- Kambri Crews
Kambri Crews (born June 22) is an American comedic
storyteller and writer based inNew York City . Crews has performed at most of NYC's top indie comedy venues, including Comix, Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, The Peoples Improv Theater, Rififi, Ochi's Lounge, The Slipper Room, The Bitter End, and Lolita Bar; and at such shows at Seth Herzog's "Sweet", UCBT's "School Night", Liam McEneaney's "Tell Your Friends", "Speakeasy: Tales from the Back Room," The Moth, and the NY/LA comedy show [http://www.myspace.com/mortified "Mortified"] .In addition, Crews tells stories at the weekly Manhattan comedy show [http://www.myspace.com/familyhour Family Hour] hosted by MTV correspondent Sara Benincasa and held at comedy venue [http://www.comixny.com/ochislounge.aspx Ochi's Lounge] .
Crews was spotlighted as a top comedy choice in the May 19, 2008 edition of "Time Out New York", which called her an "emerging monologist." Crews has also been referred to as a "world class storyteller" by the website [http://www.HyReviews.com HyReviews.com] , which covers NYC comedy and theatre.
As a CODA, Crews' storytelling is notable for mixing conventional monologues with the use of
American Sign Language ; and for finding the humor in even the most hair-raising of childhood memories. Crews is currently writing a book that includes prose versions of many of her performance pieces [Publisher's Weekly [http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6601875.html?industryid=47146] ] .Crews' tales typically focus on her childhood in the deep woods of
Montgomery, Texas , where she grew up in poverty—living arrangments ranged from a [http://www.kambricrews.com/Shed.htm tin shed] to a trailer to a barn. Most prominent in the stories is her father, who was the seventh of 10 children of farmers, born completely deaf, and "quickly became the black sheep of his very strict Christian family." The summer before Crews entered her senior year in high school, her father attacked her mother. Crews was able to stop the attack and dial 911. He was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. [Love, Daddy [http://www.lovedaddy.org/2008/08/smoking-gun-from-twenty-years-ago.html] ]On June 29, 2002, her father was arrested for the attempted murder of his girlfriend [Ramirez, Jr., D. "Boyfriend Jailed in Knife Attack", [http://www.star-telegram.com Ft. Worth Star Telegram] ] ; an act for which he's currently serving a 20 year sentence in a Texas prison. Crews provides updates about her father in her blog [http://www.LoveDaddy.org/ LoveDaddy.org] , and an essay about her childhood was published by
Hillary Carlip on [http://www.freshyarn.com/33/essays/crews_just1.htm FreshYarn.com] .In October 2007, Crews created Ochi's Lounge, an alternative comedy venue in the lower level of Comix, which has featured comedians and storytellers such as David Cross, Zach Galifianakis, Jim Gaffigan, John Oliver, Mike Daisey, Adam Wade and her husband
Christian Finnegan . In addition to overseeing the performance space, she owns her own PR company Ballyhoo Promotions and the networking group Tex in the City.External links
* [http://www.kambricrews.com/ Crews' personal website]
* [http://www.lovedaddy.org/ Crews' website about her jailed deaf father]
* [http://www.veoh.com/videos/v62295634ezw3Ecq MetroMix news report on The Family Hour]
* [http://www.freshyarn.com/33/essays/crews_just1.htm FreshYarn.com essay by Crews]References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
