JAMES BRALY
Married to his college sweetheart, James Braly has spent the last twenty years researching life in a marital institution.  He's performed his autobiographical stories on NPR, and at The Whitney Museum, Long Wharf Theatre, and The Moth, where he is the only two-time winner of the GrandSLAM and a featured performer on The Moth National Story Tour.  His show, "Life in a Marital Institution," is currently in development with Hal Brooks, director of "Thom Pain (Based on Nothing)", a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.  The book version will be published in 2007/8 by Algonquin Books. Please visit www.JamesBraly.com.

MICHAELA MURPHY
Michaela Murphy is a writer, director, producer, actor and frequent Moth storyteller. She has also told stories for her storytelling group, Hearsay, Studio 360, and in the show "Fired." She is currently writing a memoir, "The Green Monster"; a Young Adult novel, "Things I Learned in Charm School;" and a musical, "Fast Forward."

BRIAN FINKELSTEIN
Brian Finkelstein is a funny and handsome nice gentleman. He tells stories at the Moth, does improv and one man shows at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, is frequently seen on The Late Show with Conan O'Brien, and does stand up comedy all over. He is also a writer for the hysterical website FNN247.com (Fake News Network 24/7), and is currently writing a book about his experience with love and bitterness.

ANDREW LEDERER
A performer since childhood, Andrew became a comedian as a teenager and acted in movies and television. Andrew is a prominent "alternative" performer (and producer) with projects including the long-running SECOND SHOW and his one-person shows, PETULA CLARK'S GREATEST HITS and BRIDGE-BURNER. Andrew recently completed a British stand-up tour and made a high profile return to singing as part of the LOSER'S LOUNGE TRIBUTE TO THE BEE GEES.

MARTIN DOCKERY
"Things are either a good time or a good story. Important to remember when you're stuck on a hot train, going nowhere fast, next to a fat man, who, odds are, holds an awesome secret."

DARLENE WHITE
"Darlene tells those twisted stories about her screwed up life with such perky abandon that--swear to God--I sometimes wonder if there might be something seriously wrong with her" --Karen Jane Laraway, childhood friend and tanning salon proprietor.
Darlene's twisted stories and vivid essays have been heard on NPR, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and the PA system at Karen's Tanning Salon in Melbourne, FL. She produced a storytelling show in the Berkshires called "Jupiter Supersized,. and has performed with Mouthpiece and SpeakEasy. In NYC Darlene has won a Moth Slam at the Nuyorican Cafe, performed at the Bitter End and bombed at the Roxy. Darlene assures us that her collection of stories called "Betting Against Krypton" will be coming out "a hell of a lot sooner than Tom Cruise will."

BROOKE DELANEY
Brooke Delaney is a theatre artist with writerly tendencies. Originally from picturesque Cleveland, Ohio, she has performed and directed at numerous theatres She is a frequent MOTH Slam champion, and has read her stories, both true and false, at the Nyuroican, KGB Bar, Teleplhone Bar, Quinnipack Club, Parkside Lounge, Slipper Room, and Junno's. Her scrappy survival schemes have included everthing from working as an assembly-line factory worker, cigarette-girl, television producer, house cleaner, instructor to univerisity students, kindergartners, & illeriate appalacian miners.

GAUTAM
Gautam is just a dude who has told stories at the MothSlam at the Nuyorican cafe and the Bitte End, MothGrandSlam at the Players Club and Speakeasy at the Spoken Words Cafe. One day he hopes to be an aspiring writer, then a real writer, then a published writer and finally a published writer whose work is read by people.

JOSH LEFKOWITZ
Josh Lefkowitz is a writer and performer. His first full-length solo show, titled "HELP WANTED: A Personal Search for Meaningful Employment at the Start of the 21st Century," has been performed in Washington DC, Baltimore, Ann Arbor, Chicago, and New York. Josh has recorded his stories for NPR's "All Things Considered.."

HELEN ENGELHARDT
Helen has been performing original and traditional stories before audiences since 1997. She took first prize in the storytelling competition at the Hemingway Days Festival, Key West, Florida in 1998.

MICHELLE NICOLE MATLOCK
Michelle NicoleÊMatlok graduated from the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York City. She began developing her solo show THE MAMMY PROJECT in 2001 and has since been presented by P.S 122, The Harbourfront CentreÕs Toronto Black Culture Festival, Eastern Connecticut State University, Dixon Place, Goddess Festival, chashama and The Bindlestiff Family Arts Inc. She has also been featured as a physical comedienne in Circus Amok, The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and The Daredevil Opera CompanyÔs "Circus Inferno". Often Michelle is a professional clown for The Big Apple Circus Clown Care and Royal Caribbean Cruise LineÕs Krooze Komics. Recently Michelle was selected for the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation's Artist & Communities 2005 residency at The LGBT Center in New York City.

GREG WALLOCH
Greg Walloch is a writer and performing artist who has appeared in Moscow, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Australia, Ireland, Germany and across the United States. Greg most recently appeared at Castle of Imagination: the International Performance Art Festival in Poland. Greg is a featured artist in The Artists with Disabilities Oral History Project at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. GregÕs work is archived at the Bancroft Library. The Bancroft houses the personal papers of the Beat Generation poets, the Omaha Magic Theatre archives and Ansel Adams, among a range of other well known artists. For more information visit: http://www.GregWalloch.com

DINA PEARLMAN
Dina has just had a baby. His name is Benjamin and he is a delicious snack treat. Aside from that, Dina is an actress, writer and a comedian who has appeared on Sex & The City and. Premium Blend. Now this bio has to end because Ben is hungry.

XENI FRAGAKIS
Xeni Fragakis is a writer and the delighted winner of the most recent Moth GrandSLAM Championship. Born and raised in Connecticut, she lived for seven years in New York City and for three in the Midwest, where, she is proud to report, she never once buckled and called a soda a Òpop.Ó

MARK KATZ
Over the course of an unusually bumpy career, Mark Katz has careened down a path though journalism, politics, advertising and television comedy -- only to find himself deep inside the corridors of power. For the eight years of a previous administration, Mark was the White House speechwriter whose job it was to write Bill Clinton's jokes. Today he runs his own one-man creative think tank soundbiteinstitute.com, where he was named its resident scholar by a slim one-vote margin. The many stories he has collected along the way almost always involve his unyielding attempts to inflict himself upon the world.

ROSE STYRON
Rose Styron is a poet, journalist and human rights activist. She is the author of BY VINEYARD LIGHT, a collection of poems centered on MarthaÕs Vineyard, where she and her husband, writer William Styron, have spent extended summers since 1959. Her previous books include FROM SUMMER TO SUMMER, THIEVESÕ AFTERNOON and MODERN RUSSIAN POETRY. Her poems and essays have been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies. She is currently working on a new volume of poetry and a book on human rights. She and her husband live in Connecticut.

JEFFERY RUDELL
Jeffery Rudell is a graphic designer, The Moth's 2003 StorySLAM Champion, and a featured performer on the CD, The Moth: Audience Favorites, Vol. I. He has performed his stories at The Player's Club, The New York Public Library, and The Long Wharf Theater in New Haven. In September his definition of "reality" changed dramatically when he made his television debut on the NBC series The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.

NIKOLE BECKWITH
Nikole Beckwith moved to New York on New Years Day from Massachusetts, where she often performed her two audobiographical one woman shows "Virginity Interviews" and "The Johnny Chronicles". Both of which were a romp through the plusses and perils of dating and faking it in the grey area of your early 20's. When it comes to wearing your heart on your sleeve or someone else's boxer briefs, she is an open book.

LISA GARRISON
Lisa Garrison is a storyteller and songwriter. Her works chronicle New York City's waning maritime culture and the secreted beginnings of an urban waterfront Renaissance.

SAURABH TAK
At 23, Saurabh Tak or ' Tak ' came to a small town in America from a smaller town in India, unchaperoned by anyone from the old country and unknown to anyone in the new. Tak gave up big dreams of becoming a star in Bollywood for bigger dreams of becoming a superstar in Hollywood! Several years later he remains a wide-eyed and self- deluded immigrant who wishes to parlay his storytelling skills into a rich and famous American Dream!

KRISTA WEAVER
What do angry suburban housewives, melancholic sailors, disillusioned princesses and coat check boys have in common? They all found their way into one or other of Krista Weaver's lovely and profoundly moving original songs. As a child, Krista listened raptly to the stories told by her father, a New York police officer and Vietnam vet. "His stories were my link to the world of men," she says, "a world that was otherwise inaccessible to me." Krista's mother was also an inspiration. "My mother knew when to pull out a story to turn your thinking around, to help you change the direction of your life." Krista has blended these two storytelling styles into her own brand of powerful, lyrically-based songwriting. She has a strong sense of rythm, melody, and poetry, which makes listening to her music a thoroughly wholesome experience, like eating freshly-baked bread. Krista Weaver lives in Upstate NY. She is currently working on her second album.

SARA BARRON
Sara Barron has made her mark on the NYC cultural scene, melding her interests of performance, comedy and writing, and venturing into the fields of stand-up comedy, solo performance and competitive story telling. Barron was a finalist in the Connecticut Comedy Festival and has been a three-time Moth winner.

JOANNE MORTON
Joanne Morton is a writer/media artist who is dedicated in promoting Magic Passion Love. She writes, paints, thinks and tells stories as much as she can. Joanne is working on a performance and a photo essay about the life of her doll, Tom. Her short films include: "It could happen really it could", "Dead bunnies do exist" and "Women are so Fucking Cool!" Joanne is a member of the FCW Society (www.fcwsociety.blogspot.com. Joanne is a work in progress, constantly re-working and re-tooling her dreams. www.500east.biz

DJ HAZARD
DJ Hazard is a founding member of the infamous Ding Ho Club whose members include Steven Wright, Bobcat Goldthwait, Paula Poundstone and Denis Leary. He is the newest cast member of American Misfits on Fuel TV! www.DJHazard.com

ZORIKH LEQUIDRE

Zorikh Lequidre is a multi-talented writer, singer, storyteller, songwriter, comic book artist, actor, photographer, historian, and swordfighter. He manages the Doom Maidens team of female wrestlers, hosts the costume contest at the Big Apple Comic Convention, sings on the subway, and has appeared in movies, TV, Off-B'way, and amusement parks. He is currently writing a book about the history of the many Captain Marvels. His all-true stories include time travelling adventures, trips to far-off galaxies, and truly deep inner conflicts.

JAY LARSEN

His strong perspective and Solipsistic view landed Jay at the 2005 Montreal Comedy Festival.  Jay’s performance prompted Variety Magazine to note him as one of the top new faces and Time Out New York described him as “a unique voice worth supporting.” Since Montreal, Jay has performed on The Late Late show with Craig Ferguson, Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham,” AMC’s “Date Night,” The Lifetime Channel and many National Commercials. Jay notes his 2006 performance for our troops in Iraq as his greatest career accomplishment.

OPHIRA EISENBERG
Hailing from Canada, Ophira is a stand-up comic, writer and actor. She has appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and as part of their Fresh Faces of Comedy campaign, and also Vh1Õs Best Week Ever, All Access, Oxygen Network, Discovery ChannelÕs Lost Treasures of the Deep and appeared in her own half hour special on CTVÕs Comedy Now! (Canada). She is also a contributing writer to US WeeklyÕs Fashion Police. She co-produces Sweet Paprika every Friday night at the D-Lounge, beneath the Daryl Roth Theatre.

ANDY CHRISTIE
Andy's first book, I Wasn't Kidding: How To Commit Suicide So They'll Never Forget It, died on remainder shelves spanning two continents, but he lives on. His writing has appeared in The NY Times, in snooty literary journals and online. He is the creator and host of Liar, a monthly storytelling gameshow.

NOAH HARLAN
Noah Harlan is a writer, storyteller, filmmaker, teacher and producer. Films he has produced have appeared in Cannes, Berlin and MoMA among other places. He is a frequent storyteller at The Moth and teaches filmmaking to kids. He is co-author of the upcoming "Mind Your Manners, Dick & Jane", a post-modern exploration of truth and meaning in a society without borders... no, that was a different book, this is a children's manners guide... which is coming out in the fall from Penguin.

ALEX WEIDER
Alex  Weider is a writer, actor, improvisor and teacher. He can be seen as an Israeli reservist in the monologue show Love and Israel, to be performed at Makor in January. He has performed improv in NYC, and has acted with Relatively Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and 5th Night at Noyurican Poet's Cafe among others. Winner of the Andrew Bergman Scholarship for his poetry, his solo pieces include Big Daddy Love, Battery Man, Velamints, and The Airport of Gold, and The Hebrew School Dialogues. His writing can be seen in the upcoming edition of Beyond Race. Alex also teaches for the Vineyard Theater at Washington Irving High School.

JASON

WACHTELHAUSEN

Jason's work has appeared in numerous online publications and print magazines including Wired, Adbusters, ReadyMade, Skope, Scram, Bleed and 400 Words. He has been performing spoken word since the early nineties, and has recently done shows in NYC, Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

DANIEL REINISCH is an actor and writer who has performed theatre regionally in a wide variety of venues across the United States.  He is currently beginning development of his first solo play at workshops here in NYC.  Daniel is new to the Speakeasy stage; but supposes once he tells a story there he'll have to change this line of his bio. Good news is always preferred, but either way contact him at danielhere@msn.com.

DAVE DICKERSON is a writer and crossword editor originally from Tucson, Arizona. He moved to New York nine months ago after getting a Ph.D. in English at Florida State, and a four year stint as a greeting card writer at Hallmark. His humor pieces have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and Mirth of a Nation, and one of his stories was selected for Year's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction 2005. And yes, he dresses like this all the time; it's not a costume.

GUILIA ROZZI is a writer and comedian originally from Boston. Every month she and fellow performer Margot Leitman co-host the popular sex-themed storytelling event Stripped Stories at Mo Pitkin's in NYC. Her work has been featured in Playgirl Magazine, Glamour and BUST magazine. She is a co-producer of the east coast incarnations of the hit national show Mortified and was an associate editor and a contributor for the Mortified: Big Book of Angst published by Simon Spotlight. www.giuliarozzi.com

MARGOT LEITMAN
Margot Leitman, was a nominee for the ECNY "Best Stand-up" award in 2004 and 2005. Her one woman show, Just Here For the Day, ran for six months at the UCB Theatre and her one-act play, "Slow Night" (co-written with Sarah Burns) was an off-off Broadway pick by New York Magazine. She performs regularly in the NYC downtown alternative storytelling scene and is a contributing writer for, The Complete Idiot's Guide To Jokes. She's appeared on MTV, ESPN's Cheap Seats, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and has hosted AMC's Date Night.

H.R. BRITTON is a NYC storyteller who gravitates towards the anxiously comic. His current monologue, From Madison to Madurai: 134 Days in Mother India, is wry look at his pilgrimage to India. His other original monologues and literary adaptations include Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Nikolai Gogol’s The Nose, Pieces of Calico Pie and The Kafka Thesis. Hi! Drama called Britton “a most incredible storyteller.” www.OvercoatTheater.com

MICHELLE LEONA is a writer, performer & artist.  When she’s not telling stories at The Moth, Talkingstick, or SpeakEasy she’s making readable, tactile art, trying to meditate or punching & kicking the heavy bag

PETER GLISMANN
Pete started telling jokes to break the tension in high-level technical briefings in the Pentagon. This former rocket scientist has been performing as a standup comic, story teller and actor in New York City for over 8 years. Better storytelling through science!

TONY ANTONIADIS
Tony Antoniadis lives in Brooklyn. His writing has appeared in Open City, The New York Times, Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, and McSweeney's, among other places. He's also given readings at KGB and Happy Ending, and beginning in February '07, will be curating a new reading series for the Gowanus performace space Issue Project Room.

SHERRY WEAVER
Sherry Weaver, Creator and Executive Producer of SpeakEasy, started SpeakEasy in 2004.Sherry has told over twenty five-stories on stage at such cool places as the Bitter End, The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The Roxy, The Hudson River Theater, Spoken Words Cafe, Nells, and of course, now at Cornelia Street Cafe and Night and Day. She is the heart and soul of SpeakEasy, as well as its MC. She has been likened to a den mother, ushering well-known and up-and-coming storytellers up onto the stage with her candid, solicitous manner. She is a mother of four grown children, whose antics often find their way into her stories.

JOHN SUNDERLAND
John, born in the North of England in 1950 now lives with his New Yorker wife in Bushwick Brooklyn. They own two bar/restaurants. The well known Life Café in the East Village, which is just celebrating its’ survival from the bad old days of the early 80’s. And the second and newer one which opened in 1993, the first to appear in the then also desolate landscape of Bushwick. John worked in the British Television and film industry in the late 70’s before beginning an international career in exhibition and interpretative design- effectively telling hundreds of stories through all kinds of media to millions of people. John is currently working for the Dean and Chapter of a York Minster in Northern England, where he is designing ways of bringing its 2000 year old history to life for visitors from around the globe, whilst at the same time working on an interpretative project in the Nevada Desert with the indigenous Indian tribe. Also currently he is writing his auto-biography, ‘The Exhibitionist’, a saga of an international storyteller.

JEAN-MICHELE GREGORY
Perhaps because she grew up in a home where the most important stories could never be spoken out loud, Jean-Michele now finds herself irresistibly drawn to truth-telling and stories, and recently taught storytelling at Colby College. Since 1998 she has served as constant collaborator, director, and co-conspirator on all of Mike DaiseyÕs monologues, including 21 Dog Years, The Ugly American, Monopoly!, All Stories Are Fiction, and the upcoming Great Men of Genius.

SUZIE GUILLETTE has a BA in Philosophy and an MFA in Creative
Non-Fiction. She volunteers with the New York Writers Coalition, and
is currently working on her first book

BRIAN LONGWELL is a comedian, non-motivational, non-inspirational speaker, writer, and entrepreneur. He has performed his one-man political presentation "I Didn't Vote For George W" at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2004, "Why Work?" in 2005, and was a finalist for the Andy Kaufman Award. He moved to NY from the Boston area recently and likes it here a lot. He's single.

STEVE OSBORNE spent 20 years in the NYPD. He retired a lieutenant in the detective bureau, where he was the commanding officer of the Manhattan Gang Squad. He is a frequent Moth Mainstage storyteller.

ROBIN HIRSCH is a writer (Last Dance at the Hotel Kempinski, etc), performer (Mosaic, his cycle of seven related one-man shows) and restaurateur (the fact that he owns Cornelia Street Cafe and Biscuit has nothing to do with his appearance here tonight.)

CYNDI FREEMAN
Cyndi Freeman is a critically acclaimed actress, playwright, and stand-up comedian. Her one-woman show, Greetings From Hollywood, was spotlighted on CNN, received a "Best in Fringe Festival" award at the 1997 NY International Fringe Festival, and was voted "Best New Play of New England, 1998" by the Independent Reviewers of New England. Her new one woman show Inside Cherry Pitz will be presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006. Other credits include HBO, Comedy Central, Showtime.

PETER LUBELL

Peter has written, produced and dire cted for many television networks, and for National Public Radio. He's covered film festivals in print, worked as a jazz DJ in radio and told his stories onstage at The Moth storytelling series and The Liar Show.

TRACY ROWLAND:

“It seemed like the monkey and I were really hitting it off, until....” And that’s how Tracy got into storytelling.

JON LEVIN

Jon Levin has been a featured performer on the Moth mainstage. When not working on obscure documentaries, he is writing a psycho-spiritual memoir set against a backdrop of politics, corporate media, pop-culture and drug abuse. Just like everyone else.

FAYE LANE

Faye Lane is an alum of the Eugene O'Neill Cabaret Symposium. Her one woman show, I Wish It So, moved New York Magazine to gush, “She had them gobbling from the palm of her hand.” She is a Moth GrandSlam finalist and has been featured on their mainstage.

RYAN PAULSON

Ryan Paulson has toured his solo comedy "Pentecostal Wisconsin" throughout the US, Canada and to Scotland. In New York, he has performed the show at Ars Nova and 59 E.59 Theaters. He is currently at work on a screenplay based on the show. www.RyanPaulson.com

SIMON AUSTIN
Simon Austin is a songwriter and musician from Melbourne. He spent the 90Ís touring the world with mildly noticed band Frente, and has written, produced and engineered lots of things for lots of folks.

ZOE MUNTANER
The cover story in Our Town Downtown newspaper last April: "THE PLOT THICKENS, The Moth and its Offspring Have Stories to Tell" catches her eye and the omen is revelaed. She reads the article, shows up at a Moth Slam at the Bitter End and begins telling her stories in January 2007. She recently founded DARE TO TELL, a not for profit organization whose mission is to encourage and assist young girls and women tell their stories about sexual assault, and help them activate their injured voice. Dare to tell... Care to listen!!!

HARRISON HOGAN

Harrison Hogan most recently appeared in The Foundry Theatre's production of The Roaring Girle. The youngest of eight, his stories tend to chronicle the lives of a mythological Boston Irish family he grew up in.

JULIE MILLER

Julia is a writer and performer who comes from a long line of eloquent Irish discontents who sleep too late and drink too often to ever achieve their full potential.  By day, she makes her living as a corporate trainer; by night, she watches “Project Runway” and thinks about getting out of the house more often.  She has studied with Second City in NYC, performed with an improv group called “The Mulligans” at Arlene’s Grocery, and has recently performed stories at Stripped Stories and stand-up at Comix and The Duplex.  She has a novel in progress called, “Don’t Tell My Mother I Told You This.”

KYRA MILLER

Kyra is an actor, singer, former dancer, future writer, once, current and future New Yorker. She most recently appeared in "Biography" at the Pearl on St. mark's, and "Praxis" at HERE fro the American Living Room Festival. Her blog about teaching Pilates in the private home of a very,very,very rich lady can be seen here.