Bree Barton is the author of Heart of Thorns, a fierce feminist fantasy debut out from HarperCollins in 2018. She has published short fiction in The Iowa Review, Mid-American Review, NANO Fiction, Roxane Gay’s PANK, and McSweeney’s, and essays in USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, and The Huffington Post. When she’s not scribing, Barton teaches Rock ‘n’ Write, a nonprofit dance-and-writing class she created for teen girls. She lives in Los Angeles with her partner—a Stories on Stage Davis alum—and their melancholy dog.
Jessica Laskey will read “Thirteen Platitudes” by Bree Barton. She is happy to be back at Stories on Stage Davis, where she performed for the very first event six years ago! As an Equity actress, her favorite roles include Sally Bowles in Cabaret (UC Berkeley), Mae in Reefer Madness (Artistic Differences), and Jenny in Threepenny Opera (California Stage). She has also appeared in several productions with the Sacramento Theatre Company. Laskey is a freelance writer for Inside Publications, Sacramento Magazine, Comstock’s, and The Sacramento Bee, and is founding co-publisher of Indomita Press.
Rita Bullwinkel is the author of the story collection Belly Up, which was published in the US in May of 2018 and is currently being translated into Italian by Edizioni Black Coffee. Her writing has been published in Tin House, Conjunctions, BOMB, Vice, NOON, and Guernica. She is a recipient of grants and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Brown University, Vanderbilt University, Hawthornden Castle, and The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. Both her fiction and her translation have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. She is an Editor at Large for McSweeney’s. She lives in San Francisco.
Phillip Larrea will read “Burn” by Rita Bullwinkel. Larrea was a prolific actor as a young man, appearing in many Sacramento area community productions and ultimately working professionally in New York in off-Broadway productions, summer stock, and touring companies. He gave it up because he doesn’t like working nights and weekends. He does, however, love doing the occasional one-night stand. Nowadays he is more known as the author of three books, Our Patch, We the People, and, most recently, Part Time Job.