Bay Area Storytelling Festival 2026
Save The Date!
On Sunday April 26th, the Bay Area Storytelling Festival will return by popular demand to take place at the Orinda Community Center in the East Bay, CA. We are excited to carry on the tradition of one of the longest running storytelling festivals in California.
This year’s program will again feature nationally and internationally known tellers in a day of performances and workshops amid this celebration of the vibrant art of storytelling.
Save the date and plan on joining us on Sunday, April 26th. More information and ticket sales coming soon!
One of the longest running storytelling festivals in California, BASF The Story Continues as we again gather to celebrate the vibrant art of storytelling. Our nationally acclaimed featured tellers – Andy Offutt Irwin, Motoko and Jasmin Cardenas - will transport us with tales from their diverse backgrounds and traditions, enchanting us with their award-winning storytelling, and bringing the ancient art alive for modern audiences. Join us for a full day of story concerts, a workshop, a SAC Showcase and an opportunity to tell a story of your own at our Open Mic. This will be a festival not to be missed!
Both virtual and in-person, we're thrilled to share stories with you! In-person tickets are limited, so be sure to get yours soon! We look forward to gathering, with friends new and old, under the canopy of story.
Volunteers
The festival is made possible through the efforts of volunteers and we are always in need of community members willing to help make the event a success. Whether it’s help with sponsorship, promotion or logistics prior to the day of, or help at the festival itself, we welcome all who might be interested.
Scholarships are available, as we believe cost shouldn't come between a listener and a tale well told. We welcome you, and encourage you to email us, so we can share stories with you. And, should you be in a position to do so, we hope you will partner with us through sponsorship to support these scholarship opportunities, and the art of storytelling in our Bay Area community.
For scholarships, sponsorship opportunities, or general questions about the Festival, write us at: bayareastoryfest@gmail.com
The Festival is thrilled to welcome these internationally known artists:
Andy Offutt Irwin
With a manic, Silly Putty voice, hilarious, heart-filled stories, and amazing mouth noises, (arguably the greatest whistler in the world), Andy Offutt Irwin has been described as “The Marx Brothers meet Eudora Welty.” Irwin is a keynote speaker, theater director, songwriter, comedian, newspaper columnist, and Shakespearian actor. His appearances have taken him across the U.S., including the Library of Congress and Walt Disney World. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the NSN ORACLE Circle of Excellence and a Special Congressional Recognition from Rep. John Lewis for “outstanding and invaluable service to the community.”
Motoko
Award winning Japanese storyteller, Motoko, has enchanted audiences of every age with Asian folktales, Rakugo and Zen tales, ghost stories, mime vignettes, as well as oral memoirs from her childhood in Osaka and her life as an immigrant in the U.S. She is the recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s 2017 Circle of Excellence Award. Motoko’s storytelling recordings have won a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award, a Storytelling World Award, and a National Parenting Publications Award. She trained with master mime Tony Montanaro (1927-2002) and renowned Appalachian storyteller Elizabeth Ellis. Motoko’s repertoire includes Asian folktales, Rakugo and Zen tales, ghost stories, mime vignettes, as well as oral memoirs from her childhood in Osaka and her life as an immigrant in the U.S.
Jadmin Cardenas
Jasmin Cardenas is a Colombian-American actress, theatermaker, educator, and social activist based in Chicago. She is a SAG-AFTRA member with credits in television and film. Cardenas is known for her work in Chicago's theater community, including Steppenwolf and Goodman theaters. She co-founded WorkersTEATRO to highlight wage worker stories and has been recognized for her storytelling, including a 2018 ALTA Award and a Race Bridges Storytelling Fellowship. Her one-woman show, ¿Niña Buena?, explores her experiences as a Latina American and has toured in the Midwest and Mexico. She was also awarded a 2020-2022 LAB Fellowship, was selected to be the 2022 U.S. Emergent Theater Artists, and received the 2023 USArtists International MidAtlantic Arts Grant.
"Once upon a time, in the land of hills and water and bridges, there lived a band of local folk who loved storytelling. They loved to hear tales told and to tell tales of their own. This society of storytellers traveled far and wide to gather together with the multitudes and be regaled with stories of all kinds.
One day, an idea was hatched. Why not bring the stories to their very own shire? Their land was pleasing to the eye and had many who would enjoy hearing and telling stories. And so it began, a Festival in the West, a gathering that grew and grew. What started as a day grew to three and what began as a first became thirty Festivals over many, many years. Word spread of the event and soon crowds from throughout the land, from all directions, came to hear and to learn from the greatest of the bards.
The society of storytellers was pleased as the festival grew beyond their wildest dreams. But, alas, the society eventually grew weary, as the festival required the work of many and at times there were only a few. There came a day when the festival bid adieu to the land of hills and water and bridges. The group was pleased with what they had done,but could no longer carry the torch onward.
Then, darkness fell upon the land and the people were made to stay in their homes, to cover their faces and could gather together o more. Stories were still told, but tellers were distant and spoke to the people from small windows, while the folk sat in their homes. This went on for some time and the people grew restless. Slowly, after a year and many months, the darkness started to lift. The folk ventured out of their abodes and the tellers stepped out of their rectangular confinement.
It was at this moment, while caught up in the joy of the fading darkness, that a certain storytelling lass decreed, “Let us bring back the festival!” The cry was echoed throughout the land and soon plans were afoot to once again assemble in the West. It was decided to gather in the spring, at a manor in the village known as Santa Rosa.
And so the story continues..."