Two men.
One young, with a new daughter.
One at the end of his life.
Two tales of love, two devastating secrets.
This month at Stories on Stage Sacramento, we are thrilled to welcome Josh Weil, called “one of the most gifted writers of his generation” by Colu
m McCann, and whose new short story collection The Age of Perpetual Light, published by Grove Atlantic, has been praised, in a starred Kirkus review, as “rich, often dazzling.” We’ll feature an excerpt from one of those stories, “The Point of Roughness,” read by Stories on Stage Sacramento favorite Blair Leatherwood.
Appearing with Josh will be Peggi Wood. Peggi is known to Stories on Stage Sacramento attendees as our casting director, and now you’ll meet her as a lyric and powerful writer. We’re excited to debut her new short story “A Viewing,” which will be read by Ethan Ireland.
Friday, October 27 at the Auditorium at CLARA
1425 24th Street, Sacramento
Doors open at 7, readings begin at 7:30
a $10 donation is suggested
about our authors and readers:
Josh Weil’s novel The Grat Glass Sea ws a New York Times Editor’s Choice and Powell’s “Indiespensible” selection, won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the GrubStreet National Book Prize, and the Library of Virginia’s Literary Award in Fiction, and was short-listed for The Center for Fiction’s Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel. His new story collection The Age of Perpetual Light, (September 12, 2017) has already earned a starred Kirkus review (“A rich, often dazzling collection of short stories linked by themes while ranging widely in style from Babel-like fables to gritty noir and sci-fi,”) and praise from Publisher’s Weekly. Called “one of the most gifted writers of his generation” by Colum McCann, Weil’s short fiction has won a Pushcart Prize and appeared in Granta, Esquire, Tin House, and One Story, among others. He has written non-fiction for The New York Times, The Sun, Poets & Writers and Time.com. A recipient of fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, and the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences, he has been the Tickner Writer-in-Residence at Gilman School, the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bowling Green State University, and the Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, and has taught in the graduate programs at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, and Bennington College. Born in the Appalachian mountains of Southwest Virginia, he currently lives with his family in Nevada City.
Peggi Wood is familiar to Stories on Stage Sacramento attendees as our fabulous Casting Director, adept and skillful at selecting actors to read the diverse short prose featured at the event. Peggi is equally adept as a minimalist writer, burgeoning screenwriter and lush storyteller who performs at local venues. Resurrection Theatre produced Peggi’s short play, Demerol Dreams, in their 10×10 Original Play Festival, where she also directed two plays. She has a Masters in Public and Political Communication from CSUS with awards for her rhetorical analyses of inequality and power as well as guilt, shame and redemption, issues that inform her creative work.
Blair Leatherwood counts more than a dozen literary journeys in his many readings at Stories on Stage Sacramento – including sojourns through the Cold War, Chinese restaurants, forest fires, Sasquatch land, and most recently the cutthroat world of competitive poker. He has over forty years of experience in the theater, in addition to numerous film and commercial credits. He recently worked on Spike Lee’s “Livin’ Da Dream”, a segment of the NBA 2K16 video game. He also has years of experience with the Standardized Patient program at UCD Medical Center and is one of the audio describers for blind and visually impaired patrons of California Musical Theatre.
Ethan Ireland 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 noi”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. Most recently he appeared in EMH’s productions of After Hours and An Almost Perfect Person. He has also performed at Now Hear This: A Story and Music Performance Series produced by Atim Udoffia.
Winding up its eighth season, Stories on Stage Sacramento is proud of our record, as an all-volunteer organization, of bringing the best in literary fiction, read by actors, to a growing Sacramento audience. Our six 2017 events featured work by Steve Almond, Deborah Willis, Josh Barkan, Vanessa Hua, Joshua Mohr, the Los Rios Writers, and Josh Weil, as well as several of Sacramento’s notable emerging writers. We’ve had a continuing uptick in attendance since we moved to our new home, the auditorium at CLARA, the E Claire Raley Studio for the Arts.
The dates for our 2018 season – our 9th – are: February 23, April 27, June 29, August 24, and October 26. In addition, our annual showcase featuring the Los Rios Writers will take place on Friday, September 28.
