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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.
July 9th Cast
Dan Baron
Dan Baron is the youngest of five kids. He says that one of the many reasons he loves storytelling is because he gets to talk with a microphone and people can hear him. That doesn’t always happen in a big family. He loves Chicago’s storytelling community. Dan is a writer who has written about social issues, people and communities in Chicago for nonprofits and universities for his whole career. He is also a journalist. Dan has told stories at many storytelling events in the Chicago area…And now, trigger warning…hold on…yes, .we’re going to give him the microphone.
Laurel Crown
Laurel Crown is a mom to two super cool young adults. She works as an evaluation researcher for a nonprofit organization by day and fills her evenings and weekends - every free moment she can find really - staying busy with activities that feed her body, mind, and soul: walking and biking along the lakefront, writing, creating and telling stories, cultivating and nurturing meaningful friendships, swimming, reading, knitting, seeing films, plays, live music, talking with strangers . . . She is trying to learn how to sit still; it’s not going great.
Mack Dihle
Mack is a proud butch woman who moved to Chicago 21 years ago, plays trumpet in a gay Latin band, holds a degree in music education, rides a giant motorcycle, walked the runway 6 years in a row as an androgynous model for New York Fashion Week’s DapperQ show, prior to the “panorama”. She has survived as an elder millennial and been a police officer for 18 years to pay the bills. She finds joy in living life with her fiance’ Adrienne and two Tiger tabby’s in Rogers Park.
Shaun Landry
Shaun (she/her) is an improvisational theatre instructor director and actor. Originally from Chicago and now back home. with a career spanning nearly three decades. Since 1996, she has been teaching improv nationally and internationally, sharing her expertise in cities like London, Seoul, Hawaii, Manila. New York and everywhere in between. She was the curator of The Robin Hood International Improv Festival 2025 contributing to its programming. Shaun was the founder of The Ledge Theatre in Los Angeles, that was dedicated to amplifying diverse voices in the improv community. she just finished teaching The Art of Improvised Monologues in Manchester England and is here to put her own teaching to use. Say hi to her husband Hans. He’s the one who looks like George Lucas
Edward Kelsey Moore
Edward Kelsey Moore is the author of the New York Times and international bestselling novel THE SUPREMES AT EARL’S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT and a second Supremes novel, THE SUPREMES SING THE HAPPY HEARTACHE BLUES. THE SUPREMES AT EARL’S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT was chosen as a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and was also named an Illinois Reads book by the Illinois Reading Council. Edward was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and received an Illinois Arts Council award. A film adaptation of THE SUPREMES AT EARL’S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT is currently in post-production at Searchlight Pictures. Edward’s essays and short fiction have appeared in the New York Times and a number of literary magazines, including Inkwell, African American Review, Ninth Letter, and Indiana Review. His work has also appeared on Chicago Public Radio and Minnesota Public Radio. In addition to writing and storytelling, Edward maintains a career as a professional cellist. His playing has been featured on multiple classical, pop, and jazz recordings and he has toured nationally and internationally. For many years, he has also worked as a teacher, preparing the next generation of musicians and writers. Edward has recently completed a new novel.
Sheri Reda
Sheri Reda is an Italian-American from Chicago whose “yellow” grandma taught her how to make eggplant parmagiana and whose “brown” grandma gave up on teaching her to make scalille Calabrese. Over time, she became an overly creative cook as well as a writer, performer, and youth librarian. Sheri works as a celebrant, public speaker, and youth librarian. Her work has been anthologized in The Nature of Our Times, Dear Human at the Edge of Time, Storytellers Page to Stage, Storytellers’ True Stories About Love, and Healers’ Burden. Her memoir, Life Is Like That (La Vita É Cosi) was longlisted for the International Creative Voices Award in 2025. One story from that memoir, “Nobody Nobody Sent,” was recently published by Still Point Press. Another, “The Yellow-Haired Boy,” was shortlisted for the 2026 Voices of Mixed Heritage Award. Sheri’s resistance chapbook, Stubborn, was published by Moria Press in 2016. Her collection entitled Diaspora was just published this Spring by Finishing Line Press, and is hopefully available at your local bookstore or through Ingram or Amazon.
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 950+ 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. He is a 2024 Meier Achievement Award winner.
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 950+ 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. He is a 2024 Meier Achievement Award winner.