Podcast episode features boy orphaned in Florida resort town

By Emily Masuda Special to the Express Stories on Stage Davis will release the last episode of its all-podcast eighth season on Saturday, June 26, with Gwendolyn Paradice’s short story “After the Storm,” read by returning actor Ian Hopps. Elias, the pre-teen main character, has only ever known a nomadic lifestyle of living and traveling cross-country in a van with his parents. Suddenly orphaned, Elias must fend for himself in a sleepy resort town in Florida with a hurricane on its way. As Elias gets help from an unexpected friend, this story captures how families can be broken apart, and reformed, by people who want to be independent, and people who are forced to be. Gwendolyn Paradice is hearing impaired, queer, and a member of the Cherokee Nation. Her writing has earned nominations for both the Pushcart and Best American Essays, and her nonfiction, fiction, and poetry have appeared in “Assay,” “Crab Orchard Review,” “Brevity,” “Fourth River,” “Booth,” and others. She retains a MA in Nonfiction from the University of North Texas, an MFA from Bennington College, and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Missouri, where she lives with her partner. When she’s not weightlifting, playing video games, or trying to read all the books she’s amassed, she writes speculative fiction, nontraditional nonfiction, and bends genre. Reading “After the Story,” and returning for his third performance with Stories on Stage, is Ian Hopps. Ian is excited to return to Stories on Stage and bring voice to another author’s work in this new medium. A member of Actor’s Equity, Ian is a graduate of San Francisco State and has performed in the Sacramento area with the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble, the Sacramento Theatre Company and Capital Stage. His last performance was “Hamlet” at STC, which closed a week early due to the pandemic lockdown. While things have been slow since then, Ian is optimistic about what will come next and hopes to see the theatre industry come back even better than before. He’s grateful for this reading opportunity and to connect again with artists in the region. This episode marks the end of the Stories on Stage Davis eighth and only all-podcast season. The ninth season will run from September 2021 to June 2022. Upcoming and past episodes, as well as ways to support the series, can be found on the Stories on Stage Davis website. Stories on Stage Davis is a sponsored project of  YoloArts, a non-profit arts organization. For more information, and to listen to the podcast, visit storiesonstagedavis.com.