More Better Stories

Christopher Nelson

Storyteller
Performing Thursday, 8/6 @ 7:00 PM Growing Up Small in a Mid-Sized Town Drawing on my experiences as an educator, I learned the power of a good story in the classroom. After retirement, I found the American School of Storytelling, attending open mic nights and classes. My narrative approach to this performance of "I have my Ways" finds humor in small observations and meaning in ordinary lives. I try to balance softness and honesty that feels comforting and true.

Hank Roubicek

Storyteller
Performing Friday, 8/7 @ 8:30 PM, Saturday, 8/8 @ 4:00 PM, Sunday, 8/9 @ 2:00 PM Learning What? Hank Roubicek is a retired Professor of Communication at the University of Houston Downtown and an expert in storytelling and narrative expression. An award-winning educator, author, host of radio and podcast programs, and a Houston Moth storytelling champion, he brings powerful stories to life with insight, warmth, and authenticity. Hank captivates audiences with compelling tales, including personal reflections on being raised by Holocaust survivors. His stories are inspiring and memorable. With over 4 decades of teaching, he reveals emotional truths about education, learning, and the stuff that matters most. Take Kleenex with you to the show because you’ll need it for both your laughter and tears.

Erin Ferdinand

Storyteller
Performing Saturday, 8/8 @ 2:30 My Dog Died (and all I got was this Lousy Miracle) Erin Ferdinand is author of "The Ghost Dog Diaries", a collection of essays and advice about life after death and our life, in general. Originally published as a weekly column based on her experience as a Savannah (GA) psychic medium, these works inspired this performance of "My Dog Died (and all I got was this Lousy Miracle)". Erin is thrilled to debut her supernatural stories at the 2026 Minnesota Fringe Festival. She'd also like to thank Loren Niemi and Christine Mounts for including her in this year's lineup. It’s an honor and a privilege to share the stage with such esteemed raconteurs at the American School of Storytelling.

Vianna Isbister

storyteller
Performing Sunday, 8/9 @ 7:00 PM, and Monday, 8/10 @ 8:30 PM Leaking (The Wolves Are Everywhere) Vianna Isbister is a multi-hyphenate performer and academic with a B.A. in Theatre and an M.A. in Communication and Storytelling Studies. Specializing in the art of narrative and movement, Vianna crafts stories that blur the line between the spoken and the unspoken. Her work invites audiences into liminal spaces where shadows stir, voices linger, and imagination takes on a life of its own.

Jon Carlson

storyteller
Performing Tuesday, 8/11 @7:00 PM, Wednesday, 8/12 @ 7:00 PM, Sunday, 8/16 @ 2:30 PM Oz-America During the past thirty years, I have lived for three years in Minneapolis' Phillips neighborhood; twenty in Whittier; seven in Eau Claire, Wisconsin; and, most recently, several months in the Saint Anthony Park neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Having been born August 19,1973 in Denver, Colorado, the only official citizenship I have ever held is that of the United States of America. But, having worked for railroads for the past thirteen years, I have also been a de facto citizen of what I like to call "Greater Trumpistan," since Railroaders are among the most vehement of our country's politically enraged MAGA devotees. The contrasting energies of my work and my polity inspire me–artistically– to alchemize both MAGA rage and the rage that animates The Resistance. This political and artistic intention has crystalized through immersion in the storytelling community at the American School of Storytelling, an experience that keeps teaching me that not only can Imagination and Humor dance with Rage, they desire to do so for the sake of the soul's liberation and human solidarity.

Annie Wiborg

storyteller
Performing Wednesday, 8/12 @ 8:30 PM Tell Me Again Annie Wiborg is retired after working several decades in the telecommunications industry. She is an empty nester with two grown children and five grandchildren. She loves to get up in the dark, drink coffee, read, journal and meditate while the sky gradually gets lighter. Her days are full of reading, friends, family, volunteering, walking the dog, camping, working out – while frequently eavesdropping - at the gym. Retirement has afforded Annie the time to pursue a passion for storytelling. She has told multiple stories from the Moth stage, winning 7 story slams and 2 GrandSLAMS, and has had two stories featured on the Moth podcast. She was in the 2025 cast of the "Listen to Your Mother" show, is honored to be a small part of the Fringe Festival and grateful to the American School of Storytelling for the opportunity.

Kory May

storyteller
Performing thursrday, 8/13 @ 8:30 PM TBD Kory May tells stories to make sense of the world—and since the world refuses to make sense, he keeps telling them. A Moth Mainstage performer and two-time Moth GrandSlam winner, he’s shared more than 2,700 consecutive nights of Thoughts Too Big for My Head on Facebook Live. Through Story Vista Frameworks, he teaches character, coaches storytellers, and builds mythic narrative tools. He performs widely across the Midwest. Please welcome the tall man with the short name, Kory May.

Bernadine Joselyn

storyteller
Performing Friday, 8/14 @ 8:30 PM, Saturday, 8/15 @ 7:00 PM, Sunday, 8/16 @ 4:00 PM To There and Back Again Bernadine Joselyn is the Minnesota-born descendant of white Protestant farmers and their settler forbearers. Imagination and longing led her from her childhood home in a first-ring Minneapolis suburb to India, the Soviet Union (later Russia), New York City and rural Itasca County, giving up building civil society for tree planting and tending along the way.

Laura Packer

storyteller
Performing Saturday, 8/15 @ 8:30 PM Mermaids, Monsters, & Mysterious Strangers: Stories of the Unknown and Unexpected Not everything can be explained. Not all strangers are who they seem. Not every monster is what you expect. Award-winning storyteller Laura Packer (Staff Pick, MN Fringe 2022) explores the creatures we fear, the visitors we can't explain, and the moments when ordinary life cracks open to reveal something strange and precious underneath. Stories based in folklore, magic, and real-life invite you to feel delight, dread, and maybe even hope. Bring your curiosity. Leave your certainty at the door. Let your imagination lead, then dive into the deep end of the unknown.

Christine Mounts

Co-Producer
Co-Founder of the American school of Storytelling and poet in her own "write".

Loren Niemi

Co-Producer
Loren Niemi is the Co-Founder of the American School of Storytelling and Co-Producer of this third edition of "More Better Stories" which due to its location at 1762 Hennepin Avenue, he thinks of as the "fringe of the Fringe". Dedicated to supporting the oral narrative arts, the American School of Storytelling offers in-person and online classes and workshops as well as a variety of storytelling, poetry, music and occasionally comedy performances on our 8'x8' stage.