with Robert Dorjath
and
readings by Lori Russo and Ethan Ireland
Friday, April 28
at the Auditorium at CLARA (The E Claire Raley Studios)
1425 24th Street, Sacramento
Doors open 7:00 – readings begin 7:30
A $10 donation is suggested
This month’s featured writer, Deborah Willis, is the author of two collections of short stories about 
love, in all its dark and varied aspects. Among her many glowing reviews is this from Alice Munro about Willis’ first collection, Vanishing, and Other Stories – “the emotional range and depth of these stories, the clarity and deftness is astonishing.” Called “a major new voice in Canadian fiction” by the Toronto Star, Willis gained a US publisher with her second collection, The Dark and Other Love Stories, published by WW Norton in February 2017, and simultaneously in Canada by Penguin Random House. Her fiction has appeared in The Walrus, The Virginia Quarterly, The Iowa Review, Lucky Peach, and Zoetrope. Vanishing and Other Stories was named one of the best books of 2010 by NPR, was selected as one of the Globe and Mail’s Best Books of 2009, and was nominated for the Governor General’s Award. Willis lives in Calgary, Canada
Our “emerging” writer, Robert Dorjath, is a welcome new addition to the Sacramento writing scene. A native Chicagoan and a fiction writer, Dorjath received his MA from Northwestern University and taught creative writing at Columbia College and Elmhurst College. He was a member of the AstonRep Theatre Company, and his plays have appeared at Mary-Archie Theatre, Sense of Urgency Stage, The Hemingway Museum, and elsewhere. He is currently working on a novel of late-1950’s Chicago, a chapter of which, “A Parable of Fausto Bruzzesi,” was named a finalist in the Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize in Fiction awarded by The Missouri Review. Robert moved to the Sacramento area last year, and lives in El Dorado Hills with his wife Susan and son Samuel.
Reading “The Ark” from The Dark and Other Love Stories is Sacramento actor Lori Russo. Lori is an alumni of the USC BFA program in Los Angeles. She has performed in New York, Broadway touring companies and Internationally with Andy Williams in his America the Beautiful Tour. She staged & choreographed New York premiers of Captain’s and Courage, The Unwritten Song and The Bus To Buenos Aires. She has been a company member and resident choreographer with SRT, performing in Lend Me A Tenor, Guys and Dolls, Comedy of Errors and A Streetcar Named Desire. She has performed at Capital Stage in Superior Donuts and Good People. Lori received an Elly award for best actress in Love Isadora with California Stage. She has staged and choreographed work for California Stage, Big Idea Theater and Capital Stage. Lori also teaches Movement for the Actor Workshops.
Ethan Ireland will read an excerpt from Robert Dorjath’s short story “A Parable of Fausto Bruzzesi” Ethan is a multidisciplinary veteran of the film, television and theater trade, with sixteen years as a working professional in both performance and technical roles. The son of noted ‘lit noir’ author Patrick Ireland, Ethan is a writer & director of several short films, and has worked as a voice actor and a performer for both stage and screen since 1995. His most recent Sacramento appearances include EMH’s productions of After Hours and An Almost Perfect Person. He has performed at Now Hear This: A Story and Music Performance Series produced by Atim Udoffia.
Now in its eighth season, Stories on Stage Sacramento continues to bring the best in literary fiction to a growing Sacramento audience. We are happy to announce a new and larger home for the readings – the auditorium at CLARA, the E Claire Raley Studios. In addition, our 2017 events will be held bi-monthly on the following dates: February 24, April 28, June 30, August 25, and October 27. A special program featuring the Los Rios Writers will take place on Friday, September 29.
