Founded in 2011 in New York City by actor, writer, and storyteller, Kevin Allison, The Story Studio is the educational offshoot of Kevin’s hit true storytelling podcast, RISK! Telling true stories changed Kevin’s life and career, and his podcast listeners told him that hearing true stories saved their lives and inspired them to tell their own stories. They began to ask Kevin if he could teach them to tell stories and help them apply principles of storytelling to everything from personal growth to performance to business situations.
This inspired Kevin to create The Story Studio to offer storytelling training to anyone who might need it. As demand for The Story Studio’s classes grew, Kevin recruited a small group of some of New York City’s most expert and seasoned storytellers, and together, they built a methodology for teaching the art of personal storytelling that is based on the needs of students, the challenges that they face and the questions that they commonly ask.
After starting with just one small Introduction to Storytelling class in New York City, The Story Studio soon grew to offer one-on-one coaching and multiple types of storytelling classes in cities across the United States and online, as well as corporate storytelling training around the world, including in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Latvia and online.
The Story Studio has led workshops for a wide range of businesses in industries including tax, technology, fashion, retail, health, banking, advertising, philanthropy, media, and more. We’ve worked with small businesses, nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies. Anyone who needs to improve their communication to achieve their goals can benefit from working with us.
Storytelling is growing in popularity as a tool for success in personal, artistic, and business communication pursuits because people know that great storytelling brings great results. Storytelling is central to effective, memorable, and compelling communication because stories cut through jargon to communicate ideas, cross divides, and transform complex, technical, and often dry information into a relatable human narrative that people will remember and be moved by.
The Story Studio’s training is in high demand because we demystify the process of building and sharing a compelling story in a way that students can easily understand and apply to their lives and work, and in a way that many other storytelling schools do not. That’s why our clients consistently tell us that our corporate workshops help their employees make great strides in their communication skills in a way that other workshops never did.
We look forward to continuing to help individuals and groups revolutionize their communication skills, one story at a time.
With his writing and acting work on the legendary sketch comedy series The State on MTV, as well as Reno 911!, Flight of the Conchords, High Maintenance, Blue Man Group and more, Kevin Allison has created all kinds of stories.
Cyndi Freeman has over 20 years of experience as a storyteller and 10 years of experience as a storytelling instructor, leading classes in storytelling for business, performance and personal growth.
Brad Lawrence is a storyteller, solo show performer and teacher who has performed to sold out crowds around the United States and the UK.
A New England native currently based in Brooklyn, Wes Hazard has been named as one of 5 Boston Comedians to Watch by The Boston Globe Magazine. Wes is a multiple-time winner on The Moth StorySLAM stage and he’s appeared as a guest on the podcasts RISK!, Comedy Bang! Bang! Live!, and The Story Collider.
Gail Thomas loves helping each storytelling client find, shape and share their own unique voice. She has taught storytelling workshops to businesses such as Merck, Pitney Bowes, Dentons, Ahimsa Ashram and Hour Children, and young people at the Girl Scouts, ROW NY, Legal Outreach, 826NYC and the Calhoun School.
David Crabb’s stories have appeared on The Moth, RISK! & NPR. He has taught corporate workshops at Google, Facebook, Viacom, Uber, Prudential, Bravo, US Forestry Service, Fidelity, and Novartis.
JiJi Lee is a comedy writer, performer and storyteller based in NYC. She took her first storytelling class in 2012 and she’s been hooked ever since! She has performed storytelling and comedy at The Kennedy Center’s Story League Show, a New York Times Opinion Live event with Maureen Dowd, RISK!, Asian AF at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Generation Women at Caveat, and more.
Bryan Kett is an award-winning teacher, writer, and storyteller based in Los Angeles. He received his Masters in creative writing from DePaul University and graduated from the writing program at the Second City Training Center in Chicago. He’s a multiple Moth GrandSLAM winner, and his stories have been featured on The Moth, RISK!, KCRW, TED.com, and SoulPancake.
Actor, writer, storyteller and teaching artist Amy Salloway is a big fan of the Venn Diagram spot where live theatre, social activism and human connection overlap. Her creative work has focused on stripping the shame and stigma from experiences that are hard to talk about – bullying and discrimination, weight bias and body image, sexual violence, disabilities, and chronic illness.
Julia Whitehouse is a writer, performer, and storyteller who has lived all over the world and loves New York City the best. Her show, NAKED PEOPLE, ran at the Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC and LA and the 2013 Women in Comedy Festival. Trained in improv and sketch at UCB, she is a Moth Slam winner and has performed her stories for RISK!, Ask Me, The Soundtrack Series, Solocom, Nights of Our Lives, and So Into It.
Dawn J. Fraser is a storyteller, producer and nationally acclaimed communications coach based out of Brooklyn, NY and San Jose, California. She is the creator and host of the show “Barbershop Stories,” which features storytellers performing true tales in barbershops and salons around NYC, and is the founder of Fraser’s Edge, which offers programs for businesses, nonprofit organizations, college students, speakers and entrepreneurs to develop leadership potential through storytelling.
Michelle Walson is a writer/director with a passion for story. She received her M.F.A. in film production from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where her short film, Chin Up, won the Audience Choice Award at Atlanta Shortsfest and Best Graduate Film at NYU’s Fusion Film Festival.
With his writing and acting work on the legendary sketch comedy series The State on MTV, as well as Reno 911!, Flight of the Conchords, High Maintenance, Blue Man Group and more, Kevin Allison has created all kinds of stories.
In 2009, Kevin created RISK!, the live show and audio podcast where people tell true stories they never thought they’d dare to share. The podcast is now downloaded over 1 million times per month. Kevin is also the author of the hit book, RISK! True Stories People Never Thought They’d Dare To Share, which was published by Hachette Books in 2018.
As the founder of The Story Studio in New York, Kevin has coached bestselling authors, well-known comedians, and brilliant teachers and executives from a wide spectrum of fields.
Cyndi Freeman has over 20 years of experience as a storyteller and 10 years of experience as a storytelling instructor, leading classes in storytelling for business, performance and personal growth.
An expert on teaching storytelling for business, she has presented storytelling workshops with a range of organizations including Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and nonprofit groups around the world. Past clients include GE, ZenDesk, Janssen: Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, UNICEF – USA, The 9/11 Tribute Museum, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and The New York Public Library.
In addition to her work with The Story Studio, Ms. Freeman has won numerous grants, which have allowed her to work with the elderly, teaching them to craft stories as a way of encouraging them to share their life experiences with others. Her performing credits include performing solo shows at festivals around the world and telling stories at live shows like RISK!, The Moth and The Liar Show. Her television credits include Stories from The Stage (PBS) and The Colbert Report (Comedy Central).
Brad Lawrence is a storyteller, solo show performer and teacher who has performed to sold out crowds around the United States and the UK. He got his start as a storytelling teacher conducting workshops at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He then went on to become a story coach for the RISK! podcast and live shows and an instructor for The Story Studio.
As a storyteller, Brad was the first person to win back-to-back Moth GrandSLAMs, which led to him becoming a regular on Moth Mainstages around the United States. He has co-produced and performed in storytelling, solo, and variety shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, South By Southwest Interactive, and in conjunction with WBUR, USA Television Network, Casper Mattresses, and Grant’s Whiskey.
He has taught storytelling for business and corporate professionals and lead workshops for Fortune 500 companies in the US and in Europe. He is currently a host of The Liar Show and his writing has appeared in McSweeney’s.
A New England native currently based in Brooklyn, Wes Hazard has been named as one of 5 Boston Comedians to Watch by The Boston Globe Magazine. Wes is a multiple-time winner on The Moth StorySLAM stage and he’s appeared as a guest on the podcasts RISK!, Comedy Bang! Bang! Live!, and The Story Collider.
In 2017, he earned second place in the National Storytelling Festival’s Story Slam and was awarded a New England Emmy for his hosting work on CBS Boston’s The Secret Worlds of Boston Comic Con. His debut humor book, Questions For Terrible People, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2016.
He currently co-hosts the national storytelling television program Stories From The Stage on PBS, and in 2018, he appeared on Jeopardy!, becoming a 3-time champion.
Gail Thomas loves helping each storytelling client find, shape and share their own unique voice. She has taught storytelling workshops to businesses such as Merck, Pitney Bowes, Dentons, Ahimsa Ashram and Hour Children, and young people at the Girl Scouts, ROW NY, Legal Outreach, 826NYC and the Calhoun School.
A former lawyer, Gail has over 20 years of multimedia writing experience. She has worked as a strategic storyteller and writer for clients including Pitney Bowes Global UX department, 100Kin10 STEM education network and PINNA kids’ podcast. As a speechwriter, Gail has written for over 30 live world-class events and corporate conferences, such as the Tribeca Film Festival and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Los Angeles. Gail has crafted scripts, jokes, and talking points for celebrities, politicians and executives, including Martin Scorsese and Bill Clinton.
Gail has over 30 years of performance experience, appearing on stage and screen as an actor, storyteller, improviser, sketch and standup comic. Her voice over credits include David Letterman, Angelo Rules and Beavis and Butthead, and she has appeared in national commercials and on Law & Order SVU. Her short comedy, My BFF, won Audience Favorite at New Filmmakers. Gail is a Moth StorySLAM winner and performs in storytelling shows and podcasts including RISK!, The Liar Show, and the Story Collider. For more information, go to WWW.GAIL-THOMAS.COM.
David Crabb’s stories have appeared on The Moth, RISK! & NPR. He has taught corporate workshops at Google, Facebook, Viacom, Uber, Prudential, Bravo, US Forestry Service, Fidelity, and Novartis.
He co-designs and facilitates storytelling programs at Twitter HQ & Huge Inc. that have been ongoing around the world since 2015. David has lectured at Indiana University, USC and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has served as a writing mentor and storytelling coach at Writers Guild of America, Wounded Warrior Project, United We Dream and The Moth High School Program. As a touring host of The Moth, David has hosted sold-out shows in America, Canada & Australia, where he hosted The Moth launch at the Sydney Opera House.
His solo show Bad Kid was a New York Times Critic’s Pick and his memoir of the same name was released in 2015 by Harper Perennial. David is currently a Professor of Autobiographical Performance at Occidental College and host of the RISK! Live show in Los Angeles.
JiJi Lee is a comedy writer, performer and storyteller based in NYC. She took her first storytelling class in 2012 and she’s been hooked ever since! She has performed storytelling and comedy at The Kennedy Center’s Story League Show, a New York Times Opinion Live event with Maureen Dowd, RISK!, Asian AF at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Generation Women at Caveat, and more. In May 2019, she hosted a live show of The Moth at Barnard College Reunion. She previously hosted and produced Split Personality, a weekly storytelling show which ran for two years and featured comedians and storytellers from Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central, and The Moth podcast.
As a writer, her humor writing has regularly appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, and Reductress. Her original TV pilot scripts have received recognition from TV writing competitions and labs such as The Sundance Episodic Story Lab and Austin Film Festival. Previously, she worked at The United Nations, where she learned how stories could be used to raise awareness on important humanitarian issues. She’s excited to help people connect with each other and develop their stories!
Bryan Kett is an award-winning teacher, writer, and storyteller based in Los Angeles. He received his Masters in creative writing from DePaul University and graduated from the writing program at the Second City Training Center in Chicago.
He’s a multiple Moth GrandSLAM winner, and his stories have been featured on The Moth, RISK!, KCRW, TED.com, and SoulPancake. In 2016, his pilot, FERAL, was named best original teleplay in the Slamdance Screenplay Competition.
Currently, Bryan produces and hosts The Story Collider in Los Angeles, conducts storytelling workshops for professional development, and serves as story coach for KPCC’s Unheard LA.
Actor, writer, storyteller and teaching artist Amy Salloway is a big fan of the Venn Diagram spot where live theatre, social activism and human connection overlap. Her creative work has focused on stripping the shame and stigma from experiences that are hard to talk about – bullying and discrimination, weight bias and body image, sexual violence, disabilities, and chronic illness.
Amy’s autobiographical solo plays — “Does This Monologue Make Me Look Fat?,” “So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz!,” and “Circumference” — have toured to and won awards at theatre festivals, colleges, conferences and communities across the US and Canada since 2004, earning her reviews like “raw and fearless,” “achingly honest and hysterically funny” and “the voice for all of us who were picked last for kickball.”
Amy was a founding member of the Minneapolis narrative ensemble Rockstar Storytellers, a co-producer of the place-based bike ride Spinning Stories, and currently hosts the monthly show Story Club Minneapolis. She’s contributed stories to radio programs on MPR and CBC, and to the podcast “RISK!” As an instructor for The Story Studio, Amy teaches personal storytelling, facilitates corporate workshops and coaches actors, lecturers, presenters and speakers of all kinds, in person and online.
For more information, visit www.amysalloway.com, or www.facebook.com/awkwardmomentonstage.
Julia Whitehouse is a writer, performer, and storyteller who has lived all over the world and loves New York City the best. Her show, NAKED PEOPLE, ran at the Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC and LA and the 2013 Women in Comedy Festival. Trained in improv and sketch at UCB, she is a Moth Slam winner and has performed her stories for RISK!, Ask Me, The Soundtrack Series, Solocom, Nights of Our Lives, and So Into It.
She hosts the longest-running weekly storytelling open mic in Manhattan, Happy Hour Story Hour, at The Duplex Cabaret and Bar at 7 pm every Monday. She has written for Motherly, Splitsider, and Mutha Magazine. She is perpetually working on her next project and loving that process. Besides raising her family, encouraging and helping to develop stories is what brings her the most joy.
Dawn J. Fraser is a storyteller, producer and nationally acclaimed communications coach based out of Brooklyn, NY and San Jose, California. She is the creator and host of the show “Barbershop Stories,” which features storytellers performing true tales in barbershops and salons around NYC, and is the founder of Fraser’s Edge, which offers programs for businesses, nonprofit organizations, college students, speakers and entrepreneurs to develop leadership potential through storytelling.
As a professional communications coach with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked with notable companies including Spotify, Google and Chanel, nonprofits including The Innocence Project, Wounded Warrior and Returned Peace Corp Volunteers, academic institutions including Rutgers, University of California, and Harvard University, as well as notable celebrities including Lori Greiner from the show Shark Tank, rapper/actor Common and Jackie Cruz from the show “Orange is the New Black.”
She is an Instructor with The Moth and The Story Studio and was featured amongst some of the nation’s top innovators and change makers as a speaker at TED@NYC. She has also performed in shows nationwide, including The Moth Mainstage, Story Collider, RISK! and The Unchained Tour. Dawn loves being a twin and a Trinidadian.
Michelle Walson is a writer/director with a passion for story. She received her M.F.A. in film production from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where her short film, Chin Up, won the Audience Choice Award at Atlanta Shortsfest and Best Graduate Film at NYU’s Fusion Film Festival.
Michelle is the founding producer of the popular storytelling show and podcast, RISK!, where she’s developed stories with Rachel Dratch, Janeane Garofalo, Marc Maron, Lili Taylor, Ilana Glazer, Chris Gethard, and more. She edited Michael Showalter’s memoir, Mr. Funny Pants, has taught storytelling at the Upright Citizens Brigade, the Peoples Improv Theater and the Women in Comedy Festival, and has directed solo shows for festivals around the country, including Latter Gay Saint, which enjoyed a sold-out run at the 2018 New York International Fringe Festival.
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