Our Featured Storytellers

Fugitive Stories featured tellers are an accomplished group of storytellers who have appeared on stages in Boston and beyond. Many are Moth StorySLAM winners and GrandSLAM finalists; some can be heard on The Moth Radio Hour or on GBH's Stories From the Stage! They include Massmouth Story Slam Winners and Champions, theater professionals, comedians, authors, podcast producers, and teachers.

Our featured storytellers are committed artists who embrace you with their craft. They love sparking an interest in storytelling or bringing an audience member to a fond memory. Best of all, they are a talented, creative souls full of encouragement for new storytellers!

fugitive FEATURED TELLER bios

Julie Baker
Julie is a writer, storyteller, and Moth StorySlam producer living in East Boston. She spends her days writing, developing stories; and watching ships pass through the drawbridge outside her third floor window. Now that her kids have moved out, she sometimes misses embarrassing them by dancing in public. Her storytelling credits include The Moth, Story Collider, Stories from the Stage, Now Listen Here, Massmouth, Bodies of Stories, and anyone who asks her what’s new.

Kate Buhler
Kate is a multiple Moth StorySLAM winner who makes her living traveling the world as a consultant for luxury hotels, restaurants, and resorts. This provides the opportunity to meet amazing people and create new stories everywhere she goes. She is a member of the National Speakers Association, and gives talks on the question, “Why is good service so hard to find?" Kate has recently written, Inhospitable: Lessons Learned from a Lifetime in Service. For her, storytelling is an artform and a passion that strengthens the bond of human connection.  

Susan Cohn-Child
Susan is a bit of everything. She sings alto in a choir (though she’s a little bitter that she can no longer sing soprano), is a devoted member of a book group for 18 years, is a world traveler when funds and time allow, and is a daughter, a sister, a spouse, and mother of two aspiring adults. She wrote her first story in 2018 and hasn’t looked back. Susan has told stories at The Moth, is a feature teller at Fugitive Stories, and is a Massmouth audience pick winner. She loves the authenticity of the story telling community and the connections that storytelling creates between people.

Harold Cox
Harold, the 2019 Massmouth “Big Mouth Off” champion, has been a featured teller on GBH’s “Stories from the Stage” and is a producer of “Stories to Scenes,” a monthly storytelling show in Roslindale. He is a professor at Boston University School of Public Health. He notes, “There is something special that happens when you tell a story. You can feel we’re all connected. It’s powerful.” When not at work or telling stories, Harold can be found canoeing, dogsledding, and knitting.

Ben Cunningham
Ben is a multifaceted artist and storyteller whose recent story aired on the “Growing Up Black” episode of GBH’s “Stories from The Stage,” a 25th Annual Webby Award winner. With first place titles from 2011 and 2017, Ben is the only two-time winner of the Massmouth’s storytelling championship, the “Big Mouth-Off.” His performance on Story Collider — true, personal stories about science — was featured on WBUR’s The ARTery.

Matthew Dicks
Matthew is a record 56-time Moth StorySLAM champion and 9-time GrandSLAM champion whose stories have been featured on their nationally syndicated Moth Radio Hour and their weekly podcast. His stories have also appeared on PBS’s Stories From the Stage. He is an elementary school teacher and the internationally bestselling author of the novels Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, Something Missing, Unexpectedly, Milo, and The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs. He is the founder and Creative Director of “Speak Up,” a Hartford-based storytelling organization. Matt loves ice cream cake, golf, tickling his children, staring at his wife, and not sleeping.

Paul Doncaster 
Paul is a published author, the father of two outstanding young women (and a bluetick beagle), and has been telling stories since 2016.  He has told at events throughout New England, performed in two Moth GrandSLAMs, and been featured on the World Channel's “Stories from the Stage.”  By day, he is a user experience design professional, listening to the stories of others and using their words to create more user-friendly online experiences.

Norah Dooley
Norah is a storyteller, children’s author, and educator who performs in schools, libraries, festivals and conferences. Booked through Young Audiences (yamass.org) she specializes in teaching people of all ages how important their stories are. She is the founder of StoriesLive.org, the former director and co-founder of massmouth.org and the “Boston Story Slam” series. She teaches storytelling at Lesley Graduate School of Education and has taught storytelling to undergrads at Tufts, Suffolk and Boston Universities. Internationally, she has lectured on storytelling to teachers and graduate students in Japan and Tanzania.

Rachel Gans-Boriskin
Rachel Gans-Boriskin is a partner at NOVL, a strategic management consulting firm specializing in workforce development. A former Communications Professor, she has performed at many storytelling venues in the Boston area including GBH’s “Stories from the Stage.” She lives in Central Mass with her husband, two children, seven chickens, two cats, and two neurotic Pomeranians. 

David Gerratt (Fugitive Stories co-founder, producer, and host)
Over the years, David has performed on a number of stages and promoted live performance in many settings — from a local farmers market to urban concert halls, from restaurants to stadiums. In 2015, he created Fugitive Productions where he produces music, storytelling, and comedy events in Boston’s ’burbs. In his day job (dba DG Communications and NonprofitDesign.com), he works as a communications consultant and graphic designer with nonprofit organizations and schools where he “promotes the good work of others by helping them look good.”

Cheryl Hamilton
Cheryl is the founder and director of Stellar Story Company, a Boston-based business that helps people and institutions deliver extraordinary stories and unforgettable events that lead to meaningful change. In addition to its work with nonprofits and businesses, Stellar identifies and coaches talent for the national media program Stories from the Stage, filmed at GBH studios. Cheryl is also the creator of Suitcase Stories, a series that explores global migration. 

Kemp Harris
Kemp is a storyteller, composer, musician, children’s author, and actor. He has performed as a storyteller at festivals, schools, and libraries across the country. As a musician and composer, Kemp has shared the stage with Taj Mahal, Gil Scott-Heron, and Koko Taylor. He has written and performed original compositions for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and WGBH public television. Kemp has been a featured storyteller featured at GBH and, in 2016, brought his children’s “Stories on The Wind” to Fugitive Productions. As a 30-year educator of kindergartners and first-graders in Newton, his stories sometimes include lively vignettes of daily life with mischievous and innocent faces.

Jennifer Hillery
Jennifer, like many storytellers, wears various hats. As a storyteller, you can find her at many a Moth storyslam supporting friends or telling stories. She is the proud winner of a Moth Storyslam, has appeared on World Channel’s “Stories from the Stage” and was a teller at a Stellar Storytelling “Stories & Spirits” event. A lawyer by background, Jennifer is now the co-founder of Redwood Speaking, LLC, where she supports individuals and organizations with developing public speaking skills and confidence. You can also find her volunteering in her community and for her alma mater.

Katie Liesener
Katie is a Moth GrandSlam champion and Massmouth “Big Mouth-off” Champion who has performed in more than 90 shows across nine states. She is a freelance journalist whose articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Condé Nast Traveler, and other publications. 

Mark Modrall
Mark is a computer programmer from Littleton.  He started telling stories in public about six years ago when he ran out of relatives who hadn't heard that one before. He's won several story slams at the Moth and Massmouth, and he's been a featured speaker at GBH’s “Stories From the Stage.” And he counts himself blessed that he's occasionally invited to speak with much better tellers at great venues, like Fugitive Productions.

Kurt Mullen
Kurt is an award-winning storyteller, writer, teacher, editor, and producer. He has told stories (twice) on GBH’s, “Stories from the Stage.” And in his work for the Stellar Story Company, he coaches and helps cast the show. As a performer, he’s told stories on “The Volume Knob” podcast in Montreal, the “GRIT: True Stories” podcast in North Carolina, and on the “RISK!” true stories podcast in Brooklyn. In magazines, literary journals, and anthologies, Kurt has written about soldiers coming home from war, about his own personal loss and grief and, generally, about the quirky folks who like to go it alone in this world. To learn more about Kurt’s storytelling, writing, and teaching, please visit him at www.kurtmullen.com.

Theresa Okokon
Theresa is a Wisconsinite living in New England, a writer, a storyteller, the co-host of Stories From The Stage, and a 2020 VONA alum. In addition to writing and performing her own stories, Theresa teaches storytelling and writing workshops and classes, coaches other tellers, hosts story slams, and frequently emcees events for nonprofits. She is an alum of both the Memoir Incubator and Essay Incubator programs at GrubStreet, and is working on a memoir of essays about memory, family stories, and the death of her father. Theresa's essays (and bathroom selfies!) have appeared in midnight & indigo, ELLE, the Independent, Pangyrus, WBUR's Cognoscenti, and Boston.com. She Instagrams gorgeous cocktails, food porn, and pics about Blackness, fatness and her very cute senior dog at @ohh.jeezzz. She believes very seriously in capitalizing the B in Black and the W in White, and you can read more about that here, with Kwame Anthony Appiah.

Don Picard
Don is a Moth storyteller who shares his own moving life moments with humor and humility. He has worked in software development for more than 30 years and is currently employed at Cogito Corporation, which can “augment your workforce with our AI coaching system.” Don was a double major in Theatre Arts and Computer Science at Cornell, and chose to work as an engineer in order to be able to live in Cambridge and feed his family. Don enjoys telling live stories about his kids, husband, and extended family as it is fun, therapeutic, and allows him to exercise the other half of his college degree so he doesn’t become bitter.

Rose Saia (Fugitive Stories co-founder)
Rose is Executive Director of the Centre Street Food Pantry, a regional food relief agency that serves residents of six greater Boston cities and provides food for 3,500 people every month. She is on the board of directors and head cook at Mt Calvary Community Supper in Acton and is the former Pantry Director for Open Table in Maynard, where combined she has prepared over 10,000 meals. Her storytelling career paused due to the pandemic, but prior to this she was a regular competitor and winner at Moth storyslams and appeared on GBH’s television series “Stories from the Stage” and in the International Institute’s “Suitcase Stories” series. She recently was featured on the Moth Radio Hour with her story “Paint it Black.” She lives in Acton and is trying to keep an empty nest after raising five children in their blended family. It’s a work in process.

Susanne Schmidt
Susanne is a comedic storyteller and a producer for The Moth. Her work has been feature on CBS Sunday Morning, National Public Radio and HBO’s Inspiration Room.

Robin Schoenthaler
Robin has been a storyteller for about a decade and has been with Fugitive since 2018. In 2019 she won a Moth Grand Slam Championship and she is never going to stop talking about it — ever. She is also an award-winning essayist — mostly about love, loss, life, death, and Covid. Robin’s day job for 28 years was as a cancer doctor with MGH at Emerson Hospital in their Department of Radiation Oncology. She now helps people with second opinions about their cancers while she travels the world. Learn more about Robin at www.DrRobin.org. 

Brendyn Schneider
Brendyn Schneider has been a professional storyspinner for 15 years. He has performed all over New England at fine venues such as GBH studios, the Cutler Majestic Theater, and hallowed stages of Fugitive Productions. By day, he’s a webinar instructor and career advisor, helping job seekers find their professional match. He frequently uses the principles of storytelling while advising job seekers. To assist in his lifelong quest for the perfect bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, please find him at www.brendynschneider.com  

Meg Stafford
Meg is an award-winning author of two memoirs — They are Topic of Cancer: Riding the Waves of the Big C, and Who Will Accompany You? My Mother-Daughter Journeys Far From Home and Close to the Heart — a columnist and observer of humans’ and animals’ delightful quirks, and was a featured teller on GBH’s “Stories from the Stage.” A social worker in private practice for many years, she hears powerful stories on a regular basis and always appreciates the connective tissue that telling our truths creates. And, she embraces the notion that the shortest distance between two people is a laugh. Meg can be reached at http://www.MegStafford.com. 

Sara Sweet Rabidoux-Kelsey
Sara is a writer and storyteller from Boston. She is a Moth MainStage performer and has been a featured teller with Fugitive Stories, Now Hear This, and Listen Up Storytelling. Currently working on her first book, Sara is the Property Research Manager for The Trustees of Reservations. 

Bart Thompson
Bart has won Moth StorySLAMs and Massmouth Story Slams and has been a Massmouth “Big Mouth Off” finalist. He honed his skill in storytelling on the stages of Boston and New York after a humble beginning seven years ago in a storytelling show in Providence, RI. He is the organizer and host of “Now Listen Here,” a monthly open mike and showcase storytelling event celebrating the diversity of Boston’s vibrant storytelling and listening scene. He is a Nebraska native and avid traveler who now lives in the Boston area. He tells stories anywhere he can find a captive audience (such as elevators and bathrooms).

Bethany Van Delft
Bethany’s “hip & grounded, laid back delivery” has earned her the honor of performing at the prestigious Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, and notable appearances on Comedy Central, TV Guide Channel, and NickMom. Her monthly show, “Artisanal Comedy,” has been named “one of the top indie nights to check out.” Unashamedly in touch with her inner nerd, Bethany enjoys being a panelist on “You’re the Expert” and “Literary Death Match,” and is thrilled to be Mainstage storyteller and host for The Moth.

George Vendura
George, aka “George from the Bronx,” has a PhD in physics, and is one of those rare left-brain/right-brain crossovers. His inventions have enabled NASA-JPL space probes and have powered the Sojourner, the first exploratory robotic vehicle on the surface of Mars. George is equally proficient with creative writing and storytelling. He’s a multiple Massmouth and Mass-Story slam winner and was a finalist in both the “Big Mouth Off” and Grand Slam competitions. He has been a featured teller — twice — for GBH’s “Stories from the Stage.”

Theresa Wiggins
Theresa enjoys telling a story that has lived inside of her, to uncover a nugget or life lesson she may not have previously recognized.  She loves the sense of shared humanity she gets from a night of telling and listening to stories.  A moth story slam winner, Theresa is also co-founder of Redwood Speaking, which offers public speaking coaching, women’s public speaking circles, and trainings for businesses and community organizations.  The guiding belief of Redwood Speaking is that public speaking is not a one-size-fits-all type of endeavor.  Rather, each person is guided towards finding and using their own unique voice in their own unique style.

Aaron Wolfe
Aaron is a filmmaker, a Moth GrandSLAM winning storyteller, and occasional host of the Moth StorySLAMS in Boston. His films have been featured at Sundance Film Festival, the New York Times, and his film “Record/Play” was shortlisted for an Oscar. Aaron is the host and producer of the podcast “First Time, Long Time” where he tells stories about sports for people who may not like sports. 

Thanks to the moth and Massmouth

The Moth Radio Hour was where I first heard true stories told live and was the original inspiration for creating Fugitive Stories. But it was our partnership with Massmouth in the spring of 2016 that provided the spark to the Fugitive Stories engine. Thanks to Massmouth (and specifically Cheryl Hamilton) for believing in our original partnership and for helping to identify some of the area’s finest tellers, many of whom we bring to our stage as "Fugitive Stories Featured Tellers." To learn more about Massmouth, go to massmouth.org and watch their nationally syndicated partnership with WGBH-TV, “Stories from the Stage.”

WANT TO Be A Fugitive?

If you are an experienced storyteller who would like to become a Fugitive Stories Featured Teller, click here to let us know. We welcome new Fugitives to our stages to become a part of the warm community of storytellers and those who enjoy listening to them.