MediaRites presents The -Ism Storytellers Project in The Dalles
From MediaRites:
By Dmae Lo Roberts
The Dalles, Ore., Oct. 31, 2025 — Stories have the power to heal. Personal stories especially have the power to change lives. In an effort to find more common ground between artists and community members, MediaRites presents The -Ism Storytellers Project, an afternoon of personal stories from the heart, hosted and curated by Larry Toda, MediaRites’ Board Member, who has a family history in The Dalles.
It will be held at The Dalles Civic Auditorium on Nov. 1 from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. The program is intended for ages 14 and older.
Four storytellers will include artist Melissa Chavez, educators Dr. Linda Tamura and Gabriella Pacheco Rosales, and Emily Whitefield, Deputy Director of The Dalles Art Center, all community members from The Dalles area. They will meet in the small event space of The Dalles Civic Auditorium to tell 10-minute stories based on the theme of Courage, Grace, and Grit to a small audience who will share in the moving experiences of the storytellers. Audience members will be invited to stay afterward to share their stories with the storytellers after the event.
MediaRites’The -Ism Storytellers Project is an evolution from the original Ism Project of touring monologues in 2018 that addressed issues of race, gender, orientation, and national origin. It also draws inspiration from the Oregon Humanities Conversation Project in which MediaRites’ executive producer, Dmae Lo Roberts, worked as a conversation leader for over two years in rural Oregon communities. The -Ism Storytellers Project combines a parlor theater storytelling experience with personal stories.
This event concludes MediaRites’ season of this project. We’ve produced events around Portland, Astoria, Eugene and now The Dalles with funding by Ronni S. Lacroute through the Oregon Community Foundation and Portland Arts & Culture Access Fund.
MediaRites is a Peabody award-winning nonprofit production organization dedicated to telling the stories of diverse cultures and giving voice to the unheard through the arts, education and media projects. Find out more at mediarites.org. See videos of previous storytelling events on MediaRites’ YouTube Channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQEtb53nQwl2FzntwnLw7JtjDpSPT-Rxs
“One small pebble can make a thousand ripples.” - Dalai Lama
The Dalles Event Bios:
Melissa Chavez, a self-taught painter and jewelry designer from a family of migrant workers in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, has called Oregon home for 20 years. Inspired by her grandfather, a folk artist, and her brother, late acrylic painter Nate Chavez, her artistic path is deeply rooted in family and heritage.
Gabriela Pacheco Rosales is an instructional assistant at Mid Valley Elementary School for 25 years. She works closely with students and families affected by living illegally in the United States. As an illegal student herself, Gabriela’s skills and experiences provide the support to help such families in need.
Linda Tamura, born and raised on an apple and pear orchard in the Columbia River Gorge, is Professor Emerita of Education at Willamette University. She’s the author of two books, The Hood River Issei and Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, and is a Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Oregon Encyclopedia (oregonencyclopedia.org).
Larry Toda (host/curator) is a MediaRites board member and board secretary and a member of Theatre Diaspora, Oregon’s only AAPI theater company, where he has performed in several productions. He previously served on boards for JACL and Portland Ad Federation. Larry is the global content creation manager for Siemens Software.
Emily Whitfield, Deputy Director of The Dalles Art Center, has prioritized including communities of color in the center’s programming. A mixed-race woman raised in The Dalles with family roots in the area since the 1890s, Emily studied political science and is passionate about connecting people to everyday impacts of policy. She’s an active volunteer and artist, focused on pottery after returning from two years in Mexico City.
Dmae Lo Roberts (producer) has been the executive producer of MediaRites since 1991. Her Peabody- winning documentary Mei Mei, a Daughter's Song is a harrowing account of her mother's childhood in Taiwan during WWII. Roberts and MediaRites won another Peabody-award for Crossing East, the first Asian American history series on public radio. She received the Dr. Suzanne Ahn Civil Rights and Social Justice award from the Asian American Journalists Association and is a United States Artists Fellow. She co-founded Theatre Diaspora, Oregon’s first Asian American theatre company as project of MediaRites.
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