And the ‘I DIDN’T THINK THIS THROUGH’ winners are….

This was a hard choice y’all! All of the ‘I Didn’t Think This Through’ stories were fantastic! So good, in fact, that we decided to add prizes for a runner up and 4 honorable mentions! Out of about 30 stories we received, here are our top 6!

 

GRAND PRIZE WINNER!

AMANDA ROBINSON (Entered on Back Fence Facebook fan page)

I agree to help my new friend move- she’s finally leaving her loser/boozer/abuser boyfriend. I pull up to the house. He’s gone; he’s locked her out. She breaks the front window. Glass everywhere. We start frantically stuffing clothes into garbage bags. She says: “Weird- his gun’s not in its case.”

WINS: 2 VIP tickets to 1/23 Back Fence show (plus 2 drink tickets), PLUS 2 tickets to Portland Center Stage’s hit show The North Plan, PLUS from our lovely sponsors Saint Cupcake & Popina Swimwear gift certificates. PLUS, PLUS two tickets to one of our March Back Fence shows (plus two drink tickets)!

RUNNER UP!

SARAH MOORE (Entered on backfencepdx.com website)

In sixth grade, I hatched a brilliant scheme to win the man of my dreams. I would leave us both “anonymous” notes telling us we were meant for each other, then act surprised. I didn’t mean to write them on the back of my schoolwork. With my name on each.

WINS: 2 VIP tickets to 1/23 Back Fence show (plus two drink tickets), and two tickets to one of March Back Fence shows (plus two drink tickets)!

HONORABLE MENTION

NOTJUST ABREEDER (Entered on Back Fence Facebook fan page)

Long story short, camping, 8 kids, 3 adults, 1 adult being the ex-wife, whiskey, drunk ex, vomit in truck, teenagers leg trapped between logs, cops, jaws of life, Russian mafia guy, body guards, hospital, no sleep, no fish, never again…

WINS: Two tickets to one of our March Back Fence shows (plus two drink tickets)!

NAT S. (Entered on backfencepdx.com website)

Decided to take a crazy amount of acid at midnight with an acquaintance. We stayed up all night watching the trees wave to us. Forgot that later that morning I was driving with my now-lesbian ex-girlfriend 500 miles to my hometown to visit my parents. For Thanksgiving.

WINS: Two tickets to one of our March Back Fence shows (plus two drink tickets)!

CHLOE P.S. von UECKERMANN (Entered on Back Fence Facebook fan page)

Went to the Midwest to help build a friend’s house. Bought a one-way ticket. Met “Crazy Joe” who told strangers he was ‘pot guy on facebook’. One night he tried to kiss my face & said, “I ain’t tryin’ to keep you, I just wanted to know if your skin was soft.”

WINS: Two tickets to one of our March Back Fence shows (plus two drink tickets)!

THOMAS (Entered on backfencepdx.com website)
When I was seventeen, I got a Straight Edge tattoo.

WINS: Two tickets to one of our March Back Fence shows (plus two drink tickets)!

*Winners please email info@backfencepdx.com to find out how to claim your prize! THANK YOU.

Share Your ‘I Didn’t Think This Through’ Story, Win Prizes!

Here’s a haul worth writing for!* Share your I DIDN’T THINK THIS THROUGH **TRUE** story in 50 words or less as a comment right here on this here blog post, by TODAY 1/19 @ midnight.

One lucky person will win $200 of awesome-ness: 2 tickets/early entrance for our Jan. 23 show, PLUS two tickets to THE NORTH PLAN at Portland Center Stage, The Gerding Theater at the Armory (“…nothing short of uproarious…”), AND gift certificates from our lovely sponsors Saint Cupcake and Popina Swimwear! Winner will be announced tomorrow, 1/20!

Pictured: Tanya (Kate Eastwood Norris) knows how to get  Shonda’s attention (Ashley Everage) in Jason Wells’ hilarious play (RAVE reviews from local media) The North Plan, running January 10 – February 5, 2012 at Portland Center Stage. Photo by Patrick Weishampel.

*YES – you CAN enter for a chance to win, even if you already have reservations for the 1/23 show!!

More FREE tix released today at 4:30!

TODAY! At 4:30 we’ll release a few more tickets for the FREE January 23rd, I DIDN’T THINK THIS THROUGH show at Portland Center Stage! Another chance to see World Class Benefit Auctioneer David Silverman (pictured), Laurie Notaro, Mary Van Note, Carli Davidson , Doug Askelson, and Gregg Abbott tell stories! (If you don’t get tix today, don’t fret, we have a really fun contest going at portlandstagereviews.com to get tix and more fun stuff coming up!!)

Tix here at 4:30: http://backfencejan2012.eventbrite.com/

Other MYSTERIOUS Ways to GET FREE TIX…

===>Our SIGN-INTERPRETED section still has seats available for those in need of an interpreter! See below for details on how to reserve tickets for this section only.

HOLY MOLY People! The general admission FREE TICKETS for the January 23rd show were obliterated in just over an HOUR!!! WOWZEE.

BUT WAIT!!! If you missed out…we will ping people with reservations in a week or so to make sure they can still come to the show for really reals…and we will be releasing any available tickets for people who cancel through the next weeks until the show. IN ADDITION…in the next week or so we’ll announce an exciting way to win VIP tickets to the Back Fence show (um, this means you get let in before everyone else, no rock star party…sorry) and to Portland Center Stage’s stunning production of  THE NORTH PLAN! 

Follow us on twitter: @backfencepdx, Portland Center Stage: @pcsghost and LIKE us on Facebook so you’ll be sure to be apprised of current information!

January storyteller DOUG ASKELSON pictured on the crane.

*This form of reserving tickets is for the ASL section ONLY, general seating is now SOLD OUT: We are excited to announce that stories will be interpreted by nationally certified sign language interpreters Dot Hearn and Steve Nail. To reserve space for these tickets, please email: events@backfencepdx.com with your first/last name, number of people in your party, AND “Tickets for Interpreter Section” in the subject header. There are a limited number of tickets available for this section and reservations must be made by January 9th, midnight. After that time they will be released to the general public. 

TIX NOW AVAILABLE for JANUARY SHOW!

TODAY IS THE DAY! Tickets* for the first show of our 2012 season, based on the theme I DIDN’T THINK THIS THROUGH, will be AVAILABLE at 10:00AM! Tickets are FREE…that’s right FREE (while they last), thanks to a community grant given to Portland Center Stage. Join us Jan. 23 at The Gerding Theater at The Armory for exciting true stories from Laurie Notaro, Mary Van Note, Carli Davidson, Doug Askelson, and Gregg Abbott (pictured) and other amazing people.

Limit of 2 tickets per person – TICKETS ARE GONE as of 11:07AM. All is not lost! Watch in the coming weeks for other  mysterious ways to win tickets to the storytelling show AND to Portland Center Stage’s THE NORTH PLAN! (Best to follow us on twitter: @backfencepdx or LIKE us on Facebook to find out info fastest.)

*This form of reserving tickets IS ONLY for the ASL section, general seating is now SOLD OUT: We are excited to announce that stories will be interpreted by nationally certified sign language interpreters Dot Hearn and Steve Nail. To reserve space for these tickets, please email: events@backfencepdx.com with your first/last name and number of people in your party. There are a limited number of tickets available for this section and reservations must be made by January 9th, midnight. 

Free Tix For Next Back Fence Available SOON!!

HOLD THE PHONE! Tickets for our Jan. 23, 2012 show — I DIDN’T THINK THIS THROUGH — will become available online on Tuesday Jan. 3 at 10am. This show is FREE due to a generous community grant received by Portland Center Stage. Don’t miss the kick-off of our 2012 season, featuring Laurie Notaro, Mary Van Note (pictured), Carli Davidson, and other awesome people!

Keep up to date on all Back Fence PDX news and announcements by following us on Twitter (@backfencepdx) or LIKE us on Facebook.

Travel Back to SEPT/2011 ‘Mistakes Were Made’

Fave Radio Host DARIA Tells of Her Teen Past!

DARIA ELIUK spins her personal stories on 101.5 THE BUZZ on a near daily basis. It was awesome to have her LIVE on the Back Fence stage telling her ‘That’s a Mouthful’ story! You can purchase a CD from CD Baby of Daria telling more stories, “THE BEST OF DARIA’S LOCAL ENTERTAINMENT GUIDES VOLUME I” (JUST CLICK HERE!). All net proceeds from the purchase of this CD go to benefit DOVE LEWIS, Portland’s only nonprofit 24-hour emergency and critical care animal hospital.  

And, we love a foxy and smart lady who is willing to divulge details such as the following for her introduction on stage: “I saved all my chicken pox scabs in a baby food jar.” 

An Audience with the University Emperor. Fiona McCann in Japan.

SPOILER ALERT… if you have not heard FIONA MCCANN’S amazing and profound story of an Irish girl teaching English in Japan, you may want to hold off on reading  the postscript below until after you’ve watched the video!

As a postscript to my tale of mouthfuls and an empty stomach, I’d like to add that I have fully recovered from the eating disorder I described in this story.  I hit rock bottom with an almighty crash in Japan, but thanks to the energies of some wonderful people – my irrepressibly chirpy landlady Mrs Sekiguchi made it her mission to feed me and would not be deterred by what she called my Karen Carpentry – and to some survival instinct that kicked in when I was almost licked, I made it. I returned to Ireland after that year a little closer to a normal weight, and once I was back in a country where I could at least follow a conversation, I went to meetings and tried some therapy. But mostly I read. I read whatever I could find about eating disorders, got my feminism on, chose angry over hungry and found the fight to beat the thing once and for all. Oh, and I learned to spell anorexia. You know, in case it ever came up in a crossword.

Hold onto Your Chips. Amber Jo Tells a Stunner.

AMBER JO told a riveting and hilarious STORY during THE NOVEMBER 17th, ‘That’s a Mouthful’ show. Where it all began: At the age of 10, I worked very hard to earn $50 spending money for my class’s field trip to Kings Island amusement park. I entered the gates and was immediately obsessed with the idea of winning a gigantic, stuffed, Scooby Doo doll. Determined, I stood and tossed rings at 50 cents a pop until my entire $50 was spent. Having no money for food or drink, I had to tell my teacher, Mr. Maynard who was quick to shame  me. I didn’t win the doll, but I did manage to escape from my teacher and make-out with a 12 year old in the dark, haunted boat ride. SCORE! The gambler in me remained dormant for 19 years until that fateful day my co-worker asked me to join that damn charity poker tournament.