Light shines from the ceiling, catching the rows of golden seats waiting for an audience.
On Sunday, Sept 21, the Sofia Theater hosted “In a Nutshell,” a recurring live storytelling series. The event takes place every month, featuring a fresh theme and four unique storytellers from diverse backgrounds.
This month, the event featured storytellers Joe Hunter, Adam Strauss and Amy Bee with the “Story Pope” JP Frary. “Unreal reality,” the theme for September, explored the thin line between reality and fantasy, with stories often landing somewhere in between.
Performers can interpret the prompt in different ways. Depending on the storyteller, some themes may lead to stories involving loss, illusion, memory or joy.
Frary said that “In a Nutshell” was the brainchild of Keith Lowell Jensen, Bee and her husband, Aaron Carnes.
“These are real, personal stories told live,” Frary said. “Sometimes they’re funny; sometimes they’re sad; sometimes they’re serious.”
Bee, the co-creator of the “In a Nutshell” series, is an author and book editor. At the event, Bee shared a story about becoming more than friends with Carnes. She discussed the entire situation and said it felt like a sort of “unreal reality” in her life at the time.
“I’ve never felt like that before. I felt alive and present. I’d never even dared to dream something like this for myself, and yet, here I was in California – not just in love, but happy,” Bee said.
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Hunter was the runner-up in “Survivor” Season 48. He worked as a firefighter for two decades and served as captain of the Sacramento Fire Station.
Hunter talked about his deep depression after a divorce from his wife and taking on the role of a single father. He said the pain from losing his sister, Joana, to domestic violence continued to haunt him.
“This is not my reality. This is not what’s supposed to happen in my 40s. I was suffering,” Hunter said.
Hunter said he was talking to his therapist one day when she advised him to apply for “Survivor” in order to fill the gap in his heart left from grief. Hunter said Joana always wanted to compete on the reality show, and by applying, he could honor her.
“I lost my life. There was no ‘best version of Joe’ anymore,” Hunter said. “I wasn’t going to apply, but I had to for Joanna.”
Strauss is a New York City native, comedian and storyteller. One of his most popular solo shows is “The Mushroom Cure,” wherein Strauss talks about his struggles with OCD and his use of psychedelics.
Strauss talked about entering the field of storytelling and stand-up comedy. He said storytelling has programmed his brain to look for engaging stories among trauma, joy and laughter in his daily experiences.
“There is this little part of my brain that’s in the background telling me ‘this would be a great story,’ or ‘this is a great image,’” Strauss said. “If I’m going through a painful experience, it can feel a little bit redeeming.”
From losing someone important to playing make-believe, the audience heard entirely different narratives from each performer relating to the concept of reality and its meaning.
“I think reality in itself is kind of a construct. There is no ultimate reality,” Strauss said. “So in a sense, any reality can have an element of unreal reality within it.”
Strauss’s story talked about childhood play and also integrated how people get caught up in a game and blur the lines between fantasy and reality.
“My friend and I were fabricating spears. We were preparing for an imminent gang war,” Strauss said, reminiscing about childhood play with his neighbors.
Frary, who also performed this month, talked about losing his friend’s mother, Francis, to Alzheimer’s. He delved into how memory is connected to smell through Francis. Frary said that even when she slowly lost her memory, Francis could still smell fresh-cut wood and remember past times spent with Frary.
JP Frary explained his motivation behind the stories he tells.
“I want people to feel connected to the world,” Frary said. “Like we’re all part of something bigger.”
As the audience exited into the lobby, four bags of freshly-cut wood sat on the table for them to smell. As a craftsman, Frary said he used to chop fresh wood and bring it to Francis, adding an interactive element to the end of the show.
“The audience is going to feel those feelings,” Frary said. “But they’re also going to remember the good things about the person they’re thinking about.”
In terms of pacing, future audiences can expect a range of different emotions from each story. Frary said that the hosts try to pace each story so there are sad, uplifting and funny stories told on the same night. Frary said the hosts are more careful with making sure the evening is balanced than restricting certain stories.
The most recent showing of “In a Nutshell” took place Sunday, Sept. 21 at the Sofia Theater. Doors opened at 6 p.m., with stories beginning at 7 p.m. Audiences paid a $25 admission fee, but the event was open to all ages.
Upcoming themes will include “Haunted” on Oct. 30 and “Christmas” on Nov. 28. For more information on upcoming events and tickets, including “Wildcard,” a monthly story swap on Oct. 16, access the website here.
“In a Nutshell” is yet to release information for storytelling events in December, January or February, but it is guaranteed to continue into 2026.
