Frank Basile's Emerging Stories: "What We Carry: Stories of Care, Legacy, and Becoming" featuring Sheila Spencer at Storytelling Arts of Indiana

Frank Basile's Emerging Stories: "What We Carry: Stories of Care, Legacy, and Becoming" featuring Sheila Spencer is an original storytelling performance that weaves together personal narrative, poetry, humor, and reflection to explore identity, family, caregiving, legacy, and the quiet moments that shape who we become. Through stories spanning generations, Spencer invites audiences to discover the unexpected connections between memory, responsibility, love, and letting go.

Grounded in lived experience yet universal in its themes, this performance celebrates the power of story to reveal who we are, honor where we've come from, and imagine what we want to pass on. With warmth, honesty, and humor, What We Carry reminds us that the stories we inherit—and the ones we choose to tell—have the power to transform us.

Audiences will laugh, reflect, remember their own stories, and perhaps leave carrying something a little lighter than when they arrived.

About the Artist Sheila P. Spencer is a storyteller, spoken-word artist, author, educator, and workshop facilitator who believes our lives are shaped by the stories we tell, inherit, and choose to rewrite. Born and raised in Los Angeles and now living in Indianapolis, she creates performances that blend storytelling, poetry, reflection, and humor to explore identity, legacy, resilience, and renewal.

An award-winning storyteller and lifelong writer, Spencer invites audiences into experiences that are both deeply personal and universally familiar. Whether sharing family memories, unexpected moments of grace, or the lessons hidden in everyday life, she has a gift for helping people see themselves in the story.

Spencer is co-editor of "Connections: Tell Your Story—A Family Anthology of Heritage, Gifts, and Legacy" and the author of several books, including "For Those Who Care: Reflections to Nourish the Caregiver." She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree, where her research explores the power of rest, resilience, and storytelling as pathways to healing and transformation.

Known for her warmth, authenticity, and engaging stage presence, Spencer creates performances that leave audiences laughing, reflecting, and discovering that the most powerful stories are often their own.

About the Series Storytelling Arts of Indiana offers an annual fellowship to an Indiana storyteller to create and premiere new material. TheFrank Basile Emerging Stories Fellowshipencourages and recognizes the talent and skills of our Hoosier tellers. This program is possible because of the generosity and commitment of Frank and Katrina Basile to the art of storytelling.