{"id":342325,"date":"2026-06-19T03:45:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T03:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/342325\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T03:45:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T03:45:39","slug":"stories-about-pizza-serves-up-storytelling-film-and-community-in-austin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/342325\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories About Pizza serves up storytelling, film, and community in Austin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pizza is more than just a favorite food \u2014 it’s the inspiration behind an evening of storytelling, art, film, and connection as Color Arc Productions<\/a> returns with its fourth annual Stories About showcase. This year, the spotlight is on pizza, with a unique lineup of performers and filmmakers sharing personal stories and creative works inspired by the beloved dish.<\/p>\n

Sierra Waggoner welcomed Christine Hoang, founder of Color Arc Productions<\/a>, and performer Tien Hoang to We Are Austin to preview the event and what audiences can expect during the special evening at AFS Cinema.<\/p>\n

\"Sierra<\/p>\n

Sierra Waggoner welcomed Christine Hoang, founder of Color Arc Productions, and performer Tien Hoang to We Are Austin to preview the event and what audiences can expect during the special evening at AFS Cinema.<\/p>\n

Hoang explained that the event combines independent film with an eclectic mix of live performances.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to be at AFS Cinema to take advantage of the big screen,” Hoang said. “The indie film will be screening some short films that are food-inspired, and we’ll also have live pizza performers.”<\/p>\n

Those performers include storytellers sharing true tales, flash fiction writers, pizza poets, an abstract dancer, a violin-playing comedian, a ukulele singer, and even a drag queen.<\/p>\n

One of the featured performers is Tien Hoang, whose story centers around her first experience eating pizza. While she kept some details under wraps, she did reveal her favorite part of the iconic meal.<\/p>\n

\"{p}"My<\/p>\n

“My favorite part about pizza is the crust,” Hoang said. “It is crunchy. Chewy. It is very good.”<\/p>\n

“My favorite part about pizza is the crust,” Hoang said. “It is crunchy. Chewy. It is very good.”<\/p>\n

The evening will also feature a work-in-progress screening of Sweet Potato Pig, a project with roots that trace back to one of Color Arc Productions’ earliest storytelling events.<\/p>\n

“The very first Stories About show we did was Stories About Comfort Food,” Christine Hoang explained. “My mom told a story about when she was young in Vietnam. Her parents couldn’t afford toys, but they always gave her food. One day she got sweet potatoes from the market and made toy pigs out of them.”<\/p>\n

The emotional story resonated deeply with audiences.<\/p>\n

\"{p}That<\/p>\n

That response inspired Hoang and her creative team to develop Sweet Potato Pig, an animated and live-action nonfiction short featuring stop-motion animation, charcoal illustrations, and watercolor artwork. Attendees will get an exclusive look at the project’s work-in-progress screening during the event.<\/p>\n

“The audience went crazy,” Hoang recalled. “Standing ovation, giving her hugs afterwards, selfies, crying, laughing, saying, ‘I need to call my mom.’ I said, ‘This story needs to go wider.'”<\/p>\n

That response inspired Hoang and her creative team to develop Sweet Potato Pig, an animated and live-action nonfiction short featuring stop-motion animation, charcoal illustrations, and watercolor artwork. Attendees will get an exclusive look at the project’s work-in-progress screening during the event.<\/p>\n

Beyond the performances and film screenings, organizers hope audiences leave with a renewed sense of community and connection.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to hopefully satiate your appetite for community and connection,” Hoang said. “We really get that special feeling when we’re all in a shared space, watching something together, experiencing something for the first time, laughing together, feeling emotion. There’s this collective energy that you only get if you come out to support live art.”<\/p>\n

Tien Hoang is equally excited for audiences to experience the evening.<\/p>\n

“They will be very excited and very happy to hear my story,” she said.<\/p>\n

With live performances, short films, special screenings, and even gift card giveaways, Stories About Pizza promises to be a celebration of creativity, food, and the connections that bring people together.<\/p>\n

The event is tonight at 7:30pm!<\/p>\n

For tickets and additional information, community members can connect with Color Arc Productions<\/a> online and through social media.<\/p>\n

\"For<\/p>\n

For tickets and additional information, community members can connect with Color Arc Productions online and through social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pizza is more than just a favorite food \u2014 it’s the inspiration behind an evening of storytelling, art,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-342325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}