Photos from 2024’s Cringefest event at the Vogel. (photos courtesy of Project Write Now)
By ANGELA RUIZ
All of us – young or old and no matter our background − tend to shy away from exposing our vulnerabilities. But imagine fully embracing them, telling our most embarrassing stories in front of a large crowd of complete and total strangers.
That is exactly what will happen at CringeFest, an annual event held by the nonprofit Red Bank organization Project Write Now at the Vogel at Count Basie Center for the Arts this Friday. Since 2018, PWN has hosted the event where writers confront their most awkward past selves—out loud, on stage, and in good company.
The idea for CringeFest began at a small cafe in Red Bank where team members, including executive director and co-founder Jennifer Chauhan, shared middle-school diary entries over coffee. What started as a close-knit tradition between friends eventually sprouted into part of a larger annual event.
“When you’re reading out of your diary, word-for-word, it shows you how you’re cringing at your past self like ‘oh, I can’t believe I did that’ or ‘said that,’ but then you begin to recognize how far you’ve come,” Chauhan said in an interview with redbankgreen. . “And now, it’s gone from an event that was just some friends sharing their diaries to a curated, live storytelling event to the point where we can do it at the Vogel.”
PWN’s core principles include aiding underserved communities through writing and literature. They offer a range of literary services curated towards youth and adults through their community outreach programs, including weekly expressive writing workshops for Red Bank Middle School, college essay coaching for low-income students, mentorship programs, and bi-monthly workshops for adults living with mental illness at Shore House.
Chauhan said CringeFest aligns with these foundational philosophies with its proceeds not only going to support PWN’s community outreach programs but also bringing writers together and creating a sense of community:
“We believe that everybody is a writer and that everybody has a story to tell, and for us, it’s about people coming as they are and bringing their voices, amplifying them, and creating a space where we can understand one another better through storytelling,” she said. “While we call it CringeFest, it’s really about being vulnerable: recognizing that the most embarrassing moments of our lives have likely transformed us into who we are because of our reflection on that embarrassment.”
This year on March 28, CringeFest is operating as a cash bar event and is bringing five writers of diverse backgrounds to the stage to share one story each. The event, curated for adults, will be held as a cash bar event, with a 60- to 75-minute performance. Tickets, priced at $95, are available through Ticketmaster or directly at the Count Basie Center for the Arts.
Included in admission is an afterparty event where performers and guests can interact after the performance once more, with complimentary food. During this afterparty, a connection is oftentimes built between those in attendance to create a safe space based on relatability as the stories told at CringeFest are intended to be.
This year, the performers include Charles Chrystol, a journalist, designer, actor, and presently, an aspiring podcast host; Matt Daniels, an activist, farmer, musician, and actor from Asbury Park; Victoria Marie (Vicki) Fernandez, a nonprofit generalist with a passion for the arts; Allison Lebo and Courtney Young, a middle school English teacher and a school administrator; and Sara Schivell, who has an endless amount of stories from her time in New York City.
Chauhan has consistently worked with the performers in past years, and this year is no different. However, her favorite aspect of CringeFest was not the stories being told nor the afterparty, but instead, the process that takes place behind the scenes:
“My favorite part of the process is finding adults who may have never seen themselves as a storyteller on stage or have no experience and working through the process to develop their story and give them the confidence to get on stage,” Chauhan said. “Watching a story come from ‘here’s my pitch; here’s my idea’ to then weeks later, the storyteller is on stage and in front of people—getting laughs, people tearing up, people feeling connected… it’s such a beautiful experience.”
Reporter Angela Ruiz is a student at Monmouth County Communications High School.
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