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2nd Thursday of Every Month Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro 3905 N Lincoln Ave., Chicago 7:30 PM (Doors at 7:00) FREE |
This Much Is True is the longest running monthly storytelling show in Chicago, IL. (Since 2008). Every month, we come together for an evening of true personal stories from some of Chicago's most fascinating people. An all new cast takes the stage each month to let you in on the heartbreaking, the hilarious, and everything in between.
Past guests have included writers, actors, chefs, theologians, SNL alums, musicians, bloggers, activists, professional storytellers, comedians, and more from our city and around the world. We hope that you can join us.
Past guests have included writers, actors, chefs, theologians, SNL alums, musicians, bloggers, activists, professional storytellers, comedians, and more from our city and around the world. We hope that you can join us.
June 8th Cast
Mary Lou Gilliam
Mary Lou Gilliam is retired from two careers: English teaching and educational publishing. She has been on the stage since she was 10 doing dramatic readings, singing, or some combination thereof. An English major with a theater minor, she found that teaching extended the performance world when she began writing first person narratives to model both writing and speaking for her students. Because she was born and raised in a small Swedish farm town in western Illinois, think Garrison Keillor for thematic content. About ten years ago, while considering retirement, she took her stories on the road, so to speak, by joining Short Story Theatre in the Northshore suburbs. She has also performed at Story Lab Chicago, Truth Be Told, and Backyard Stories. Having lived quite a few decades by now, her narratives include both the travails and thrills of a long (and possibly over-examined) life. She keeps busy with volunteer work, private tutoring, international travel, and as much time with her four grandchildren as she can.
Erica Katz
Erica may be a professor at Northwestern College, but is a perpetual student of life always learning, growing. She is always ready for new adventures. Erica finds herself wearing many hats that dictate her day. Ultimately her friends, family including her two kiddos, and community are all her muse and provide her with material as well as my comfort. Erica is reasonably comfortable in her own skin loves to share stories.
Simi Krishnan
Simi Krishnan is a mom to two rambunctious kids, a 13 and 8 year old, and wife to a Star Trek fiend!! By day she wears a data and analytics cape, leading analytics in the pharmaceutical industry, and by night she is a producer of The People Tree, a live storytelling show which takes place the third Thursday of every month, located in Naperville!
Louis Greenwald
In 1985 or so, Louis Greenwald was dragged to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, by his teacher wife, Susie. She promised he would love storytelling because she knew no one had ever told Louis stories when he was young. She also promised that if he didn’t like the stories, they would be in the Smokey Mountains the next day. Susie was right. Louis has promoted 6 storytelling festivals in his home town of Highland Park and for the last 5 years took a giant step and started telling stories himself. He has told at Short Story Theatre in Highwood, Scott Whitehair’s This Much is True, StoryLab; Virginia Reeve’s Soul Stories Live; Filet of Solo in Chicago; and has won a Moth 1st place in Chicago and told at other Moth venues. Louis aslo has coached other tellers and continues to travel to Jonesborough, to hear and watch the greatest storytellers in the world. He has been known to steal other tellers’ techniques. Louis said, "Storytelling is how we understand the world, as we are always telling a story to ourselves, whether we realize it or not.
Willa Taylor
Willa J. Taylor has been the Director of Education and Community Engagement at Goodman Theatre for countless seasons, and has held similar positions at Lincoln Center Theatre in New York and Arena Stage in Washington, DC. In her dreams, however, she is the space cowboy—poet-chef aboard the Firefly-class spaceship, Serenity.
Scott Whitehair
Host/producer of This Much Is True
Scott Whitehair is a storyteller, teacher, and producer living in Chicago, IL. He is the producer of This Much Is True, creator of Story Lab Chicago, which has put 700+ new storytellers on stage since 2011, and director of Do Not Submit, a grassroots network of open mics across the city bringing people together to connect with each other. Scott tells anywhere someone will listen, including The National Storytelling Festival Exchange Place, Steppenwolf Theater, the historic Green Mill, and on NPR, the Risk podcast, and Siruis XM. He is a frequent guest instructor at the city's top universities, and his personal narrative class has been selling out every month since 2012. Scott is in demand as a coach and trainer, spending his days helping individuals, companies, and non-profits develop their voices as storytellers.
Scott Whitehair is a storyteller, teacher, and producer living in Chicago, IL. He is the producer of This Much Is True, creator of Story Lab Chicago, which has put 700+ new storytellers on stage since 2011, and director of Do Not Submit, a grassroots network of open mics across the city bringing people together to connect with each other. Scott tells anywhere someone will listen, including The National Storytelling Festival Exchange Place, Steppenwolf Theater, the historic Green Mill, and on NPR, the Risk podcast, and Siruis XM. He is a frequent guest instructor at the city's top universities, and his personal narrative class has been selling out every month since 2012. Scott is in demand as a coach and trainer, spending his days helping individuals, companies, and non-profits develop their voices as storytellers.