By Alan Jozwiak
Some storytellers make us laugh. Others transport us to another time and place, introduce us to unfamiliar cultures, or send a chill down our spines. The best storytellers do all of that—and make us forget we’re sitting in a theatre.
That’s the promise of the 2026 Cincinnati Storytelling Festival, returning to Know Theatre November 12 -14, 2026. Founded in 2020, this annual event brings together three accomplished performers: festival founder and master storyteller Paul Strickland, award-winning performer and playwright Kevin Kling, and internationally acclaimed storyteller Motoko.
For this year’s festival, Strickland will host two veteran storytellers whose distinctive backgrounds and approaches promise an engaging mix of personal stories, humor, folklore, and more.
Kevin Kling
Kling is an award-winning performer, playwright, author, and storyteller. He is also a regular contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered and received a Regional Emmy for his PBS feature-length documentary, Kevin Kling: Lost and Found. The author of seven books, Kling has created several solo shows based on his life experiences. One of his best-known works is How? How? Why? Why? Why?
Longtime Cincinnati theatre fans may remember this show from its February 2010 engagement at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Park Shelterhouse Theatre. In that production, Kling was accompanied by Simone Perrin, who played accordion and provided vocals.
The show chronicles Kling’s recovery from a motorcycle accident that left one arm paralyzed. Its unusual title has an equally unusual origin: voice-activation software Kling was using to dictate his thoughts misinterpreted the sounds of his dog and cat fighting, producing the memorable phrase.
Kling’s storytelling has earned him recognition well beyond the stage. In 2014, he was named Minneapolis Story Laureate.
Motoko
Motoko brings a different perspective to the festival. A recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s 2017 Circle of Excellence Award, she grew up in Osaka, Japan, before emigrating to the United States, where she studied mime and storytelling.
Since then, Motoko has performed at storytelling conferences and venues throughout the United States and internationally. She has even appeared as a guest on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
According to her website, Motoko specializes in “Asian folktales, Rakugo and Zen tales, ghost stories, mime vignettes, as well as oral memories from her childhood in Osaka and her life as an immigrant in the U.S.”
In addition to performing, she is a teaching artist and the author of A Year in Japan: Folktales, Songs, and Art for the Classroom. She also created an audio performance titled The Spirit Realm of Ancient Japan: A Tribute to Lafcadio Hearn.
That last connection has a special significance for Cincinnati audiences. Hearn was a journalist in Cincinnati in the mid 1800s, before moving to Japan, where he taught and published collections of Japanese folk stories. His work helped introduce Japanese folklore and culture to Western readers.
Paul Strickland
Festival founder Paul Strickland is already a familiar name to Cincinnati theatre audiences. He is a multiple winner of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival’s Pick of the Fringe Award. In fact, he has collected 18 such awards at Fringe Festivals across the country. His most recent Fringe production, Bloody Fairy Tales: Paul Strickland, sold out multiple shows during the 2026 Cincinnati Fringe Festival.
But Strickland’s accomplishments extend well beyond the Fringe circuit. He is also a recognized figure in the national storytelling community. In 2023, he was named a Features Teller: New Voice at the National Storytelling Festival. The following year, he served as Teller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center.
As the founder and host of the Cincinnati Storytelling Festival, Strickland brings both his performance experience and his passion for the art of storytelling to this annual event.
Experience the Festival
Here’s some advice about what to expect when attending, taken from my write-up from last year’s festival:
- For storytelling festivals, the tickets are swatches of fabric that are pinned to your clothing. Some people who attend a lot of festivals save these swatches to create a blanket or quilt.
- A storytelling session is theme-based (such as Spooky Stories or Twisted Tales) and two to three storytellers will have a set within that session where they tell one to three stories. Most nights had two sessions a night.
- The range of stories within a session can vary widely.
- The Cincinnati Storytelling Festival is an intimate affair. With only three storytellers, there were no competing sessions. It is possible to hear all sessions. Being intimate also means that it is possible to talk to the storytellers during the dinner break between sessions and buy their merch.
With three accomplished performers bringing their own experiences, perspectives, and storytelling styles to the stage, this year’s festival promises an engaging mix of humor, personal history, folklore, and the unexpected. For anyone who appreciates the art of a well-told story, Know Theatre is the place to be.
This year’s festival storytellers look strong. It should be a great outing for lovers of stories.
For tickets for this year’s festival:
Find out more about upcoming events at Know Theatre of Cincinnati HERE.
