This Much is True

One of regulars Larry Kerns is taking his one man show “Cabinalysis” to the Chicago Fringe Festival, Sept. 1 – 5th. If you’ve been a regular of This Much is True you’ve been able to hear pieces of this story in it’s development and now you’ll get to hear the  whole thing.

“The cabin you think you’re going to build…is never the cabin you end up building.”

This is a story about a middle-aged psychiatrist who wants to become a better parent, a better father — to develop closer relationships with his four teenage children and to create something meaningful with them before they grow up and leave home.

Following a serendipitous visit to Walden Pond, he decides that the perfect way to bond with his children and teach them some important life lessons would be through the experience of building a replica of Thoreau’s cabin together…in their suburban backyard.

When the cabinbuilder embarks on his mission, he soon encounters resistance from his children, problems with the construction, and eventually his own internal confusion and Builder’s Block.

After his kids go their own way – to live their own lives – the cabinbuilder vows to build his own cabin. His desperate search for answers takes him to Frank Lloyd Wright’s school of architecture, the Log Doctor’s clinic, and finally to a psychiatrist who treats psychiatrists.

When the half-built cabin floods and begins to sink into the mud, he learns his real lessons about family, creativity and the cost of living your unlived life.

Please go support Larry it’s an amazing story and a good friend, you will be glad you did.

Cabinalysis…or, Build Your Own Damn Cabin!
Simone’s Bar
960 W.18th St.
Chicago, IL 60608

Co-Founder of This Much is True Scott Whitehair is taking a guest spot at Stories at The Store a literary reading on Wednesday, August 25th. The night is lining up to be a fun night with many of our own friends sitting in on the evening sharing their stories. Hosted by TMIT guest Jen Bosworth it promises to give you that storytelling fix you’ve been looking for until the next TMIT show on September 14th at The Hopleaf.

Stories at The Store
8pm
2002 N Halsted
FREE

Our very own Larry Kerns has taken his show on the road to the Minnesota Fringe Festival this week. He’s performing five nights of Cabinalysis, his autobiographical narrative recounting the hilarious misadventures of building a replica of Thoreau’s cabin with his teenage kids. A comedy about parenthood, creativity and the cost of living your unlived life.

If you have plans to be in beautiful Minneapolis over the next week do yourself a favor and go see this show. Or if you have friends there, they’ll thank you later for your recommendation to go see Larry’s show. We can’t say enough good things about it.

Click here for more information.

We just couldn’t restrain ourselves, we’ve added the talented, writer Jen Bosworth to our August lineup. Which makes Tuesday, August 10th a perfect night to hang with friends, bring a date (you’ll appear hip and cool), or just come and meet some new people.

We’ll see you upstairs @ The Hopleaf on Clark and Foster at 7:30pm.

Jen Bosworth

Jen is a writer and performer from Chicago. She is currently the host of “Stories at The Store,” a once a month storytelling event held at The Store on Halsted. Jen spent 6 years in Los Angeles where she worked for a movie star, got a Master’s Degree and became progressively crazier. She is glad to be home.

Next show: August 10, 2010
Where: Hopleaf – upstairs
Time: 7:30pm
It’s FREE, buy yourself a beer and enjoy a great night of storytelling

We hate to brag, we really do, but let’s be real, “This Much is True” has an August line-up that might make you go blind if look straight at it.

First of all, we get to welcome back Dorrie Ferguson, after a two month hiatus she’s taken to study for her doctoral program. She’ll be joined by regulars Deanna Moffitt and Scott Whitehair.

In addition to our regulars this month “This Much is True” is packing heat with guests: Jessica McCloud, Jill Summers and Don Hall. That’s a three-punch combination that’s sure to be a knockout.

Here’s a little bit more information on our guests:

Jill Summers

Jill’s work can be heard with increasing infrequency on Chicago Public Radio and has appeared in Stop Smiling, Ninth Letter, VAIN, and MAKE magazines among others. She has received the Illinois Arts Council Literary Award and is a former Opium Magazine Literary Death Match Champion . You can find her online at www.callingallmonkeys.com.

This Much is True comes to Hopleaf–upstairs, once again July 13th @ 7:30 pm with a show chock full of current and past SKALD winners. Our regular writers Larry Kearns, Deanna Moffitt and Scott Whitehair are thrilled to be joining forces with:

Arlene Malinowski SKALD 7 Winner

As actor and playwright  Arlene views her solo work as an artistic extension of the social justice work she has been committed to for the last twenty years.  She has been performing her five critically acclaimed solo shows, in theaters and colleges across the country.  Her solo work has been honored with  3Arts nomination, Garland Award, LA Theatre Ovation award.  In addition to her TV and film work, Arlene teaches writing in Chicago, LA, SF and at Chicago Dramatists.  As a spoken word artist she has performed at Victory Gardens Biograph, 2nd Story, Funky Tuesday in Chicago and Tasty Words, Word-a-rama, Word Nerd, and Sit and Spin in Los Angeles. She also produces a groovy spoken word salon called Speak Easy-Speak Hard. She has been a contributing writer for Selling Lemonade for Free , The Week Behind and Paramanu Pentataquark. She is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and her newest play Aiming For Sainthood will be produced by Victory Gardens Septemeber 2010.

Dennis Frymire SKALD 10 Winner

Dennis has been acting and performing here and there around Chicago since 2006. He’s been featured on Vocalo.org, and is a past winner of WNEP’s SKALD storytelling competition, and The Moth’s StorySlam. He’s also the resident director for Hubris Productions. Dennis recently gave himself the challenge of writing a piece of flash fiction everyday for 397 consecutive days, and you can read them at http://flash397.blogspot.com.

Marsh Harman SKALD 11 Winner

Marsha Harman is mostly an actor, sometimes an administrative assistant, and very recently a storyteller.  She’s an artist in residence at New Leaf Theatre, doesn’t like to talk about her day job, and told her first story with WNEP’s SKALD in May.

It’s sure to be a great night of story telling, please come out, bring your friends an join us. And as always it’s FREE–not including the yummy Hopleaf beer.

We’ve got another great show lined up for you, this Tuesday, June 8th – 7:30pm upstairs @ Hopleaf (Clark and Foster). We of course have our regulars: Larry Kearns, Deanna Moffitt and Scott Whitehair, and joining them are special guests, Julie Ganey and Matt Miller.

Julie is the Director of Education Outreach and a member of the Story Development Team with 2nd Story. She’s an actor, improviser, director, teacher and a fantastic writer, too.

Matt is a writer/producer with essays heard on both NPR Chicago and NPR Seattle. He’s a great friend to TMIT and we’re looking forward to having him back as our guest.

Please join us Tuesday, June 8th, 7:30 @ Hopleaf and as always it’s a free night of entertainment (not including the beers).

Tuesday, May 11, This Much is True takes the stage again for another evening of personal stories that will leave you laughing and thinking to yourself, “I’m so glad I made the decision to come out tonight”!

Our cruise traveler, Deanna Moffitt, is back from five months at sea and will be joining Scott Whitehair, Dorrie Ferguson and special guest Chris Rathjen for the evening.

They’ll be sharing the bill with Michael Gavin Frank, a terrific writer who’ll be reading an excerpt from his new book “Barolo.” If you like wine, Italy or a good time you won’t want to miss it. Michael hits The Hopleaf floor at 7:15 and will also be available for book signing. This Much is True will take the stage starting at 8pm. Hope to see you there.

Celebrate Spring with This Much is True. Good stories to celebrate the change of the season! Tuesday April 13th 7:30pm  at The Hopleaf (upstairs)

This Much is True’s next Storytelling Show is on March 9th at 7:30! Upstairs at The Hopleaf www.hopleaf.com