I love stories and storytelling. From 2024 to 2025, I was a featured storyteller five times, each evening shaped by a new theme and a room full of people who came simply to listen.
A community of true fans of story, willing to gather, sit, and share the experience together. Being surrounded by exceptional storytellers has been a joy. I continue to learn from them and be inspired every time.
Tenx9 ("ten by nine”) Nashville is a monthly community storytelling night in Nashville, Tennessee where 9 people have up to ten minutes each to tell a real story from their lives. Ten-minute stories by nine people—thus the name. Each month there is a theme and every event is free.
THEME: Moving
MY STORY TITLE: Life in Drive
STORY SUMMARY:
After 43 years in Los Angeles, I packed up my life and moved to Spring Hill, Tennessee, along with four cats and a lifetime of dreams shaped by California. This story explores reinvention, resilience, and the surprising kindness found in unfamiliar places. There is humor in the logistics, heartbreak in what was left behind, and hope in the roots slowly taking hold. Gas prices and humidity still shock me, but community and belonging have begun to feel like home.
THEME: In the Heat of the Moment
MY STORY TITLE: Naked Fireman
STORY SUMMARY:
What began as holiday preparations turned into a near-tragedy when a candle sparked a fire in our home while my husband was in the shower. In a moment of sheer instinct, he ran through the flames, naked as the day he was born, to save us and our home, suffering serious burns in the process. The fire displaced us, altered our sense of safety, and opened the door to a few unsettling experiences that followed. Every holiday season now carries a reminder of bravery, gratitude, and my very own naked fireman.
THEME: That Made All the Difference
MY STORY TITLE: Becoming Somebody
STORY SUMMARY:
As a freckled, red-headed kid with glasses, crooked teeth, and a speech impediment, I found my first sense of belonging in Emily Dickinson’s poem “I’m Nobody, Who Are You?” Years later, those same doubts resurfaced when I decided to play Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst, questioning everything from my size to my ability to carry a one-woman show. One blunt sentence from my acting coach made all the difference. This story is about stepping forward anyway, trusting what makes us different, and discovering that the very things we worry about most often hold the key.
THEME: It’s a Wrap
MY STORY TITLE: Wrapped in Glitter
STORY SUMMARY:
At 25, I landed a dream role in a prestigious Los Angeles repertory company, starring opposite Parker Stevenson in a production that glittered with Hollywood attention. Night after night, famous faces filled the audience, reviews poured in, and I earned my first acting nomination. Yet beneath the sparkle, I was young, overwhelmed, and unsure how to step fully into the opportunity in front of me. What endured was not the fame, but the friendships and the lasting imprint of a moment that shaped who I would become.
THEME: It’s a Date
MY STORY TITLE: Dwelling in Possibility
STORY SUMMARY:
May 21, 2018, became the line that divided my life into before and after. What began as a beautiful spring morning ended in 19 days in the hospital, a cascade of medical crises, and a diagnosis of a rare autoimmune disease that changed everything. This story follows the unraveling and rebuilding that came after, marked by medical chaos, dark humor, and learning a language I never wanted to know. Seven years later, I am still navigating the “after” and discovering what it means to live inside it.
