Join us for an evening of laughter and fun as the Ann Arbor Women’s Group brings you some of the best comedians from around the country. All proceeds will be used to keep A2WG women’s recovery event’s free, low-cost and/or scholarship based, and provide funding for our free childcare program. So bring your friends and family and join us to Laugh for a Cause!
Performers:
Billy Ray Bauer (Headliner)-
From skewed descriptions of growing up in Detroit in the sixties, to the gory details of raising four boys in the new millennium, Billy Ray will leave you laughing and exhausted from his ordeal.
Add to the mix some off the wall impressions and dialects, and you have an idea of an evening with Billy Ray.
Billy Ray has been a repeat guest on the Bob and Tom Show heard across America. He’s also been heard on the Dick Purtan radio show in Detroit and Billy Ray was named best local comedian of the year by Hour Detroit magazine for 2017. Billy Ray’s jokes have appeared in Reader’s Digest and one was among their top 50 jokes for 2005. Billy Ray has appeared with Drew Carey, Tim Allen, The Smothers Brothers, Lewis Black, Doug Stanhope, and many other great comedians! (website)
Kate Brindle (Opening Act)-
Described as “smart,” “original,” and “hilarious,” Kate Brindle is a unique breath of fresh air on the comedy scene.
Kate has performed her sarcastic yet upbeat and spunky style of comedy on the Canadian Broadcast Channel, Cox Cable, and Comcast Cable. She advanced in the California’s Funniest Female Contest, and was featured in the Oddball Comedy Festival and International Great Plains Comedy Festival. She’s also opened for Louie Anderson, Dave Attell, Bill Burr, Kevin Nealon, Kevin Pollak, and Sarah Silverman.
An audience favorite, Kate brings to the stage her quick wit and impeccable timing. Whether she’s talking about her family or making quirky observations of everyday life, Kate continues to charm crowds with her witty and sassy brand of humor.
Catch this rising star while you can! (website)
Recovery Speaker:
Elizabeth Reader, Milford, MI (Recovery Speaker)- Liz is a person in long-term recovery. She got sober 10-11-01 working a 12 step program. She describes herself as, “fun, a little insane, friendly, helpful and a great friend.”
Liz is very active in the recovery community, an inspiring speaker, and will open the show by sharing her recovery story with us.
The Ann Arbor Women’s Group strengthens women’s sobriety through fun and informative events, workshops and retreats. We help women in recovery connect with other recovering women in Washtenaw County, Michigan. We are not a rehab, detox or transitional housing organization. A2WG is unique in our mission.
April 13 at 8pm, April 14 at 2pm
Back Office Studio
$7 General Admission
PURCHASE TICKETS
For this Neighborhood Theatre Group fundraiser, we will transform the Back Office Studio into a coffeehouse. Join us for an evening of poetry and music from some of Ypsilanti’s most talented performers.
Directed and conceived by Dianne Bernick
Starring R. Darrow Bernick, Eric Hohnke, Maegan Murphy, Emily Rogers-Driskell, and Craig VanKempen
Featuring Tom Hett on piano and bass and Rudy Bernick on accordion
A special Saturday night pre-show with Paul Keller on bass and Rudy Bernick on accordion
Where
Pittsfield Branch: Program Room
For Whom
Age 2-5 Years
Description
Come to a singing and storytelling event where Arabic teacher and storyteller Heba Abdelaal, will lead us in songs and storytelling in Arabic!
April 13 at 8pm, April 14 at 2pm
Back Office Studio
$7 General Admission
PURCHASE TICKETS
For this Neighborhood Theatre Group fundraiser, we will transform the Back Office Studio into a coffeehouse. Join us for an evening of poetry and music from some of Ypsilanti’s most talented performers.
Directed and conceived by Dianne Bernick
Starring R. Darrow Bernick, Eric Hohnke, Maegan Murphy, Emily Rogers-Driskell, and Craig VanKempen
Featuring Tom Hett on piano and bass and Rudy Bernick on accordion
A special Saturday night pre-show with Paul Keller on bass and Rudy Bernick on accordion
In 1896, Michigan consumers spent an estimated $23,000,000 ($690,000,000 today) on impure food products. Vinegars, spices, jam, cheese, coffee, and condiments were among the items tainted with additives ranging from benign to deadly. Local history writer Laura Bien gives an illustrated talk on the state’s history of food fraud and the efforts to quash it.
This event is in partnership with the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor (CHAA), an organization of scholars, cooks, food writers, nutritionists, collectors, students, and others interested in the study of culinary history and gastronomy. Their mission is to promote the study of culinary history through regular programs open to members and guests, through the quarterly newsletter Repast, and through exchanges of information with other such organizations.
This event will be recorded
Student directors from RC Drama Major course RC Hums 482 present their own final projects with the students of RC Hums 281.
DR. CHLOE PREEDY, UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Hosted by the Animal Studies & Environmental Humanities RIW. Please RSVP to lageiger@umich.edu or cvfair@umich.edu
The Civil War began as a battle to save the union but it ended as a struggle to abolish slavery and usher in “a new birth of freedom.” No aspect of society was left unchanged by the years of war and its effects continue to resonate more than one hundred and fifty years later. Dr. Louis Masur is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. A graduate of the University at Buffalo and Princeton University, he is a cultural historian who has written on a variety of topics. His most recent work is Lincoln’s Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction & The Crisis of Reunion (2015), Lincoln’s Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union (2012), and The Civil War: A Concise History (2011). Register online.
Literati is excited to welcome author and physician Anthony DeBenedet to discuss his book Playful Intelligence.
About Playful Intelligence:
As adults, we have more responsibilities than we could have ever imagined growing up. Learning the work of marriage. Navigating the bumpy terrain of parenting. Maintaining social relationships. Facing grave hardship. Finding contentment in our career.
As the years pass by, we sense how the good things in life are so often eclipsed by stress. We find ourselves doing everything we can just to endure adulthood, all the while wondering whether we are actually enjoying it. This is exactly why Dr. Anthony T. DeBenedet decided to write Playful Intelligence: The Power of Living Lightly in a Serious World, to show readers how playfulness helps us counterbalance the seriousness of adulthood.
“Five years ago, my life was becoming more intense and stressful,” DeBenedet says. “My relationships, clinical work as a physician, and basic interactions with the world were blurring into a frazzled mosaic. Going through the motions became my norm, and every day brought busyness and exhaustion. I thought about whether I was depressed. I didn’t think I was. Anxious? Sure, but aren’t we all anxious on some level? I also thought about the lifestyle factors that could be making me feel this way. Was I getting enough sleep? Was I exercising regularly? Was I eating healthy? Was I playing and remembering to be playful?”
Today, we live in a taxing world. The endless pressure to keep up with our responsibilities and the daily headlines swarming around us can be overwhelming. DeBenedet’s work comes at a time when stress, uncertainty, and intensity levels are high. Playful Intelligence shows adults that there is a way to live lighter–and smarter–as we navigate the seriousness of adulthood. It’s not about taking life less seriously; it’s about taking ourselves less seriously.
The book’s core chapters are devoted to exploring the effects and benefits of five playful qualities: imagination, sociability, humor, spontaneity, and wonder. By examining playfulness as a sum of its parts, readers will gain a working awareness of its power and be able to apply playful principles to their own lives, bringing the magic of childhood back into their day-to-day existence. The book also offers practical suggestions on how to make life more playful in nature.
Anthony T. DeBenedet, M.D. is a practicing physician and behavioral-science enthusiast. His interviews and writings have run in various media outlets, including the New York Times, the Today show, the Washington Post, and TIME Ideas. He also co-authored The Art of Roughhousing: Good Old-Fashioned Horseplay and Why Every Kid Needs It (Quirk Books, 2011), a parenting book about the importance of parent-child physical play. DeBenedet has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering, a Master of Science Degree in Health and Healthcare Research from the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, and a Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Michigan Health System. DeBenedet lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he enjoys spending time with his family, connecting with friends, and playing a little basketball.
Open-mic storytelling competitions. Open to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the night’s theme. Come tell a story, or just enjoy the show!
6:30pm Doors Open | 7:30pm Stories Begin
BURNED: Prepare a five-minute story about getting burned. Blistered by love, scalded by the powers that be, scorched by karma or just over-tanned. Tell us about the things that leave you smoldering. Sunscreen anyone?
*Tickets for this event are available one week before the show, at 3pm ET.
*Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the show. Admission is not guaranteed for late arrivals. All sales final.
Media Sponsor: Michigan Radio.
