Family Tales Unplugged: Laughter, Tears, and Surprises Await!

Short Story Theatre presents all new stories about fathers and sons, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and more.

Short Story Theatre presents an evening of five warm, wise and wonderful true stories about families and coping with things that could go wrong.Thursday, January 22, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at The Art Center Highland Park, 1957 Sheridan Road in Highland Park.Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. For tickets: Contact donna@shortstorytheatre.com or purchase on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/laugh-cry-and-identify-all-new-stories-at-short-story-theatre-tickets-1978026626888?aff=oddtdtcreator

Author and bookstore owner, Gayle Brandeis of Highland Park, makes her debut at Short Story Theatre with her wildly viral Washington Post story entitled “Shadow Son,” about the man who thought she was his biological mother for more than a decade (and that she recently learned was the inspiration for Katie Kitamura's acclaimed novel Audition.)

Ed Zifkin, also of Highland Park, tells a tale about what could go right – and wrong – after back surgery in his story “A Little Night Music.”

Scott Woldman, a former Highland Parker in his youth calls his story “The Buddy Bench” - about fitting in when you absolutely do not belong.A former bouncer (Scott) and his anxious inner Dungeon Master collide with a group of unhinged softball parents.

Marcia Kittler, also making her debut with Short Story Theatre, searches for happiness in the Cascade Mountains and finds what she’s looking for in an unexpected meadow. Her story: “Ring of Fire.”

Paul Teodo of Chicago returns to Short Story Theatre’s stage with his story “Treed.” Find out what happens when Paul takes his 6-year-old son on a dangerous bivouac!

Short Story Theatre was founded in 2012 and is dedicated to promoting storytelling as a vibrant, contemporary art form.Co-founder and Producer Donna Lubow says, “Stories are creative non-fiction, based on personal experiences.More than seventy storytellers from Chicago and the northern suburbs have melded writing skills and performance skills to entertain and inspire our Short Story Theatre audiences.”

For more information and for guidelines for submission: donna@shortstorytheatre.com.

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STORYTELLER BIOS

Gayle Brandeis is the author, most recently, of Drawing Breath: Essays on Writing, the Body, and Loss. Earlier books include the memoir The Art of Misdiagnosis, the novel in poems, Many Restless Concerns, shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Award, the poetry collection The Selfless Bliss of the Body, the craft book Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write, and the novels The Book of Dead Birds, which won the PEN/Bellwether Prize, Self Storage, Delta Girls, and My Life with the Lincolns, chosen as a state-wide read in Wisconsin. Her short story collection The Three States of Rice is forthcoming from Jackleg Press. Gayle's work has appeared in places like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and dozens of literary journals, and has received awards including The Columbia Journal Nonfiction Prize and the QPB/Story Magazine Short Story Award. Gayle teaches for the low residency MFA program at University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe, Story Studio Chicago, and other academic and community writing programs. She currently lives in Highland Park and owns Secret World Books with her husband Michael.

Scott Woldman is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and storyteller based in the Chicago area. His work has been produced at theaters including Chicago Dramatists, Redtwist Theatre, The Artistic Home, and The Auditorium Theatre, and his play Beautiful Autistic earned the Edgerton National New Play Award. He has served as a resident playwright at multiple theaters, teaches playwriting and comedy, and is a company member with 2nd Story Chicago.

Edward Zifkin lives in Highland Park with his wonderful wife, Sue Fieldman.Almost every day they walk their dog, Indie, together. Sue spends each day productively while Ed starts his day as he has for decades, by going out for coffee. When he returns home, he lays around napping, listening to books, thinking about the size of the universe and watching Jeopardy!Several times a week, he drops in unannounced at his friends, Uri and Amy, who don’t seem to mind. On Wednesday, he has a standing lunch appointment with Jim, an old friend, and has an unstanding lunch with his friend, Jon. Occasionally he goes grocery shopping and makes dinner. Like a great number of septuagenarians, Ed has a history of back issues. Which he generally doesn’t talk about.