Body Politic: An Evening of Live Storytelling (LIVESTREAM)

Join BLR for a night of intimate and compelling live stories about the complex relationship between our bodies and society. Six storytellers take to the stage to perform their inspiring personal stories for a live audience.  Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind storytelling experience that takes you into the heart of what it means to navigate our bodies in the world today. 

With live ASL interpretation

Hosted by Danielle Ofri and Ashley McMullen

Tickets are only $25 and if you can't tune in live, no worries—the recorded livestream will remain available for viewing for one week after the event.

(Please note that this ticketing option is only for livestream tickets. If you are looking to purchase in-person tickets, please purchase at the Symphony Space box office.)

"Body Politic" is produced with generous support from the BLR community, Northwell Health, and The Paige Fraser Foundation.

Meet the Storytellers

SOFIA ALI-KAHN is a storyteller, ceramic artist, and author of A Good Country: My Life in Twelve Towns, and the Devastating Battle for a White America, a braided Muslim American memoir and history of American racism. She is at work on her first book of speculative fiction.

KELLI DUNHAM is the nonbinary nurse, ex-nun, trauma-informed comedian so common in modern Brooklyn. Kelli is the author of seven hilarious nonfiction books about not humorous subjects, including puberty, grief, and death. Kelli’s podcast, Second Helping, is available where podcasts hang out.

DELIGHT CHINENYE EJIAKA is a writer whose works investigates melodramatic women, female hysteria, and consciousness in the marketplace. Her works have appeared in Isele Magazine, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Whale Road Review. She is a 2024 MacDowell Fellow and Aspen Words Fellow.

LENA GILBERT is a writer, choreographer, and performer with deep roots in ballet and modern dance. Her writing is known for honesty combined with warmth and humor, always with an eye toward activism and improving how human we are to each other.

G.K. JAYARAM emigrated from India in 1968. After 32 years in the corporate world, he founded ILID, an NGO, which runs ten schools for 4500 slum children in India and provides online tutoring to 1250 students in 25 schools in the U.S. He’s written plays, short stories, and poetry.

GINELLE TESTA (she/they) is a queer, sober, and body-positive author who lives in Boston. Her memoir, Make a Home Out of You, was published by She Writes Press. When she’s not writing, you can find her thrifting and doing yin yoga.

Meet the Creative Team

DANIELLE OFRI is the editor-in-chief of BLR, a primary care doctor at Bellevue Hospital, and contributor to The New Yorker and the New York Times. Her latest book is When We Do Harm.

ASHLEY MCMULLEN is a BLR board member, and a primary care doctor at the San Francisco VA Hospital. She co-hosts the podcast The Human Doctor.

CATHERINE BURNS is a Peabody Award–winning director, storytelling midwife, consultant, and public speaker. She was the artistic director of The Moth for 20 years, where she was a host and producer of The Moth Radio Hour and co-author of the NYT bestseller, How to Tell a Story.

​​MAGGIE CINO is an award-winning content producer, director, and playwright described as “a writer of extraordinary versatility and imagination.” As former Senior Producer for Peabody and MACEI award-winning organization, The Moth, she served as lead director at venues including Lincoln Center, BAM, and The Sydney Opera House.

KWAMI T. COLEMAN is a musician, composer, producer, and musicologist specializing in improvised music. His forthcoming book, Change: The "New Thing" and Modern Jazz, will be published by Oxford University Press in Fall 2025. Coleman is an associate professor of music at the Gallatin School of New York University.

​​AVERY GORDON is a freelance ASL interpreter in the NJ and NYC areas. In addition to Broadway productions such as Kimberly Akimbo, Avery has interpreted for many off-Broadway shows including Marcus Gardley’s black odyssey with Classic Stage Company; The Ally with The Public Theater; Gun & Powder with Paper Mill Playhouse; Good Bones with The Public Theater, and Radio City Rockettes.

CANDACE DAVIDER has worked as an ASL Interpreter for over 25 years. She specializes in performance interpreting working with artists across all genres. She has interpreted for "I wanna be with you everywhere" at Performance Space, Sasha Velour's "Nightgowns", Participant Inc, Dodge Poetry Festival, Comedy Underground, "TEETH" off Broadway, "The Keep Going Songs" by the Bengsons, and many more.

Art by Stephanie Singleton