Christopher DeWan has published more than fifty stories in journals including Hobart, Juked, Necessary Fiction, Passages North, and wigleaf, and he has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. He has had TV projects with the Chernin Group and Indomitable Entertainment, and he has been recipient of a fellowship from the International Screenwriters’ Association. His collection of short stories, Hoopty Time Machines, is available from Atticus Books.
Will Oberholtzer will read a selection of stories from Hoopty Time Machines by Christopher DeWan. Oberholtzer is excited to be doing Stories on Stage Davis for the first time. Prior credits include Cyrano de Bergerac and Romeo and Juliet at Davis Shakespeare Ensemble, Kingfish at the Magic Theatre, The Pirates of Penzance at the Sanford Maine Stage Company, and Becket at the Cumberland County Stage. Oberholtzer is a custom furniture and cabinet maker who’s happy to be revisiting an early passion, the theater. He is a newbie to Davis, having moved here seventeen years ago with his wife, Beth, to raise their family. He would like to thank Beth and their kids, Henry and Annie, for their support.
Ramona Ausubel’s new novel, Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, came in June 2016 from Riverhead Books. She is also the author of No One is Here Except All of Us, winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Fiction, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and Finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award. Her collection of stories, A Guide to Being Born, was a New York Times Notable Book. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, The Paris Review Daily, One Story, Ploughshares, The Oxford American, and The Best American Fantasy. She is a faculty member of the low-residency MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Dr. Andy Jones will read “Poppyseed” by Ramona Ausubel. Jones is a poet, faculty member at UC Davis, radio talk show host, and public speaker. He has taught writing and literature classes at the University of California, Davis, since 1990, and since 2000 has hosted “Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour” on radio station KDVS. The Poet Laureate of Davis, Jones coordinates and hosts the Poetry Night Reading Series at the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis. Combining poetry, painting, audience participation and song, his experimental play, Ephemera, premiered in December 2002.
As an actor, Jones has performed in television commercials, in a made-for-TV film that aired on PBS, and in films directed by his Technocultural Studies students. In recent years he has appeared on local television to discuss Maya Angelou, social media, teaching with iPads, and public poetry. He has told stories on the BBC World Service, and on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Growing up in a theater family, Jones is the son of the late UNLV playwriting and directing professor Davey Marlin-Jones, winner of the Margo Jones Award for the Advancement of American Theatre.
Kelley Ogden will read “Poppyseed” by Ramona Ausubel. Ogden is an accomplished performer, director, and producer whose work has been seen throughout the area. Co-founder of acclaimed fringe theater company KOLT Run Creations, she has performed with Capital Stage, Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, Main Street Theatre Works, and Theater Galatea, among others. She earned her BFA in Performance from The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago.
