JAM Creative returns to the Colony Theatre in Burbank, with MANECDOTES, a storytelling experience where eight acclaimed Southern California storytellers will tell tales from the trenches of fatherhood and experiences with their own fathers.
Sunday, June 23rd at 6:30pm, the fourth annual MANECDOTES show will take place in support of the Family Service Agency of Burbank, a non-profit that has been providing community mental health services since 1958, including critically important work with children, families, veterans, domestic violence survivors and students in local schools.
“Supporting the work of Burbank’s Family Service Agency is the best part of participating in Jam Creative’s Storytelling productions,” says Alexandra Helfrich, a Burbank arts advocate who first took the stage in 2023. “FSA’s programs for children, foster youth and mental health are an essential life-line for much of our community.”
The show will begin with musical guests Sage and Ray Music, a father/daughter duo, who will be performing on stage a half-hour before the show starts, and throughout the MANECDOTES experience. Ray McNeely is a guitarist from New Orleans and will be playing alongside his daughter Sage, an award-winning singer/songwriter known for her heartfelt and eclectic vocal style that crosses musical genres.
Storytellers of the evening include Pilar Alessandra, Brent Beerman, Ron Hart, Alexandra Helfrich, Carlos Kotkin, Victoria Male, Jonathan Tipton Meyers and Juanita E. Mantz, a multi-hyphenate writer and podcaster. “The opportunity to perform a story about my deceased father is such a joy and knowing the show benefits mental health services is deeply significant to me as a deputy public defender specializing in mental health,” said Mantz.
14-time Moth story slam winner Carlos Kotkin is looking forward to being part of Manecdotes because “It’s for a great cause in a spacious, comfortable theater with a warm, welcoming audience and stories that bring us together through laughter, tears and everything in between. Sharing those connections is more important than ever these days.”
This is the fourth Manecdotes production by JAM Creative, wowing audiences with the first show in 2018, pivoting to Zoom in 2020 and returning to The Colony Theatre in 2023 with a SOLD OUT event. Since 2016, their productions have raised over $43,000 for local non-profits.
“Our audiences really love the fatherhood theme making tickets to Manecdotes a perfect extension of the Father’s Day celebration!” says JAM Creative’s producing artistic director Suzanne Weerts. “It will be a delightful evening of music and stories that will have our audience laughing, relating and reflecting on the father figures in our lives while helping raise money for an immensely important cause.”
Tickets are available here: https://www.jamcreativestories.com/general-8-1
