Author Zuni Chopra, teen writers to be featured by Stories on Stage
PHOTO: Author Zuni Chopra with her magical realism book “The House that Spoke.”
By Juna Brothers
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–
Each month, Stories on performs a local writer’s work by actors. Each event requires careful preparation, but the upcoming April performance has even more moving pieces.
The special family-friendly event will take place on Saturday, Apr. 13 at the Veterans Memorial Theatre at 7:30 p.m., and highlights teen writers and actors in Yolo County, in addition to California writer Zuni Chopra, whose first novel was published by Penguin Random House India when she was only 15 years old.
Chopra’s novel uses magical realism. In addition to performing an excerpt from her work, Stories on Stage Davis will perform a scene from a Yolo County high schooler, written in the magical realism genre.
Emily Hammond, the current director of Stories on Stage Davis, organizes the nonprofit’s monthly events, now in its tenth season. She became involved after winning a contest as an undergraduate at UC Davis and witnessing her short story being performed by actors.
“It was funnier than I expected. There are certain ways actors are just amazing and they can just read something in a completely different way, in a good way, and just get a reaction from the audience that you didn’t even know was buried in your story,” Hammond said.
Throughout her four years working with the writers featured by Stories on Stage Davis, she’s found that her experience was common.
“It was as many authors have told us so nice to sit back and watch someone else bring your story to life. A lot of authors tell us they do reading events and they dread the reading of their own work. So it’s a treat for them,” Hammond said.
Eva Rayala, a sophomore at Da Vinci Charter Academy, has been an intern for Stories on Stage Davis since October. She has been managing the publicity for the upcoming magical realism event, and is excited to witness the translation of stories from the page to the stage.
