“If I fail at making a cake, it’s not a big deal,” she said. “But if I have a dream of having a baking show on TV … and I dream, work, and study to become a great baker, only to fail the TV audition, that makes it epic.”
A changing theme each month
In a Nutshell began in January 2025 and was founded by Bee, Jensen and Aaron Carnes, an author and former Sacramento News & Review arts and music contributor.
Each month brings a different subject. A recent show, for example, explored pets and people’s relationships with animals. Bee said the stories offered different points of view but, taken together, explored the role animals play in people’s lives.
That helps explain what is interesting about the monthly format. Rather than spending an evening with one person’s perspective, the audience hears several people approach the same subject from different directions. The individual stories stand on their own, but putting them together offers the possibility that the whole becomes more than the parts.
In a Nutshell also has something going for it that shouldn’t be overlooked: The Sofia is a really good place to listen to a story. B Street Theatre’s performing arts complex has comfortable seats, excellent sound and the intimacy of a theater rather than the distractions of a bar or club. When the entire evening depends on one person, one microphone and a good story, that matters.
For an evening devoted to things going terribly wrong, Clark offers a pretty good reason to show up.
“You’ll laugh and sympathize with what others have gone through,” she said. “It might make your failure not seem so bad!”
In a Nutshell Storytelling: Epic Fails, Friday, Aug. 28, 7 p.m. at The Sofia, home of B Street Theatre. Tickets are $24 in advance and $30 at the door.