Tonight, on Into the Absurd, we delved into storytelling as we celebrate the act of transforming the drama of our life into memoir and documentary art. We'll learn more about Philadelphia's First Person Arts through the eyes of performer and creative force Tanesha Ford.

Tanesha M. Ford is the Director of Marketing and Communications at First Person Arts, a nonprofit storytelling organization whose mission is to transform the drama of real-life into memoir and documentary art to foster an appreciation for our unique and shared experiences.
Tanesha’s journey to First Person Arts began as an actress in Philadelphia at such places as Flashpoint Theater, Freedom Theater, and the Triangle Theater as well as in New York where she performed at the Cherry Lane, The Duplex, and during the NYC Fringe Festival. She is a member of Tongue & Groove Spontaneous Theater company and recently performed in “...don’t wanna dance with ghosts...” by T.S Hawkins.

Tanesha made her transition to arts administration in 2014 when she returned to the Delaware Valley to earn her Masters in Arts Administration at Drexel University and after working at the Philadelphia Art Alliance and Opera Philadelphia, landed at First Person Arts in 2017.

About First Person Arts
First Person Arts includes storytellers practicing across multiple disciplines such as theatre, memoir, visual arts, spoken word, and dance. First Person Arts’ mission is to transform the drama of real-life into memoir and documentary art to foster an appreciation for our unique and shared experiences. We believe that everyone has a story to tell and that sharing our stories connects us with each other and the world.

2021 First Person Arts Anthology: Volume One – Witness: Stories and music that reveal hidden truths and untold stories.

First Person Arts was innovative 20 years ago when we created the only annual festival of its kind to feature true person stories across multiple genres.

Migrating our programming to the digital stage enables FirstPerson Arts to reach more audiences across the country, deepen your experience with each event, and permits us to create embracing environments more frequently throughout the year. Our annual festival is now segmented into four volumes! Each volume will focus on a theme that exemplifies what makes a story truly compelling. It is a WITNESS to history; something about the story PUSHes us out of our ordinary world; it empowers us to RELEASE old views, and EMBRACE a new way of thinking or being. This is the powerful movement of the human spirit through life.“A festival is a finite amount of time. An Anthology is a celebration of the stories that fill our lives all year round.