Geek of the Week: Karina Kacala of First Person Arts
Meet Karina Kacala.
Some of you geeks may have spotted her at First Person Arts slams, walking around in the crowd, taking tickets, and introducing storytellers. A graduate of Swarthmore College, Karina’s the marketing manager for First Person Arts, and is in charge of making sure you know what’s happening with Philly’s favorite storytelling organization.
However, she does a lot more than just market First Person Arts.
Here are a few fun facts.
- She trained as an opera singer at Westminster Choir college.
- She’s a member of the Pig Iron Theater Company Friends Committee.
- She knits.
- And she’s a total geek, obsessed with Settlers of Catan and Game of Thrones.
Read on to learn more about this talented geek.
How did you come to be involved with First Person Arts?
I started as the Volunteer Coordinator for the First Person Arts Festival in 2009, after doing the same job for the Live Arts Festival. FPA liked me. I liked them. When the Festival ended, they brought me on to helm the marketing department full-time. I’ve been blown away by literally hundreds of personal stories ever since.
Share one of your favorite First Person Arts memories with our readers. I know you’ve got ‘em.
A great experience was at this past First Person Arts Festival, seeing two storytellers from the FPA family, R. Eric Thomas and Bernardo Morillo, share the stage with Janeane Garofalo and Kevin Allison at the RISK show.
Bernardo and Eric told their first live stories at our StorySlams years ago and have honed their craft over the years. Their stories conveyed humor and vulnerability, two essential elements of a good story. It was exciting to see them achieve this storytelling milestone.
Along with First Person Arts, you do music and sing. Tell us a bit about that.
I’m a trained opera singer with a background in musical theater. I stopped pursuing an opera career when I realized that my interests were too varied to dedicate myself to one area exclusively for the rest of my life, which is necessary if you want to succeed in classical music. But I really started to miss making music. Now, I’m in an Americana/pop band, Acton Bell.
We achieved a goal of mine over the summer, which was to play one of JJ Tiziou’s house concerts. At our peak, we’re a full 9-piece operation with string or horn section, but we’ve also played super pared down versions of our songs, with just guitar and vocals. I also co-host classical music salons with a group of friends and sometimes you’ll find me singing back up for The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret, which is always a blast.
Tell us about your brother, who will likely be a Geek of the Week in the future.
My brother is Alexander Kacala, aka Tammy Faymous, one of the fiercest drag queens in Philly. I’ve always been super close to Alex, but wanted a sister, too. Now I have both!
Yes, we even share clothes sometimes. (He was a Phreq of the Week over the summer and thought it was apt that now I’m a Geek of the Week. That definitely fits our familial roles to a tee.)
And now, your geeky guilty pleasure. Favorite movie? TV show? Comic book? Go ahead, no one will judge you here.
My heart will always belong to Star Trek: TNG. I even owned a Picard action figure when I was in middle school. I wanted Data, but they were sold out, so I got Picard instead. My sci-fi geekdom definitely manifests itself via tv programs: The X-Files, Battlestar, Heroes (season 1 only), Buffy (does that count?). I’m a little scared to fall down the rabbit hole that is Doctor Who. I may never leave the house again. God, did Portlandia get that right.
Where can our readers learn more about you and First Person Arts?
Firstpersonarts.org has all the info you could want about FPA’s mission and programs, including the monthly StorySlams, our Festival, classes in memoir and storytelling, and community engagement work. Definitely visit Acton Bell on Facebook, listen to some live tracks, and stay tuned as we schedule our next show.
Love Karina! She’s a queen Geek
Thank you, Felicia!!
Yay Karina!
Karina is a arts geek goddess!
*an
Queen and Goddess are two words I never expected to be associated with… thank you guys so much. (Geek on the other hand… very familiar.)
Congrats on the write up Karina! And thanks for all great work at First Person Arts!
Love it! Next generation-loving, former opera singers unite!
Speaking of STTNG and house concerts, next time you are over Karina, remind me to introduce you to Borg Barney….
Wow! I knew Karina WAY back, and even then it was obvious she would accomplish some amazing things! Way to go, Karina!
Outstanding post. I had been looking at continually this blog website that i’m influenced! Really helpful information especially the remaining period I sustain such info a lot. I had been in search of this type of information to obtain a prolonged moment. Thank you and greatest of great fortune. home http://www.evenmakeris.com
Hi friends
I think that you will agree with me that there is a lot of jewelry lovers worldwide.
I am a giant jewelry lover,
too.
I was looking for some splendid and original necklace for myself for pretty long time.
I wanted to get something
truly unique.
I was searching through a lot of jewelry stores on the internet for
over a week, and I was lucky enough to find
the company which is selling a gorgeous glass necklaces.
Wow, I realized that I could get a splendid necklace which
will give me truly special look I was dreaming about.
So I ordered this necklace from the on-line store which is owned by WEXONMART,
Inc.
I placed the order, and I received the package from WEXONMART
within two days. These guys are pretty fast, for sure.
I was stunned when I opened a package. The necklace was
so
fascinating. These necklaces have been designed by the famous and
very talented jewelry designer. This designer has a lot of extraordinary clients like country music
stars, girlfriends of politicians, etc.
If you are looking for such splendid necklace for yourself
than you can consider necklaces from WEXONMART, too.
They are selling a lot of luxury items like magnificent crystal vases, amazing gifts
for your loved ones, etc.
I hope that you will find my post helpful.
Best regards
LeAnn GARRETSON
Sausalito, CA.