Tickets $25 / Member discount varies by tier.
Members apply your code at check out for discount!
Doors at 7pm | Show 7:30pm
Story Parlor | 227 Haywood Road
Parking & Policies
Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available for purchase. All shows, unless specified, are ages 16+.
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Join us for an evening of heartfelt connection and creative exchange as Shunyu Huang, former Story Parlor Artist-in-Residence, invites a guest from Asheville’s BIPOC community—who, in turn, brings a friend of their own—to the table.
The first half of the evening is a relaxed roundtable conversation where the trio, over a shared pot of tea, explores the “five flavors of life”—sourness, sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, and spiciness. Through curious and thoughtful questions, they uncover the common threads that connect us all.
In the second half, the guest artists take to the stage for a collaborative performance weaving together elements from the full evening.
This intimate and dynamic event continues the work of Shunyu’s residency, Memory Quilt, celebrating connection, creativity, and the rich tapestry of our shared humanity.
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Shunyu Huang
Shunyu Huang 黃順玉 is a martial artist, photographer, culture educator and poet, born and raised in the coastal city Zhuhai in southern China.Shunyu seeks to connect people through weaving our unique yet common stories and culture into a fabric. She is a frequent lecturer at UNCA, AB-TECH where she shares Chinese culture through literature, tea, and calligraphy.
In the summer of 2023, she became the first Chinese artist-in-resident at Story Parlor, where she gathered the community to share their memories through the five senses.
In January 2024, Shunyu created the first Asian Culture Festival in Asheville. She believes that in the art that we manifest and share, we can see the humanity that we have in common, despite our differences.
Five Spice is a new project which sprouted in Shunyu’s daily cooking and conversing in the kitchen, with hopes to cultivate expressions of curiosity amongst different people.
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Heena Patel
A dancer, singer, and storyteller, Heena Patel’s artistry is deeply rooted in her rich heritage as a 2nd generation Indian immigrant. Born into a family from Gujarat in northwestern India and raised in the Gujarati community in Toronto, Heena has been intimately connected with her cultural roots since childhood.Heena’s journey over the past decade has been of reclamation and remembering. Garba (Indian folk dance), Indian music, and nervous system healing have been the vehicles to reconnect with her body, her intuition, and her lineage after trauma and abuse.
She brings together her ancestral arts with somatic work and years of experience as an entrepreneur, arts worker, and creative to support artists, business owners, and women of the global majority to build a life and career that is body-led.