is currently the creator and executive producer/director of “The Aretha Project- Chicago Tour”. Geneva comes from a musical family, notably the late Betty Wright, John Legend, and Kool and the Gang.
In her professional life, Geneva has served in progressive roles in clinical healthcare as a nurse, a nurse practitioner, and as a physician. She has survived her own serious health care issues and been a caregiver within her own family. She studied with Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, who developed the theory of the five stages of grief. At Northwestern University, Geneva serves as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion vice chair for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. She is also a proud mother and grandmother.
Geneva told the story of how she, an upper middle class, non-user of recreational drugs, became a pharmaceutical product development chemist/chef for her unsuspecting, streetwise husband.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
I had the absolute pleasure of filling in for Rick, and interviewing July’s gust Suzie Campbell!
Suzie is a single mom living in Evanston, IL with her two children and a cat named Magic. A Loyola University Chicago alum with a degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies, she now works as an IT manager for a non-profit company. She started telling stories about her life after her hysterectomy at 35 years old and has been seen at storytelling shows such as Story Colliders, Is this a thing? and Filet of Solo. Suzie shares stories that often show that reproductive journeys are not always linear, sexuality is not always straightforward, and that seeking support for mental health treatment – especially in relation to motherhood – isn’t something shameful. She believes if more people talk about these ideas openly, the stigma around them will decrease over time.
Suzie performed “Get F***ed,” a story about sexuality, dating, and her hysterectomy as a newly single mom in her mid-30s.
