StoryNights delivers high-caliber performers from the worlds of standup, slam poetry, and acting to tell personal stories live onstage. Join us on December 6th for an incredible evening of storytelling featuring Emmy-nominated actor and stand-up comedian Don Reed (HBO/Snap Judgment/Bartlett), 2016 Liz Carpenter Political Humor Award winner Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, NPR & Moth storytellers Josh Cereghino and Kay DeMartini, comedian Arthur Gaus, and best selling author & 2018 San Francisco Comedy Competition winner Dave Nihill.
STORYTELLER BIOS
Don Reed
Don Reed (NBC, NPR, CBS) was the 2016 Snap Judgment Performer of the Year and winner of the 2016 TBA: Theater Bay Area Award for Outstanding Solo Play. He has one of the lead roles in a workplace comedy co-financed by and guest recurring Lin Manuel Miranda of HAMILTON. A San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Nominee and NAACP Double Nominee for Best Actor & Best Playwright, Don has performed, written and directed for film, television and theater. His work on an HBO Robert Townsend Partners and Crime Special of up-and-coming comedians years ago caught the attention of some major Hollywood players and led to many recurring and guest starring roles on television. You may have heard his voice on: Spiderman, Johnny Quest, Bob’s Burgers produced Huck, Etc, The Voice, Law & Order, Saturday Night Live or most recently on CBS 2 Broke Girls as Nancy the Cat giving birth. Don has written, directed, produced and starred in the HBO Short Films – Lucky: The Irish Pimp and Pookie Watson: Hood Detective. He has written and starred in work for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN and developed screenplays for Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule. Reed was the opening act/warm-up comedian for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for over 1,000 episodes.” He is a board member of the thriving 51Oakland foundation keeping music and the arts alive in Oakland Public Schools.
Dhaya Lakshminarayanan
Dhaya Lakshminarayanan is the 2016 winner of the Liz Carpenter Political Humor Award (previously awarded to Samantha Bee, Wanda Sykes and satirist/humorist Mark Russell) presented by the National Women’s Political Caucus. KQED named her one of the twenty “Women to Watch” a series celebrating women artists, creatives and makers in the San Francisco Bay Area who are pushing boundaries in 2016. Dhaya is also a TV host and storyteller. She hosted the premier year of the Emmy award-winning series High School Quiz Show on PBS’s WGBH. She is a frequent comedic storyteller on NPR’s Snap Judgment and has appeared live in Austin on The Risk podcast. She is currently the host of San Francisco’s monthly Moth StorySLAM after winning a Moth StorySLAM and competing in the GrandSLAM at the Castro Theater (capacity 1400). ON24 awarded her the grand prize for “Best Travel Disaster Story.
Josh Cereghino
At age five, Josh Cereghino was sent home from kindergarten, for allegedly biting Mikey Duda. When Mom asked for an explanation, he told his first story, with spaceships, dragons, jetpacks and Kung Fu, explaining that he bit in self-defense when Mike Duda attacked him with nunchuks. Josh learned the value of a good story that day, and he’s been telling stories from his life ever since. Josh is a writer who lives in Berkeley and holds a BA degree in Rhetoric from the University of California. This explains his penchant for storytelling and talking a lot. He is a multiple Moth storyslam winner, grandslam finalist and NPR featured storyteller.
Kay DeMartini
Kay DeMartini is an NPR and Moth storyteller and comic. She is the producer of Busting Out Storytelling for the last seven years and the director of the Bay Area Unruly StoryFest. She’s from Minnesota where nice is a verb and toothpicks are a condiment.
Arthur Gaus
Arthur Gaus offers a perspective that is both youthful and cynical. His style is funny, sharp and unique. Arthur has played numerous venues including The Purple Onion, The Punch Line, Cobbs Comedy Club and The San Jose Improv. He has opened for such greats as Brian Regan, David Spade, Kevin Nealon, Ed Helms, Will Durst and John Oliver. As an actor Arthur starred in the pilot “San Francisco Values”, a sitcom that follows the exploits of a video game designer and his best friend as they move to SF. Arthur was also a featured comic in the San Francisco Sketchfest and San Francisco Comedy Day.
David Nihill
Leaving Dublin, Ireland, where he was born and raised until the age of 22, David got drunk on travel and never quite hit the sobriety of it. A bestselling author, David has been featured in Inc, NPR, Huffington Post, Forbes, Lifehacker and the Irish Times, and was recently part of the Irish Kings of Comedy Tour, SF Sketchfest, the Ventura Comedy Festival, Ukiah Comedy Alley, and the Kansas City Irish Festival. A multiple Moth Storyslam winner, Grandslam finalist and occasional host David has also told tales at Porchlight, The Naked Truth, Fireside and Litquake. Always a funny storyteller, these days he calls San Francisco home when immigration officials permit.
