Gotham Storytelling Festival to Return to UNDER St. Marks

FRIGID New York will present the 15th annual Gotham Storytelling Festival at UNDER St. Marks (94 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009), November 3-15. Tickets are available for advance purchase at www.frigid.nyc. Most performances will also be available to livestream from home.

The theme for this year's Gotham Storytelling Festival is Stranger in a Strange Land. The festival features stories about people being where they are not from: as a traveler, an immigrant, an emigrant, an expat, a displaced person, or simply moving to the big city (or a small town).

Festival Lineup

What Have I Done
Written & Performed by Marsha Brown

Born into the LDS faith in a corner of the very bland, very white state of Wyoming, Marsha proceeded to grow up into a mouthy broad who wandered the United States looking for something that would make her life look like the ones in every novel she ever read. This show includes stories about Marsha's 20-year old self, her time living in Las Vegas, attending a house party in Compton, CA and learning gin and juice is a real thing, her dabble with the occult and a demon infested fiancé, and the revelations given to her without her asking by a psychic hotline.

Tue November 3 at 7pm 45 min

Feet in the Forest Leave No Mark
Written & Performed by Dipti Bramhandkar

Three camping trips, three foreign countries of the self. At ten, Dipti arrives at Girl Scout camp with the wrong bunkmate. At sixteen, she fakes her way through a week in the Adirondacks. At twenty-seven, she squats behind a church in East Sussex and sits down in a patch of stinging nettles. In each case, the wilderness has the last word. Some of us were never meant to sleep on the ground, and yet here we are.

Thu November 5 at 7pm 45 min

Paris Syndrome
Written & Performed by Brad Lawrence

After the pandemic, Brad and his wife decide to venture out into the world with a trip to Paris. This is a gift to themselves for their 13th wedding anniversary and (in Brad's mind) for how well they handled the global catastrophe of Covid-19. The only problem being that when Brad is forced to confront the actual definition of global and he has a total melt down in the most beautiful city in the world. Turns out, he's not the only one to do that. They have a name for the phenomenon, it's called Paris Syndrome.

Thu November 5 at 8:30pm 60 min

The Body is Made of Strings
Written & Performed by Magdi Hazaa

The Body—our nameless narrator in this one-person play—is a hypochondriac. Or at least that's what the world tells him when he confesses his symptoms. His hair seems to be suddenly falling, strange cysts appear on his testicles, and he can't remember basic details like the name of his roommate's dog or how he got to New York. A queer immigrant in the current climate of dehumanization, immigration crackdown, and government surveillance, his world is nebulous, unanchored, teeming with worry. He is lost, paranoid, and the closest thing he has to a tether is a guy who loves him, but casually. The world around him consists of surreal encounters, moments of fantasia, and shaky impermanent dreams. As he navigates the city—threesomes, protests, nightclubs, cemeteries—time begins to unravel around him. Past and future bleed into the present. With each trauma, he is hurled into memories and past lives, from familial snapshots and childhood anxieties to memories of a war zone and historical vignettes of colonial violence. As he regains his memories in ebbs and flows of amnesia and clarity, memory itself becomes both duty and burden. It becomes something he is holding on to for dear life and for sacred purpose, and also a weight that seems to break him, and the world around him, wide open.

Fri November 6 at 7pm & Fri November 13 at 10:30pm 65 min

On a Scale of 1 to Armenian
Written & Performed by Anoush Froundjian

A storytelling show (with cartoons!) about the levels of Armenian'ness and knowing how much is too much.

Fri November 6 at 8:30pm 45 min

Killing Janet
Written & Performed by Omalolu Fiki

Part stand-up, part cultural exorcism, Killing Janet follows a Nigerian-American woman who decides —on live TV— to 'kill' her missionary-given name and everything it represents. A razor-sharp solo comedy play about faith, assimilation, and the cost of compliance staged as a surreal game show where the audience helps decide the verdict.

Sat November 7 at 8pm & Thu November 12 at 8:30pm 60 min

It Came TO New York
Curated by Michele Carlo

This is an offshoot of the long-running story show called It Came FROM New York, which showcases the stories of native New Yorkers telling stories about coming from the place everyone else moves to. It Came TO New York will feature five transplants (non-native New Yorkers) telling stories on the theme 'Stranger in a Strange Land,' about their culture shocks, adjustments, and why they stayed in NYC.

Sat November 7 at 9:30pm & Tue November 10 at 7pm 50 min

How to Poop in an Outhouse at -72°F
Written & Performed by Kona Morris

Award-winning storyteller Kona Morris tells the astonishing true story of falling in love with a Native Alaskan and moving to a remote village north of the Arctic Circle. Grizzly bears, whirlpools, northern lights, and the transformation that happens when you take chances and embrace the unknown. Exhilarating, hilarious, heart-warming storytelling that will transport you to the top of the world! And yes, you will learn all the tips needed for using an outhouse at -72°F. Winner of five awards from New York City Fringe and Theatre Beyond Broadway, including Audience Choice and Staff Choice.

Sun November 8 at 5pm & Fri November 13 at 8:30pm 60 min

Serpent Woman
Written & Performed by Camila Vinatea

Serpent Woman is a solo performance blending autofiction, myth, storytelling, and physical theatre. The piece follows a Peruvian woman navigating a foreign city, a foreign language, and the increasingly unfamiliar landscape of her own body. As she tries to understand pain, desire, motherhood, memory, and transformation, a mysterious serpent-like presence begins to appear within her story. Serpent Woman explores what it means to feel like a stranger not only in a new country, but also inside your own skin. The show moves between realism and dream, confession and ritual, humor and discomfort, creating an intimate portrait of immigration, womanhood, identity, and the body as a strange land.

Sun November 8 at 7pm & Wed November 11 at 8:30pm 40 min

Jersey Girl, Strange World
Written & Performed by Faith Alpher

This show is spoken word, storytelling, and audience participation. It's about landing somewhere you really don't recognize and very slowly, and awkwardly, hilariously finding your footing. It's about hair. Hips. Menopause. And everything in between. It's about flags, faith, and figuring out who you are when nobody around you grew up the way you did. Some of it will make you laugh out loud. Some of it might make you tear up. But all of it comes from a real place, because being a stranger in a strange land isn't just about geography. Sometimes it's about finally becoming YOU.

Sun November 8 at 8:30pm & Sun November 15 at 6pm 45 min

Learning to Speak
Written & Performed by Annie Tan

Growing up in Manhattan's Chinatown, Annie is a stranger in her own family: she's not fluent in Cantonese or Toisan, and her immigrant parents don't speak English. But when Annie finds out she's a relative of Vincent Chin, whose 1982 Detroit murder started an Asian American movement, she finds a clue to connect to her family. Annie does everything she's supposed to do as a child of immigrants, even getting into an Ivy League school and studying abroad in Hong Kong to learn Cantonese. But graduating after the 2008 recession, Annie is forced to move to Chicago to become a teacher, where she finally connects the pieces of Vincent Chin and her history. She struggles as a special education teacher with students from immigrant families, but, inspired by Vincent's legacy, Annie eventually chairs the special education committee of the Chicago Teachers Union to help her students, teachers, and families speak up. When controversy arises back in Chinatown, and Vincent Chin's name is invoked, Annie does what she's done as a teacher and activist: speak up. But her family is upset to the point of rupture, and Annie has to make a choice. How far will she go to salvage her relationship with her parents, honor Vincent's legacy, and honor herself?

Mon November 9 at 7pm & Sat November 14 at 5pm 60 min

Fanging My Way Thru America or Swimming Upstream
Written & Performed by Vermillion

Fanging My Way Thru America talks about some experiences as a newcomer to the USA, drawing upon teaching college kids and being a bathroom matron at the Copa Cabana night club.

Wed November 11 at 7pm 60 min

Eat, Pray, Clown
Written & Performed by Ania Upstill

In summer 2026, Ania Upstill embarked on an international collaboration to teach clown in Sri Lanka. Leaving the airport in the middle of the night, she had no idea what lay ahead of her. This is a story, told through clown and spoken word, about discovering Sri Lanka through the form of clowning and the generosity of Sri Lankan artists.

Wed November 11 at 8:30pm 20 min

The Village Cidiot
Written & Performed by Lauren Letellier

In The Village Cidiot, a dyed-in-the-wool Manhattanite loses her big corporate job and retires, reluctantly, to a tiny upstate town. Will her city skills be any match for rural reality, or will marauding bears, murder hornets, and hostile locals defeat her first? A hilarious and heartfelt journey about navigating life's disruptions with humor, compassion, and tick repellant.

Thu November 12 at 7pm & Sat November 14 at 7pm 60 min

Welcome to Midday: History Repeating
Written & Performed by Sharon Spell

Welcome to Midday: History Repeating is a storytelling show about growing up in Mississippi and landing in an unlikely job as a Victorian house museum guide in Pittsburgh, all in an effort not to become her mother. Leading recurring tours through both public and private rooms where a robber baron and his family once lived, Sharon Spell reflects on how similar that was to how she compartmentalized her life, having made a series of mistakes and, to publicly save face, unable to let on how miserable she was in private. As folks heard her southern accent in Pittsburgh, she was frequently asked, 'How did you get here?' and wasn't ready to confront the reasons why. No matter where we go, history will repeat until we learn from our past.

Fri November 13 at 7pm 60 min

Song Society
Written & Performed by Florencia Iriondo

After two acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe runs, award-winning writer and performer Florencia Iriondo returns with Song Society, an intimate folk-pop solo musical where stories become songs, songs become memories, and ordinary moments across four continents reveal themselves to be anything but ordinary. Funny, heartfelt, and deeply human, Song Society lives somewhere between a concert, a coming-of-age story, and the conversations we have with ourselves long after everyone else has gone home. For those who wonder how the smallest moments end up shaping an entire life.

Sat November 14 at 3pm 90 min

Otto in Antarctica
Written & Directed by Kyra Sims

In May 2026, musician and performance artist Kyra Sims became the first black musician to perform on all seven continents. She explored her sixth continent, Antarctica, with her horn, Otto, and a field recorder in hand. Her resulting piece, Otto in Antarctica, is an experiential musical journey through the most mysterious region of the world. The piece recounts Kyra's adventures through the mediums of French horn, video, field recordings, spoken word, and more.

Sun November 15 at 7:30pm 50 min

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