Past Guests

Past Guests (In alphabetical order)

Susie Allen

Susie Allen grew up in Palo Alto, CA, and currently lives in a faraway land known as “Hyde Park.” She studied English and French literature in college; somehow, despite this great hardship, she is currently employed. She can often be found applying hand sanitizer, writing, and avoiding writing.

Peter Athans

Peter Athans is the 2011 winner of WNEP’s SKALD storytelling competition and has been telling true stories his whole life. He also helps make up stories and narrative improvised theatre as an ensemble member of Theatre Momentum. He studied Improvisation at Second City and iO. Peter is a founding and former member of Trying Too Hard (attendees of the 2008 LA Comedy Fest) and founding and current member of The Shelter. He has appeared in various film and video projects that you probably haven’t seen, and does stand-up wherever anyone is crazy enough to hand him a mic. He’ll be co-directing the 15-hour project for Theater Momentum later this month. He drinks beer. After about three beers, he will not stop talking. Which reminds me, did he ever tell you about the time when…

J.W. Basilo

J.W. Basilo is a writer, performer, humorist, and musician from Chicago whose work is equal parts poignant and perverse, hilarious and heart-wrenching. Basilo is a National and World Poetry Slam finalist, a PushCart Prize Nominee, Artistic Director of Chicago Slam Works, and an aggrandizing douche. You can catch him Friday the 18th at Elastic Arts in Logan Square at Real Talk Live and every single Sunday at 7PM at the Green Mill.

Ian Belknap

Ian Belknap is a Chicago writer/performer whose work has appeared at Here’s The Story, Essay Fiesta, P. Fanatics, 8 X 8, Funny Ha Ha. He was the victor at the most recent Literary Death Match, is the Dean of Mean at The Paper Machete, and till recently served as Fact Checker for The Encyclopedia Show. He is co-founder with Samantha Irby of the caustically foul-mouthed comedy blog irby + ian. He is the originator, host, curator, and Overlord of WRITE CLUB, the nation’s premiere competitive philanthropic readings series – monthly at The Hideout. Find WRITE CLUB on Facebook, at writeclubrules.com, and on Twitter: @writeclubrules.

David W. Berner

David W. Berner is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, author, and teacher. His first book, Accidental Lessons was awarded the 2011 Royal Dragonfly Grand Prize for Literature. His broadcast reporting and audio documentaries have been aired on the CBS Radio Network, NPR’s Weekend Edition and a number of public radio stations across America. David has been the recipient of awards from the Associated Press, RTNDA (Radio and Television News Directors Association) and the Broadcast Education Earlier this year, David was awarded the position of Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, Florida for the summer of 2011. His writing, both reporting and personal essays, have appeared in publications and online journals such as PERIGEE, Tiny Lights Journal, Shaking Like a Mountain, Travelgolf.com, Worldgolf.com, Golf Chicago Magazine, The Sun Newspapers, and Write City Magazine. David has also read and performed his work at events such as Story Club and Essay Fiesta in Chicago. And with all of this, David still finds time to play guitar and watch as much TV coverage as possible of his beloved Steelers.

Bobby Biedrzycki

Bobby Biedrzycki is a writer and performer who came to Chicago from St. Paul, Minnesota via The Bronx, New York. Bobby’s writing has appeared in The Black Bear Review, Hair Trigger 28 & 29, The Banana King, Ghost Factory and Ante:thesis Volumes I & II, and his stories have been produced Off Broadway. Bobby is the Director of Programming for 2nd Story and an adjunct faculty member of the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago.

Roger Bonair-Agard

Roger Bonair-Agard is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, a Cave Canem fellow and author of two collections of poems: tarnish & masquerade (Cypher Books, 2006) and GULLY (Cypher Books/Peepal Tree Press 2010). Co-founder of NYC’s louderARTS Project, Roger is an MFA candidate at University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Program. He is artist-in-residence at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s First Wave program and poet-in-residence at Young Chicago Authors. He teaches at Fordham University, NYC and Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. He lives in Chicago and Brooklyn.

Julia Borcherts

Julia Borcherts is a co-founder of Reading Under the Influence and The Chicago Way lit series, a fiction writing instructor at Columbia College Chicago, a theater columnist for RedEye and Metromix and a frequent contributor to Time Out Chicago and the Windy City Times. She has been a featured reader at Victory Garden’s Fresh Squeezed series, 2nd Story, the Windy City Story Slam, the Revolutions reading series, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Women & Children First bookstore, the Criminal Class Press anti-gala and many other venues.

Jennifer 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.

Chris Bower

Chris Bower lives, teaches, and makes shit in Chicago. He is also the creator and host of the Ray’s Tap Reading Series in Avondale and puts up a few plays a year. You can find him at holdmyhorses.com.

Patrick Brennan

Patrick Brennan is a member WNEP Theater and hosts their annual SKALD Storytelling competition (later this month at the Chicago Cultural Center). Patrick won the SKALD in 2002 and has been coasting on that since. He is a dear friend and we’re all pulling for him not to disappoint us.

Susannah Breslin

Susannah Breslin [http://susannahbreslin.blogspot.com/] is a journalist, blogger, and author. She blogs for Forbes [http://blogs.forbes.com/susannahbreslin/] and has written for Salon, Slate, The Daily Beast, Harper’s Bazaar, Details, Variety, Newsweek, Esquire.com, and TheAtlantic.com. In 2008, TIME.com name her one of
the best bloggers of the year. She has appeared on “Politically Incorrect,” CNN, and NPR.

Jamie Buell

Jamie Buell is a writer/ comedian and a proud member of the Playground Theater company and Laugh Out Loud Theater in Schaumburg, IL. He can be seen occasionally around town as half of the olde-tyme comedy duo Montgomery & Cooke. He was also the first champion of the Blewt! Productions comedy-talent competition Impress These Apes, now in its 6th season. He’s married, has a dog, and lives within walking distance of a real good sushi place. The dream is real.

Margaret Burke

Margaret Burk’s lifelong study of mythology, psychology and world spiritual traditions infuses her work as storyteller, actress and educator. She is Director of the Fleming Center which teaches classes in leadership development: living into our full creative talents. As Director of Development for the Chicago Sinfonietta, Margaret was named as “100 Women Making a Difference” in Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine (July 1997). Margaret believes there is power in story to touch the heart, to inspire a sense of hope, to spark the imagination, to embolden the spirit, and to remind us of the greatest of human potential! Margaret has a B.A. in Theatre and M.A. in Communication. She is on the Board of Illinois Storytelling, Inc. and is co-artistic director of a Storytelling Concert Series at Village Players Performing Arts Center in Oak Park, IL.

Paula Carter

Paula Carter writes everything from marketing reports to memoir. Her creative work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Southern Humanities Review, New South, Rhino, and Quick Fiction among other journals. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Indiana University, where her thesis explored the line between truth and fiction by paring essays and stories that each dealt with the same subject, event, or character. What she discovered is the line becomes less clear the closer you look. She is new to storytelling, but has performed with theater groups from Boston to small town, Illinois.

Shannon Cason

Shannon Cason is a writer and storyteller. He has told his stories at The Chicago Theatre, Park West Theater, and various venues, including WGN Radio. Shannon hosts a podcast called Homemade Stories, available on iTunes, and he is finishing his first crime novel. Shannon is a native Detroiter, a staff writer for WBEZ’s Paper Machete, a former Moth GrandSLAM champion, and a father of two beautiful daughters. Learn more at shannoncason.com

Elynne Chaplik-Aleskow

Elynne Chaplik-Aleskow is a Pushcart Prize nominated author and award-winning educator and broadcaster. She is Founding General Manager of WYCC-TV/PBS and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Wright College in Chicago. Her adult storyteller program IN HER OWN VOICE is renowned. Her stories and essays have been published in numerous anthologies including Thin Threads (Kiwi Publishing), Chicken Soup for the Soul (Simon & Schuster Distributor), This I Believe: On Love (Wiley Publishing), Forever Travels (Mandinam Press), Press Pause Moments (Kiwi Publishing), My Dad Is My Hero (Adams Media) and various magazines including the international Jerusalem Post.

Elynne Chaplik-Aleskow’s performances of her stories have been broadcast on The Bob Edwards Show on NPR and Rick Kogan’s Sunday Papers on WGN radio. She performed her Pushcart Prize nominated memoir “More Than Life” in NYC at
the Museum of Motherhood. Elynne has performed her stories for organizations throughout Chicago including the Printer’s Row Lit Fest. Her work has been part of the production “Dear Mother” in L.A. at The Lyric Theater. Elynne was a featured guest artist performing her stories at the Acorn Theater in Michigan. Visit http://LookAroundMe.blogspot.com

Arif Choudhury

Arif Choudhury, CPA, is a professional storyteller, filmmaker, theater artist, and stand-up comic. He is currently working as the post-production supervisor on a documentary film about folk storytellers in a remote village in China and his short film “Coloring” premieres in January 2013. He is the co-founder of Bard & Fool Theater Company, Chicago-based non-profit theater company formed to make theater accessible to non-traditional theatergoers. Arif performs "More in Common Than You Think" his one-person program of stories for schools, libraries, conferences, and festivals around the country and abroad. He tells humorous stories of growing up in one of the few Bangladeshi-Muslim immigrant families in Chicago. Focusing on issues of ethnic and religious identity, assimilation, multiculturalism, and diversity, his stories poke fun at how we think of one another. Arif also tours the country in “More Alike Than Not: Stories from Three Americans—Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim.” He recently recorded a CD of stories entitled, “Where Are You From? And Other Difficult Questions” and has written his first children’s book “The Only Brown-Skinned Boy in the Neighborhood.” When Arif isn’t working on film or theater he works as a manager of Endeavor Financial Services, an accounting firm that specializes in accounting, income tax return preparation, tax planning and small business consulting. Arif has a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is currently completing an MFA in film and video at Columbia College Chicago. He lives in Northbrook, Illinois.

M.T. Cozzola

MT Cozzola is a Chicago writer and director. She’s told stories around town at Here’s the Story, Tuesday Funk, Speak Easy Speak Hard, and Stockyards Theatre Women’s Performance Art Festival, shared prose and poetry in the pages of After Hours, Swivel, Crawdad, and other magazines, and screened films across the globe. She keeps a story blog at www.midwesternrobot.com. Come visit!

Cody Cranch

Cody Cranch is first and foremost a teacher... the kind that chucks out that boring ol' textbook to make room for creative writing and improv. He is also a portrait artist and illustrator by night. His visual work can be seen at the occasional gallery, but always on codycranch.com

Alison Cuddy

Alison Cuddy is the arts and culture reporter and hosts Weekender at WBEZ 91.5 FM, the NPR affiliate in Chicago.

Victoria Cunha

Victoria successfully completed the M.A.T. program in High School Education-English Language Arts/Special Education at National-Louis University. Prior to this, she was a freelance arts & travel writer, (Time Out Chicago Guidebook, Hungry? Chicago Guidebook, etc.) and storyteller/workshop leader with college teaching credits in speech communication (DePaul Univ. School for New Learning, Loyola Univ., College of DuPage, etc.). her biggest claim on stories, however, is her association with the late actor, monologuist and author Spalding Gray.

Frankie Cusimano

Frankie Cusimano, actor, improviser, writer and director, spent his formative years in New York City. In 2000, he graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia PA., with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater. He was a bike messenger for a span of 5 years through the hilly streets of Philadelphia and the grueling winters of Chicago solely to build character and muscle tone. Once in Chicago, Frankie found himself performing with such groups as Theatre O’ the Absurd and Careening Theatre Company. In 2004, he started studying improvisational theater at iO and sketch comedy through Second City’s Conservatory Program. Since then, he has been performing improv, sketch and stand-up consistently around Chicago. He is a founding member of 4 person improv group The Angry Northeast and The Playground Theatre’s Member team Mort. He is also a member of iO Harold team Soldier Body and Mission Improvable’s National Touring Company, with which he toured the country for 1.5 years. He has written and directed numerous video sketches for Mission Improvable throughout his time on the road, check them out athttp://www.missionimprovable.com/. On a personal note, Frankie enjoys riding bikes, shooting pool and his dog.

James Davisson

James Davisson is a native Chicagoan with almost no knowledge of the city he lives in, because he mostly stays at home. The main reason he has stories to tell is that his friends and relations drag him into the sunlight from time to time, or, more often, that he needs leave the house to make money. He tells a story every other week or so on his blog, The Library of Babel.

Stephanie Douglass

Stephanie Douglass is a farmer, writer, actor, and activist, who divides her time between the soil and the stage. Over the past few years, Stephanie has built gardens in the Middle East, run food and compost toilet sanitation workshops in Ethiopia, and taught Mathematics and Film in Chicago’s alternative school system. She was head writer for OLN’s extreme sports show “Outside Magazine’s Ultimate Top Ten,” and is currently spreading the gospel of permaculture and developing nutrition projects for young mothers in Uganda. In New York, she is a co-founder of the award-winning theatre company The TEAM, and in Chicago, she performs with the ladies of Eleanor and tells stories. She recently won Chicago's Moth GrandSLAM, grows organic veggies amidst Illinois' corn-opoly with Growing Home.

Duck & Goose

Duck and Goose is the homegrown indie-folk collaboration between Chicago-native Emily Claire Palmer and Alabama-native Charles Murphy. Having first met at a children’s theater camp, the two began performing around town last summer at farmers markets. A brief jaunt in the Northwest and a number of serendipitous events propelled them forward into the official creation of their two person band. They’ve been steadily gaining momentum all winter, performing at venues such as Uncommon Ground, Goose Island Brewery, and the Elbo Room. They’re ready and waiting for another musical summer to begin. Check out their videos at www.youtube.com/user/duckandgooseband, and visit them on Facebook here.

Nora Dunn

A cast member of Saturday Night Live in 1985 through 1991, the iconic show was Ms. Dunn’s first job on camera. The cast that returned with Lorne Michaels was considered the strongest ensemble since the shows original inception. She created memorable characters such as Liz Sweeney and Pat Stevens. Dunn spent three years on NBC’s night time drama, Sisters, playing opposite Swoosie Kurtz, and performed in such films as Working Girl, Miami Blues, How I Got Into College, The Last Supper, Runaway Jury, Bruce Almighty, Three Kings, Laws of Attraction, and It’s Complicated. She has appeared in way too many TV dramas as a lawyer, a madam, a judge, and recurs on Entourage as a therapist, which she enjoys. She has also appeared on Curb Your Enthusiasm as an NBC executive though her salary was far from what an executive gets. She has two features coming out in the spring and summer, LOL with Demi Moore, and Frankie Go Boom, with Chris O’Dowd and Christopher Noth. Ms. Dunn is currently working on a one-woman show, Mythical Proportions. Her last one-woman show, Small Prey, was a critical success and ran for 16 weeks in Los Angeles in 1999. She is the author of a small book, Nobody’s Rib, published by Harper/Collins in 1991. Ms. Dunn supports unions, labor, collective bargaining, and prank phone calls. She has stopped drinking tea. It might be poisoned.

Keith Ecker

Keith Ecker is the co-producer of Essay Fiesta, a monthly reading series that takes place at the Book Cellar every third Monday of the month. He is professional freelance writer and contributes regularly to the Huffington Post, the Chicago Theater Beat and the Onion’s A.V. Club. His comedic essays have been heard throughout Chicago at such shows as the Encyclopedia Show, Write Club, the Paper Machete, This Much Is True, Story Club, Orange Alert, P. Fanatics, Words That Kill, Stories at the Store, Tuesday Funk, Mortified and 2nd Story. He is a member of the Chicago Writers Association, the Chicago Story Collective and the Chicago Literary Alliance.

Eileen

Becky Poole and Christine Stulik formed "Eileen" in the dead of winter 2011 after meeting as cast mates in The Hypocrite's "Pirates of Penzance". They play murder ballads with a heroine's twist on banjo, saw, accordion and ukulele. With originals and tampered traditionals, Eileen attempts to shed a new light on this dark canon. They are currently working on a stage show incorporating their songs and the story of the Papin Sisters. www.facebook.com/weareeileen

Becky Eldridge

Becky Eldridge is a writer of musicals, vaudevillian acts and occasional flights of fancy. She performs improv comedy, currently at the fabulous LOL theatre in Schaumburg. She has taught at The Second City training center, and enjoys writing and reading and eating.

Jen Ellison

Jen Ellison is a writer, performer and director in Chicago. She has workedwithWNEPTheater, Trap Door Theatre, Collaboraction, The Neo-Futurists, The Process Theatre Group, and The Mammals. Ellison teaches Writing and Improv at DePaul University, The Second City, and Columbia College. She is also the creator of the funny-ish and sad-ish web comic The Comique, which can be found at www.the-comique.blogspot.com.

Sean Flannery

The easiest way to describe Sean Flannery is: he's attended the wrong wedding (twice). That mostly sums it up. On stage, he shares wild, hilarious stories, while showing multimedia from the events: photos, videos, voicemails and more. Last year he combined many of these stories into a sold-out, critically-acclaimed one man show, called "Never Been to Paris", about the last 10 times he nearly killed himself by accident. He is also the creator and host of "The Blackout Diaries" a show where comics plus 'real' people (cops, priests, teachers, etc) share true drinking stories and answer questions from the audience. Sean made his television debut this year on Comedy Central's new show "Mashup".

Mary K. Fons

Mary K. Fons is a writer and performer. Her essay, "Madonna, Myself," was recently published in a collection by Soft Skull Press. Mary can be seen teaching people how to make quilts on PBS (seriously) and at HeyQuilty.com. Mary has been a Neo-Futurist since '06 and a whippersnapper since '80. For more info, check out maryfons.com.

Matthew Gavin Frank

Matthew Gavin Frank was born and raised in Chicago. Bitten by the food, wine, and travel bug, he left home at age seventeen, embracing the vagabond lifestyle that often lent itself to work in the restaurant industry. He ran a tiny breakfast joint in Juneau, Alaska, worked the Barolo wine harvest in Italy’s Piedmont, sautéed hog snapper hung-over in Key West, designed multiple degustation menus for Julia Roberts’s private parties in Taos, New Mexico, served as a sommelier for Chefs Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand in Chicago, and assisted Chef Charlie Trotter with his Green Kitchen cooking demonstration at the Slow Food Nation 2008 event in San Francisco. He returned to academia and received his MFA in Poetry and Creative Nonfiction from Arizona State University. He taught creative writing to undergraduates in Phoenix, Arizona, and poetry to soldiers and their families near Fort Drum in upstate New York on the Canadian border.

Dennis Frymire

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.

Julie Ganey

Julie Ganey is a Chicago actor, writer, and teacher. As a performer, she has worked with the Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens, Northlight, Chicago Dramatists, Shattered Globe and Drury Lane, among others. Her solo shows The Half-Life of Magic and Love Thy Neighbor...till it hurts have been produced by Fillet of Solo at Lifeline Theatre, Next Theatre in Evanston, and 16th Street Theatre in Berwyn. Through Wavelength, an award winning comedy ensemble that performs for educators, Julie has created and led workshops for teachers and executives all over the country on communication skills and improvisation. In addition, Julie has designed lots of programs for kids, on everything from violence prevention to etiquette, and her bullying prevention program, Stand Up On The Schoolyard, has been presented to students and educators within the Chicago Public School system and across the country.

Michael Garvey

Michael is an actor who has called both Chicago and LA home. His Chicago credits include performances with Steppenwolf, Shattered Globe, Strawdog and as a company member with Trap Door Theater. Or you might have caught him on both the big and small screen with roles in: Men in Black 2, Bruce Almighty, ER, JAG, and Star Trek Enterprise. He has worked with renowned artist Catherine Sullivan in work that put him on the walls of the Whitney and Tate modern museums. In 2002 out of frustration, Michael began writing Mr. Bush and turned the letters into an on-going and ever changing performance. M.S. Garvey’s Letter’s to the President has been performed here in Chicago, Romania, Venice and Hollywood, CA

Robin Gelfenbien

Robin is a comedian, writer and storyteller who has written jokes for Rosie O’Donnell and starred in a commercial directed by Spike Lee. Her original comedy songs have played on Sirius Satellite Radio, and her solo show, “My Salvation Has a First Name (A Wienermobile Journey),” premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival. Robin has performed at The Moth, RISK!, Mortified and she is the creator of the storytelling series, “Yum’s the Word,” that features her homemade ice cream cakes. She was recently featured in “Oy! Only Six? Why Not More? Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life” along with Henry Winkler and Larry David, and she will be performing at the Chicago Women's Funny Festival on Saturday, June 9. www.robingelfenbien.com @robingelfenbien

Kevin Gladish

Kevin is thrilled to be part of This Much is True & humbled to be counted among such talent! Kevin is an actor who has worked around town with companies such as WNEP, New Leaf, Griffin, Steep, and Timeline theatres to name a few. Kevin has just started getting up the courage to tell his own stories in front of people. He was last seen as part of WNEP’s Frequency at Transistor, as well as The Moth, where he won the Story Slam in October. He came to This Much is True through Story Lab go check it out!!

Dori Goldman

Dori has been a performer in Chicago for a long time. She’s acted in original musicals and improv shows galore at The Annoyance, iO, The Playground, Comedy Sportz, The Theatre Building, Bailiwick, Live Bait, WNEP, Candlelight Forum, Donny’s Skybox, Royal George and Victory Gardens/Body Politic theaters as well as writing sketch comedy. She has also performed Off-Broadway, New York and at many comedy and fringe festivals around North America and London. Today, in addition to being a top-notch Recruiting Manager, Dori is trying to do the voice over thing and find a boyfriend. To find out about both, visit her websites: www.dorigoldman.com and the DOG (Dating Blog) www.dorigoldman.blogspot.com. Many thanks to Scott and Deanna for the invitation to perform. She is more than excited to share her terrible dating stories.

Don Hall

Don Hall is the Events Coordinator for Chicago Public Media and the Audience Services cat for NPR’s prolific game show “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” He produces, directs, acts and writes for a variety of Chicago Off-Loop Theater; the Founding Director of Chicago’s prolific WNEP Theater, and the third Monday of every month he is the host for The Moth at the Haymarket Pub and Brewery. Don is an Aquarius, an Agnostic, and an Asshole with a blog.

Marsha Harman

Marsha Harman is an actor, pretender, storyteller, and occassional armchair philosopher. She has performed with New Leaf Theatre (where she is part of the Producing Ensemble) in Chicago, and the Bakerloo Theatre Project in upstate New York. She has told stories at the Moth StorySLAMs, Story Club, WNEP’s Transistor, and is the winner of the 2010 SKALD storytelling competition. Her upcoming projects include re-imagining her day job and improving her baking skills.

Michael Reno Harrell

Michael Reno Harrell is an award winning songwriter, as well as a veteran storyteller and entertainer, and he’s from the South… the Southern Appalachian Mountains to hone it a bit finer. One could compare Michael's performances to his granddaddy's pocket knife: well warn and familiar feeling, but razor sharp and with a point.

Michael's recordings top the Americana Music Association charts year after year. His original songs and stories have been described as “Appalachian grit and wit” but, as his writing shows, Michael’s awareness is much broader than the bounds of his boyhood home or even the Southern Experience. Having toured throughout the British Isles and much of Europe, as well as most of the US, the songs he writes and the stories he creates reflect an insight into people’s experiences that catch the ear like an old friend's voice.

Michael's natural knack for storytelling, in print, song and spoken word has earned him praise from not only the music community but from the literary and storytelling worlds as well, having had the honor of being a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival and to be Teller In Residence at the International Storytelling Center, as well as performing at major music events like MerleFest and the Walnut Valley Festival.

Bill Hillman

Bill Hillmann is a writer and storyteller from Chicago. He has been a Contributing Editor to F Magazine and a Staff Writer for Criminal Class Press. Excerpts from his novel in progress, Bryn Mawr, have been broadcast on London’s Resonance FM, appeared online at Foggedclarity.com and in Cubbie Blue’s Anthology. His Poetry and Essays have appeared in Make Magazine. His award-winning audio essays have been broadcast by Chicago Public Radio’s 848, Worldview, and Public Radio International’s The World, and he was also featured on NPR’s The Story. Hillmann is the founder and host of the internationally acclaimed storytelling series Windy City Story Slam, and is an MFA candidate in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago. He’s also a former Chicago Golden Gloves Champion, a Union Local 2 Laborer in good standing, and every summer for eight mornings in July he is one of many mozos.

Kelsie Huff

Kelsie Huff is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, Second City’s Conservatory, Writing and Stand-up Program, and iO’s Writing Program. Currently she performers and produces the kates; an all female comedy showcase in Lincoln Square. Kelsie has performed at The Lincoln Lodge, Doyle’s Pub, Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, Chicago Underground Comedy, Dairy Center for the Performing Arts, Lakeshore Theater, Olive Black, and Circuit. Kelsie has performed with sketch teams Children of the Absurd and Cornman, improvised with Theatre Momentum and Playground Theatre’s RECESS, and has written two one woman shows – HUFFS and BRUISER. Kelsie likes eating cupcakes in the bathroom, they taste better there. www.kelsiehuff.com

Samantha Irby

Samantha Irby is a total idiot who somehow has not only only convinced thousands of people to read her blog vomit, she also sometimes can get them to put on real pants to come out and hear her stupid dick jokes live. You can find her on the internet at bitchesgottaeat.com and irbyandian.com, and see her on the last Sunday of every month as co-host of the Sunday Night Sex Show, a literary reading series that focuses on true stories about sex and sexuality. She is a large testicle aficionado.

Joe Janes

Joe Janes is a writer, director and actor in Chicago. He has taught improv and writing at The Second City Training Center since 1997 and is the Improv Program Coordinator for Columbia College. He is also a senior writer/director at Fig Media, Inc. He is a founding member of the WNEP Theater Foundation and the artistic director of Robot vs Dinosaur. He has written and provided voices for the CD-ROM game “You Don’t Know Jack.” He also has an emmy for writing for a Cincinnati children’s program called “Club 19.” He has written two books. 365 Sketches and 50 Plays. They are available on-line and at Quimby’s bookstore.”

Erin Kahoa

Erin Kahoa has been living life backwards. Salaried job before part time minimum wage work. Marriage before casual dating. Home owner before grungy bug infested apartments. Director of a university theatre program before big city auditions. But, since resetting and moving to Chicago, he’s never been happier.

Jason Kelleher

Jason P. Kelleher moved from Ireland to Chicago 14 years ago. Graduated from UIC with a degree in architecture. He is perusing a masters of psychology this fall. Writing has become his new passion, and loves the support Chicago writers have given him.

Oba-William King

Oba is an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award Recipient in Traditional Folk Arts, A Jewel/Osco Hidden Jewel of The Neighborhood, A Gwendolyn Brooks Hands on Stanza’s award recipient as well as other distinguished awards. He is a featured artist through Center Stage for WTTW television in Chicago; the Bermuda State Library; PBS radio station WBEZ FM program “So Many Ways To Tell A Story;” The Bronzeville Children’s Museum, the DuSable Museum, CPS Early Childhood Education, and The Sun Foundation’s Arts and Science in the Woods. Oba’s history of presenting programs for teen, adult and seasoned adult audiences dates back to 1994 “Breaking Chains” a one-man show at Beatrice Community College in Nebraska. In 1998 Oba received an award nomination for the lead role in Dracula at Lifeline Theatre, in Chicago. His trend-setting presentation of Sound of a Voice, by David Henry Hwang was presented at The Halsted Theatre in Pilsen, 2001.

Rebecca Kling

Rebecca Kling is a Chicago-based artist interested in exploring the performance of identity. Her multi-media productions – composed of storytelling, video, movement, playful skips and jumps, enlightening self-discovery, accusatory glances, awkward pauses, and more – question gender, self-expression, and what it means to be at home in one’s own body. Rebecca has performed her material at The Athenaeum Theatre with New Suit Theatre Company, Temple Gallery, Fringe Festivals in Chicago, Kansas City, and Indianapolis, at Links Hall, Roosevelt and Northwestern Universities, About Face Theatre, Center on Halsted, with Caffeine Theatre at the DCS Storefront Theatre, and elsewhere across the Midwest. She has been praised by The Chicago Tribune, TimeOut Chicago, Newcity Stage, and Centerstage Chicago, and more. Rebecca has been a recipient of the Chances Dances Critical Fierceness grant, and regularly speaks at high schools and universities across Chicago. A graduate from Northwestern University’s Department of Performance Studies with an Adjunct Major in Animate Arts, Rebecca Kling is also an instructor at The Piven Theatre Workshop, on the Pride Films and Plays board of director, and a syndicated blogger with BlogHer.

Vinnie Lacey

Vincent Lacey moved to Chicago by way of having absolutely nothing better to do in 2004. Since then he has trained and played in many improv theatres of questionable merit. He has also worked with the production companies WNEP and The Mammals on plays, and co-wrote a two-person Catholic comedy called Hopelessly Devoted. He considers his Catholicism an addiction. Watching people do good, weird works of art in unexpected places is a personal love, and thus Vincent is Associate Producer of the Chicago Fringe Festival. www.chicagofringe.org.

Rose Laws

Rose Laws was born and raised in rural Tennessee. She was educated in small, one-room schoolhouses and went on to graduate high school from the nearest "big" town. She married at a young age and relocated to Chicago. She had five children in eight years. After she divorced in the 1960s, she went on to become an enterprising motel owner in the western Chicago suburb of Addison, Illinois, and began her journey in what she refers to as the hanky-panky business. She was a dedicated single parent who always tried to put her children first. For about four years between 1979 and 1983, Rose took a break and headed south, trying her hand at "straight" work--owning a restaurant, managing a restaurant, teaching hotel employees hostess skills, selling cars, selling funeral needs--in Atlanta and Savannah, before returning to the business she knew best. After nine of the twelve call girls who worked for her in Savannah married clients, she returned to Chicago to start her agent business anew in the place she loved best. She soon took her business from the western suburbs to downtown Chicago where it exploded and she began the life that would eventually lead to the media nickname "Gold Coast Madam." A natural people person, Rose continually expanded her network of wealthy and famous men until her little black book had almost 5,000 names. She estimates she had nearly 1,000 women work for her in her career. In 1988, after accidentally giving information to an undercover cop, Rose was arrested and spent the next four years in and out of court, only to receive a minor sentence. She then opened a flower shop that she ran along with her agent business for the next four years until the IRS shut the florist down because of back taxes due. Rose continued to quietly run and grow her call girl operation in downtown Chicago until 2002 when she was arrested again, but this time by the FBI. She was accused of being part of a nation-wide prostitution ring called The Circuit. Madams around the country had collaborated and were sharing girls and sending them across state lines to work. The FBI closed in and shut the operation down by busting each madam one by one. Rose was sentenced to 22 months in a minimum-security prison in Florida. After serving her time and probation, Rose retired. She now lives with one of her sons in Sarasota, Florida, where she particularly enjoys her long daily walks and spending time with her three grandchildren.

Carol LaChapelle

Carol is a Chicago-based writer, teacher, and author. For the past 25 years, she has conducted her writing workshops for educators, therapists, and professional associations; at conferences and book fairs; and at the world-renowned Newberry Library in Chicago. Carol’s writing has appeared in The Writing Group Book; Environmental Practice; the New York Times; and in various consumer publications and newsletters. Her book Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Stories (Marion Street Press, 2008) is available at bookstores, on Amazon, and following the show.

Alyson Lyon

Alyson Lyon is co-producer of Essay Fiesta (every 3rd Monday at the Book Cellar) and a member of the Chicago Story Collective — Not only does she perform her essays all over town, but she also has a background in comedy and music and currently works as makeup artist — She also loves to make soup –

Arlene Malinowski

Malinowski is an actor/playwright whose 5 award-winning solo shows have been
produced at venues through out the country and internationally. In addition to her
film and TV work (some of it good- most of it bad) he has appeared on stages in
LA and Chicago including the Goodman and Victory Gardens. She is a recipient of
Illinois Arts Fellowship and a Ragdale Residency. When she wants to show off she
mentions that her work was cited in the Huff Post. She teaches writing at Chicago
Dramatists, coaches privately and is to her knowledge, the only actor to appear both in
Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure AND Doogie Howser and in the same 24 hours.
www.arlenemalinowski.com.

Mike Manship

Mike Manship is a local writer / performer. He recently published his first novel, Cambridge Street, and is happy to report that people who review books on amazon.com are liking it. His second book, Off Track, which chronicles his vegetable-oil-powered trek across the country, is due out next year. Mike is a drop-out of the Second City Training Center. You can learn more about him at darkandstupid.info.

Jessica McCloud

After toying with unemployment in Chicago for 15 months, losing some creative partnerships, and being the victim of an aggressive hit and run incident on her bicycle, Jessica told 2009 to go “F” itself and has been working to make 2010 the best year yet! This year has been all about getting back to what is most important in Jessica’s life…talking about herself. Seriously though, 2010 has been all about getting back to and recreating that artistic life that Jessica embarked on in 2004, after graduating with a BA in Theater from Columbia College Chicago and starting work with various independent film and stage projects. After appearing on The Story w/Dick Gordon (Mar 23rd airing), Marketplace w/Mitchell Hartman (June 2010), and doing both Rec Room and THE SKALD 11 in May, Jessica couldn’t pass up this wonderful opportunity to read along side some great people here with T.M.I.T. Recently she had the pleasure of Stage Managing the 365 Sketches at Strawdog and is inspired by the demiurgic direction this crazy life seems to be taking her.

Paulette McDaniels

Paulette McDaniels has more then 25 years of experience in the arts. She is the author of A Deathly Silence commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services for World AIDS Day. Ms. McDaniels has served as a community organizer in the Middle East, Europe and America. The grandmother of two, she studied at Northwestern University and Yorkshire College in the UK. She is co-author of Achmed’s Return: Legend of the Lost City, and is currently working on a Christian comedy, 10 Plagues.

Maia Morgan

Maia’s critically acclaimed plays and monologues have been produced on stages throughout Chicago. As a teaching artist, Maia has designed and taught workshops and residencies for Urban Gateways, Columbia College, Gallery 37, Steppenwolf, Lookingglass and the Lyric Opera. She has created performances with students in dozens of Chicago schools, health care facilities and jails. In 2010 Maia was awarded first prize in a national non-fiction writing competition, and she’s about halfway through writing the book that began with that winning essay. Read more at maiamorgan.com.

Kim Morris

Kim Morris earned her MFA from Columbia College Chicago and her BA from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous publications. She’s written short plays included in Theatre Seven of Chicago’s “Yes, This Really Happened to Me” and “We Live Here.” Her work has been performed in New York as part of Bohemian Archaeology’s “Holidays Uncorked” and “BOOzy: An Evening of Spirits and Storytelling.” She’s performed her stories at Victory Gardens Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Lincoln Hall, and many other venues in Chicago. She wrote and performed original pieces for the Fillet of Solo festival in 2010 and 2011. She’s a company member of 2nd Story. Check out Power Love for more: www.power-love.blogspot.com.

Dana Norris

Dana is the founder and host of Story Club, as well as the Managing Editor of TriQuarterly Online. She received a Bachelors in Creative Writing and Religion and from Wittenberg University and a Masters in Religious Studies from The University of Chicago. Dana also has a Certificate in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Chicago and is currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Northwestern University. Recently won the AWP Intro Journals Creative Nonfiction prize and will be published in the Tampa Review. She also received a Writers Studio Student Prize from the University of Chicago Graham School, was a finalist for the Guild Complex Nonfiction Prize and was first runner-up at the February & April 2010 Moth StorySLAMs in Chicago. She performs around Chicago with Cafe Cabaret, Essay Fiesta, Stories at the Store, This Much is True, and Beast Woman. She is a founding member of the Chicago Story Collective. Dana loves hosting an open mic and she especially loves it when the stories get weird.

Robyn Okrant

Robyn Okrant is an actress, author, freelance writer, andyoga teacher. She has appeared on the Today Show, CNBC’s The Oprah Effect (which, to her mother’s delight was seen internationally on American Airlines’ in-flight entertainment), The Bonnie Hunt Show, The Joy Behar Show, and NPR’s All Things Considered. Her book, LIVING OPRAH: My One Year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk, was published by Center Street in 2010. Robyn’s essays can be read at The Huffington Post, Washington Post, and on her fabulous blog: Ready, Set…Wife! She holds an MFA in performance art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Yes. Performance Art.

J.H. Palmer

J.H. Palmer is a staff writer at Gapers Block, and she keeps a blog called Buttered Noodles. Her superpowers include the ability to name any song that aired on WPLJ between 1980-1989 in three notes or less, the ability to smoke just one cigarette and not want more, and the ability to converse with house cats. She has read at Story Lab, The Moth, Story Club, Essay Fiesta, and Tuesday Funk, and she will be performing with 2nd Story in the 2011-2012 season. She is tickled pink to be reading at This Much is True, and reminds you to tip the bartender.

Amanda Patton

Born in New Orleans and raised in the Midwest, Amanda found herself searching for adventure after college. She taught English in Beijing, studying Mandarin and writing profusely. Her travels throughout China have been a great source of inspiration for her current poetry and other works. Returning from China, Amanda set her sights on Chicago where she now resides with her wife and three ridiculous cats.

Tim Paul

Tim Paul is an actor, writer, storyteller & teacher currently performing his latest solo venture at The Annoyance, No Fat, No Femmes: Tales of Dialing-Up, Coming Out & Getting Off. Since 2008, he has performed with the Second City aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines from Alaska to Malta, online with the Second City Network and most recently as the swing understudy for the Second City e.t.c. He has told his stories at The Paper Machete, The Moth StorySLAM & Stripped Stories. Tim can also be seen in Break-Ups: The Series and in the upcoming feature film The Drunk.

Chris Rathjen

Chris Rathjen has been performing improv in Chicago since 2002, when he moved here from his native Iowa after attending Grinnell College. Since then he has had the privilege to play with such teams as James Jackson, Dainty Fingers, Zero Minute Walk, Six Degrees of Improvization and The George Drake Players. He is a graduate of the iO Training Center and can currently be seen performing at iO with Ringo Starr and Improvised Star Trek. Chris's hobbies include kickball, eating crackers, and barking up the wrong tree. He has recently admitted to himself that he is a terrible penpal.

Sheri Reda

Sheri Reda is a writer, editor, and performer who commutes spiritually and mentally between publishing and theatre. She sometimes performs in schools and churches as a storyteller of Biblical and other foundational myths. Sheri has served as a dramaturg at Oakton College and as a director at MLTS and Lincoln Square theatre (LSTC) and has acted in productions at Prop, Mary-Arrchie, Free Street Theatre, Artistic Home, and others, including the venerable old Organic and Center Theaters and the Vic. She’s a past member of the TranceSisters Performance Art Collective and a fan of WNEP Theatre.

Martha Reeves

Martha Reeves came to Chicago from Boston in June of 2009. A network playwright at the Chicago Dramatists, she has a singular take on the vicissitudes of quotidian life, among them, coping with automated answering systems and being humbled by a diva hairdresser. She has been invited for repeat performances on “Here and Now,” a production of WBUR, the Boston outlet for National Radio. Martha is a winner of the Jack Kerouac Literary Prize, and her one-act play incorporating her poem-monologues was a winner in the Dragonfly Contest of the Devanaughn Theatre in the South End of Boston. Her whimsical poetry also appears in The Geek Squad’s Guide to Solving Every Computer Glitch by Robert Stephens.

Andrew Reilly

Andrew Reilly is a writer and performer living in Chicago. His nonfiction has appeared in Alarm, The A.V. Club, and The Beachwood Reporter, among others, and will also be featured in the forthcoming book Assault Of The Earth by Alarm Press. He also serves as an associate producer for the 2nd Story reading series, and his short story “3F Sharp” was nominated for the 2012 Pushcart Prize. His first novel ought to be done one of these days but until then you can visit him online at andrew reilly dot org, or in person in Uptown.

Amanda Rountree

Amanda Rountree has been performing since 1992, teaching since 1998, and directing since 2002. She relocated to Chicago in 2007 from Seattle where she was a performer and instructor with Unexpected Productions and a performer and co-artistic director of Playback Theater Northwest. Amanda has entertained audiences in seven countries and countless North American cities utilizing a wide variety of styles, disciplines, and formats. Chicago audiences have seen her in Impress These Apes 2, Don’t Spit the Water, Soiree DADA: Shmukt die Hallen, The (Edward) Hopper Project and her one-woman show, The Good, the Bad, and the Monkey. She is a resident teaching artist for Lifeline Theatre and the Second City Training Center. To find out more about her projects, please go to amandarountree.com.

Joshua Safford

Joshua Safford has been a professional storyteller since 1990. As a screenwriting student in LA he realized he needed to tell a story to sell one and get through a pitch meeting then he realized that he enjoyed telling stories orally rather than visually because it gave him creative control and he got to look into the eyes of his audience. Joshua is a storyteller in the old tradition of folktales and fantasy; personal narrative is new to him but is now on a journey to find where myth and reality cross. For the past twenty years he has been performing his original fantasy stories at Renaissance and faerie festivals across the country including The Arizona Renaissance Festival, Festival of Legends, Spoutwood Faerie Festival, The World of Faeries Festival, Faerieworlds Festival, The Maryland Faerie Festival, The New York Renaissance Faire, The Bristol Renaissance Faire and the Carolina Renaissance Festival. He is also a member of the steampunk storytelling and violin duo the Absinthe Minded Professors. He teaches trickster mythology through magic in the schools. He also has a career as a character magician that he wishes wasn’t eclipsing his career as a storyteller. Joshua has also performed at the Illinois storytelling festival, Starburst storytelling festival and moonlight mystery series. He has four storytelling recordings. Joshua has never performed at the moth or a story slam because reality is not his domain. He’s crossing that bridge and is having a good time losing his way.

Dmitry Samarov

Dmitry Samarov was born in the USSR and immigrated to the US at the age of seven. He’s the author of Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab. He paints and drives a cab in Chicago, Illinois. He hopes to one day be unemployed.

Jeremy Schaefer

Jeremy Schaefer stays busy most days writing, marketing and performing theater for young audiences. When he’s not serving as marketing director for Imagination Theater he enthusiastically promotes and performs his own original, interactive storytelling assemblies for K-5 students. After school lets out, he shifts focus to older audiences as an improvisor with Laugh Out Loud Theater, a stand up comic, and a writer of plays and sketch shows that have been performed by pH Productions, Big Picture Group and others. He is currently participating in Choosing to Be Here: A storytelling Festival at The Side Project Theatre Company.

Lisa Scott

Lisa Scott is a Chicago-based storyteller and playwright. She most recently has worked with Small Fish Radio Theatre and Thespinarium and is so happy to be able to share a story with you through This Much is True. A native of Washington state, Lisa loves Chicago for its back alleys and tree-lined streets but sure misses the mountains.

Anne Shimojima

Anne Shimojima, a retired school library media specialist, now regularly performs in festivals, schools, libraries, conferences, and museums. Anne also gives workshops on the use of storytelling in education and the creation of family history projects. Her family story about the Japanese-American incarceration camps in World War II is available at www.racebridgesforschools.com.

Eric Shivvers

Eric Shivvers is a freelance graphic designer who turned to writing in the fall of 2006 when his mother could no longer pick-up the phone due to Alzheimer’s. Eric wrote in a cathartic manner, keeping alive the memories of the good times they shared. What Eric discovered was the Irish rock band, U2, sat in the background, playing the soundtrack to his life. Eric’s recently self-published memoir, I’m a Fan: How I married U2 into my life without going to the altar is the result of his writing journey. Please visit the book’s official web site www.iamau2fan.com and read more about Eric’s mom and his U2 fandom.

Jonas Simon

Jonas Simon is the author of the wildly popular* blog “Zen and the Art of Waitering” as well as the best selling** book of the same name. A veteran of Chicago’s stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy scenes, he can currently be found performing nightly to crowds of enthralled audience members in downtown Chicago – usually at a chain restaurant that rhymes with “Schmeezecake Factory.”

*according to his mother **currently ranked #242,128 among Amazon.com’s Paid Kindle “Best Sellers”

Janna Sobel

Janna Sobel is a writer, performer and storyteller. She also supports people of all ages in doing these things at the Second City Training Center, The University of Chicago Lab School and the Old Town School of Folk Music. She is the Associate Artistic Director of Mudlark Theater in Evanston. She also really likes to tell stories, and has been honored to be a featured teller recently with Chicago Slam Works’ Two Sides, The Encyclopedia Show, Essay Fiesta, Real Talk Live and Story Club, and this April will mark her second time performing with This Much is True! Janna also co-produces Here’s the Story on the first Sunday of every month at Stage 773, where everyone is invited to tell, and is presently working on a solo performance about getting sick and then getting well.

Mike Speller

For more than 25 years Mike Speller has performed on stage and on camera all over the United States. A skilled improviser and experienced storyteller, Mike also holds a teaching degree in Speech and Theater. Mike would like to share stories with you for an unforgettable ride to the destination of your choice.

Johanna Stein

Johanna has worked as a writer, producer, director and actor with Comedy Central, Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, The Oxygen Network, Showcase, The Movie Network, UPN, VH-1, Noggin, CTV, The Family Channel and The CBC. On The World Wide Internets her shorts and public service announcements have been viewed millions of times, and no, not all of those hits are because of her mom. She also created a live comedy show and performed at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. She co-created and produced “Ripe Tomatoes” a sketch comedy show for Carsey-Werner-Mandabach and The Oxygen Network and would like to thank the 17 midwestern housewives who watched it. Oh and did we mention she’s kick-ass funny? You can check her out at: http://www.jojostein.com

Jim Stevens

Jim Stevens studied film and theater in Chicago and Paris. He is currently an artisan, filmmaker and an inconspicuous eclecticist. He still treasures the Most Improved Bowler trophy he received… at age 11. More recent accomplishments include selling a condo in this market, getting the last of his wisdom teeth removed and being at his current job for 14 ½ years. Jim is excited to be a participant in the storytelling community for the first time.

Dave Stinton

Dave has been writing and performing in Chicago for twelve years, with plays produced at WNEP Theater, the Bailiwick, EP Theater, and the New York International Fringe Festival. He’s a past winner of WNEP’s SKALD storytelling competition, and he wrote “The Banquet of Life,” a now-defunct food column for the online magazine The Simon “The Sound of One Hand Withholding Applause” is a fiction blog he used to update regularly. Perhaps someday he will again. Just in case, here is the address: http://shaxpur.livejournal.com/

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.

Mare Swallow

Mare Swallow is the founder of the Chicago Writers Conference, a professional speaker, and a former actress and sometime writer who performs at readings all over Chicago. She loves to travel (most recently, to Graceland!) and she makes a mean mojito. If you only visit one of her websites, visit chicagowritersconference.org.

Paul Teodo

Paul Teodo is the second ever Chicago Moth Grand Slam champion. He has 2 great sons and a love for writing,theatre, storytelling,music, movies, and hanging out with family, "family" being whoever is willing to hang out with and eat with. He was raised in an Italian family on the south side of Chicago that could not hang together unless there was lots of food and lots of stories. One of his favorite sayings in life is this: "The sign of a truly rich man is not he who has the most, but rather he who needs the least" He trys to keep things simple and focus daily on what is really important. His real job is serving as the Chief Operating Officer of an inner city hospital on the south side of Chicago. The hospital is run by a group of caring and committed nuns from Lithuania.

Prescott Tolk

Prescott is very funny. So are his jokes. He’s appeared on Comedy Central, The Bob and Tom Show, and TBS. The Chicago Reader declared him a Critic’s Choice and Time Out Chicago dubbed him a “Don’t Miss.” Aside from headlining clubs and colleges across the country, he has performed his one-man show High Jinxed to rave reviews. It was named Best Stand-Up Show at the inaugural United Solo Festival in New York.

Natasha Tsoutsouris

Natasha is excited to have found the storytelling community and is even more excited to have a bio. She is also well versed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu so if you don’t like her stories, she’ll choke the hell out of you.

Michael Van Kerckhove

Michael is a Chicago-based writer & performer and the current Artistic Director of NewTown Writers’ performance arm. He has appeared in and co-produced several installments of NTW’s performance series (Working Stiffs, Solo Homo, etc.). He has also presented work with Story Lab Chicago, Essay Fiesta, Story Club, and Blue Moon Studio Theatre’s Solo in Blue series. He is slowly but surely working on his full-length solo show, Battles With Boys. Check out his stuff at www.michaelvankerckhove.wordpress.com

Dina Walters

Dina Walters is making her debut with This Much is True, and couldn’t be happier about it. She has previously read her stories for Essay Fiesta and Second Story; she has also competed at Write Club. Dina is a proud alum of The Neo-Futurists Theater Company, where she regularly wrote and performed for Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind for five years.

Eric Warner

Eric Warner has been writing and performing in Chicago since 2007, creating 8 original works with the collaboration Nicholas and Warner (wherein he once broke a rib while dressed as a Minotaur) and bringing his solo work “The Man Who Never Was, or, The Man of Your Choice”, a monologue about love in vain, and how Rod Stewart, Bigfoot and a 40 year old personality test taught him about masculinity, his father and himself, to the 15th Annual Fillet of Solo Festival here in Chicago, and to the St. Louis Fringe Fest. Eric has taught writing, theatre and art in many Chicago schools with Urban Gateways, Beacon Street Gallery and Casa Central, and is currently a writing workshop facilitator with the Neighborhood Writing Alliance.

Debbi Welch

Debbi Welch is a storyteller, performer and writer. For many years she was the resident storyteller at The Children’s Bookstore, and the coordinator of children’s events at Printers Row Book Fair. Her appearances in Chicago have included Printers Row Book Fair, The Newberry Library, Second City Children’s Theater, the Art Institute of Chicago, temples and churches around Chicago, and many Chicago public and private schools. Having told other people’s stories for so many years, she finally decided it was time to start telling her own. Debbi is a past member of the improvisational troupe Comedy on the Rocks …With a Twist. Currently she is President of the Board of Young Chicago Authors, a 21 year old organization that offers writing, performance and publication opportunities to young people throughout Chicago, and produces the largest teen poetry slam in the country, Louder Than a Bomb, which was the subject of an award-winning documentary of the same name.

Megan Wells

National award winning and touring entertainer Megan Wells has been performing her original one-woman Story Experiences for twenty years. Warm, funny, dynamic and emotionally deep - Megan receives standing ovations wherever she performs. She is the resident teller at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, creating renditions of folktales with musicians in the intimate Buntrock Hall. Megan is a Jeff Award winning theater director and combines the dynamics of stage work with the conversational intimacy of storytelling. For more information and Megan's calendar, please visit: www.meganwells.com.

Paul Whitehouse

Paul is the Programming Manager of 2nd Story, and a Chicago based theatre artist who has performed with: Chemically Imbalanced Comedy Theatre, Improv Playhouse Touring Company, Redmoon Theatre, The Morris Brothers Educational Tour, and Theatre Momentum. His one-man show, ½ Caf Chronicles , was produced as part of Redmoon’s First Annual J.O.E. Festival at Belmont Harbor in fall 2010. He has taught Shakespeare and improv at Traveling Players Ensemble in the woods of Virginia, helped young Chicago actors script their stories in the loop at Goodman Theatre with the General Theatre Studies Program, and has been a guest teaching artist at Dexter High School in pure Michigan. He is also a proud Kalamazoo College graduate.

Brandon Will

Brandon Will is – like his name implies – at once an action and a question. One time he made a ridiculously ambitious feature-length suburban epic, “Dadbot: The Movie.” Another time he was a Detroit store-front puppet theater troupe member, and also performed at bars with the punk-rock puppet show The Gepetto Files. Some other times he had pieces published in places like featherproof mini-books, Hair Trigger, and Knee-Jerk – where he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He’s told stories around Chicago at Orange Alert, Reading Under the Influence, The Rec Room, Essay Fiesta, Two With Water Rx Reading Series, 2nd Story, some other random places, and become a mascot at Quickies!. You can find more info at brandonwill.com

Shiow-Jiau Yung

Shiow-Jiau Yung spent the better part of her 20s at WBEZ, where she edited the Schadenfreude radio show, built the This American Life podcast, and also worked withSound Opinions and the Third Coast International Audio Festival. She’s performed with 2nd Story and WNEP, and yes — she’s rocking some Asian blush in this photo. It’s an enzyme deficiency, okay? Plus, it was her birthday.

Jack Zimmerman

“His stories are fine and funny and closely observed.”
Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times Jack Zimmerman has worked as a parking-lot attendant, greenhouse laborer, dock hand, trombonist, college instructor, night watchman, piano tuner, newspaper columnist, magazine editor, and PR man for Ravinia and Lyric Opera. He’s written a couple of novels and has told stories his entire life. Last year he read one of his stories on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”