Master Storyteller Bill Ratner Returns to The Moth Story Slam LA with Rousing "Control" Tale Nov 16

Nov. 12, 2010 - PRLog -- BillRatner.com

“I just returned from a reunion of guys I went to elementary school with, and the hottest topic of discussion was the day our Second Grade teacher Mrs. Nelson forced Joggs McCann to eat his own urp.  That’s my story for ‘Control’ night at The Moth,” announces raconteur Bill Ratner about his performance plans for The Moth Story Slam Tuesday, November 16, 2010, at El Cid, 4212 Sunset Blvd., Los Feliz, Los Angeles, CA at 7:30 pm.   Ratner, together with a group of other storytellers, will toss his name in a hat and wait to be called to tell a five-minute true tale based on the evening’s theme, “Control”.  The stories, told from the nightclub stage without notes or manuscripts, are intended to amuse, inspire, and mesmerize.

Ratner, aside from being a professional speaker and writer, is a five-time The Moth Story Slam winner, and one of America’s most recognized and versatile voices.  His soothing delivery, inimitable charm, and wry humor created a huge following of fans who remember him as “Flint” in GI Joe, Family Guy, and Robot Chicken.  Currently, he is the voice for the Dreamworks Megamind movie campaign, Hyundai car commercials with Jeff Bridges, TV networks, and affiliate stations around the U.S.  His short stories and essays are published in Pleiades: A Journal of New Writing, Cheng Kung Literary, Southern Anthology, Marquee, Nightblade, Papier Mache, Spork, The Amor Fati, and Coast Magazine.  Ratner is a long-standing member of Actors Equity, the American Federation of TV & Radio Artists where he serves as a National Board Member, and the Screen Actors Guild. He is also a member of the National Storytelling Network. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.  More about Bill Ratner can be found at billratner.com.  

The Moth is a New York City based non-profit that conducts live story-telling events at eight on-going venues in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York.   The concept is the brain child of George Dawes Green, a Georgia native, whose intention was to recreate storytelling on sultry summer eves at Wanda’s porch on St. Simon’s Island.  The screen around Wanda’s porch had a hole in it “where moths would flutter through and stay trapped in the light,” hence the name for the narrative sessions.   Since The Moth’s inception in 1997, over 3,000 live stories have been told across the country, and in January 2010 The Moth was ranked among the top 10 innovative media companies in the U.S. along with NPR, the Huffington Post, and Scribd.  The Moth is one of the top podcasts on i-Tunes, and its radio show can be heard on over 60 public radio stations.  For more information visit themoth.org on the Internet.

According to legend, the El Cid was built by Hollywood’s DW Griffith to screen his controversial and now famous film Birth of a Nation, which debuted in 1915.   In 1961, the building was converted to replicate an authentic 16th century Spanish tavern.  On Friday and Saturday eves it is a gathering place for listening to flamenco guitarists, and watching Flamenco dancers.

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