Three nationally recognized storytellers will take center stage at Over-the-Rhine’s Know Theatre November 13-15 as the fifth-annual Cincinnati Storytelling Festival marks its first year at the new venue.
The event will feature nationally recognized storytellers Bil Lepp, Charlotte Blake Alston, and NKY’s own Paul Strickland over three days of live storytelling.
The festival’s first events, “Gather Round” and “Twisted Tales,” have sold out the last two years, so it is recommended to secure advance tickets. Friday night’s shows include “Laugh Riot!”, a short dinner break, and then the much-anticipated ghost story show “Spooky Stories.” Who says spooky season ends October 31st?
Saturday will include a wide variety of programming, starting with a free show for children and families, and then a guest performance featuring the best of True Theatre. “Old Tales Told New” will feature masterful and entertaining reimagining of age-old stories, and the closing show “My Favorite Stories!” is sure to delight and entertain.
Most shows are for adults and children ages thirteen and up, with the exception of the Saturday afternoon show which is specifically for children and families.
2025 Storytellers:
Bil Lepp
Bil Lepp is an award-winning storyteller, author, and recording artist. He’s the host of the History Channel’s Man Vs History series, the occasional host of NPR’s internationally syndicated Mountain Stage, and a contributing columnist to the West Virginia Gazette-Mail. Bil’s humorous, family friendly tall-tales and stories have earned the appreciation of listeners of all ages and from all walks of life. Though a five time champion of the WV Liars’s Contest, Lepp’s stories often contain morsels of truth which present universal themes in clever and witty ways. Audiences all across the country, from grade schools to corporate execs to the Comedy Central’s Hudson stage, have been delighted by Bil’s hilarious tales and delightful insights into everyday life.
Charlotte Blake Alston
For over 30 years, Charlotte Blake Alston has graced stages in venues throughout North America and abroad. Venues are wide and include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Symphony Orchestra Narrations and at regional, national and international Storytelling Festivals. She is a frequent guest artist in universities, grade schools, museums and cultural arts institutions around the country but this former elementary school teacher also presents in Day Care Centers, for Special Needs populations as well as prisons and youth detention centers. Charlotte breathes life into traditional and contemporary stories from African and African American oral and cultural traditions.
Paul Stickland, artistic director
Paul Strickland is a professional storyteller and theatre artist who lives in Covington. He has well over seven hours of unique family friendly stories in his repertoire, including reupholstered folk tales, fairytales for adults and future adults, tall-tales and even historical stories that just happen to have never happened. Paul has been a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival, the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, and many more major storytelling festivals across the U.S. Cincinnati audiences know and love Paul Strickland for his award-winning performances at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. He is one of the co-founders of the Cincinnati Storytelling Festival.
Tickets to the event are available at www.cincystoryfest.com. Weekend passes are $60, Friday tickets are $38 and Saturday tickets are $45. Single show tickets are also available for $20 per show. All shows are recommended for ages 13 and up unless otherwise noted.
Know Theatre is located at 1120 Jackson Street in Cincinnati. Box office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Cincinnati Storytelling Festival, founded in 2020, is a weekend event featuring professional storytellers from a variety of backgrounds and traditions. Previously held on Cincinnati’s West Side, the festival brings communities together to enjoy fairy tales, scary stories, laugh-out-loud tales, and everything in between.
Over the past four years, the Cincinnati Storytelling Festival has brought nationally-recognized storytellers to Cincinnati audiences, including Lyn Ford, Sheila Arnold, Adam Booth, Megan Hicks, Antonio Rocha, and Andy Offutt-Irwin.
For more information, visit www.cincystoryfest.com.
Cincinnati Storytelling Festival