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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.
January 8th Cast
Roderick Jones
Roderick Jones is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, youth hockey coach, outreach worker, epidemiologist and Spanish interpreter. He likes to play guitar but rarely makes it through a song without flubbing a chord, and he currently has 26 books checked out from the Chicago Public Library but will likely finish none of them. He serves as a refugee resettlement volunteer and helps run a church shelter for recent arrivals to Chicago.
Emily Hooper Lansana
Emily Hooper Lansana is a community builder, performing artist and arts administrator. As a performing artist, she is most known for her work with Performance Duo: In the Spirit. For more than thirty years, she has performed as a storyteller, sharing her work with audiences throughout Chicago and across the country. She has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival, the National Association of Black Storytellers Festival, and at a variety of museums, colleges and performance venues. She also enjoys passing on traditions to young people as a coach and mentor with nationally recognized Rebirth Poetry Ensemble. Emily is the recipient of a 3arts award and an OxBow Inspirators award and has also been honored by the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Creative Writing at Chicago State University. As an adjunct professor, Ms. Lansana has taught at Columbia, Northwestern, U of C, DePaul. and Chicago State University. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Black Storytellers and as President of the Chicago Association of Black Storytellers. She received her BA in Theater Studies with a certificate in Teacher Preparation/ Education from Yale University and an MA in Performance Studies from Northwestern University.
Catherine Francis Napper
- Catherine Frances Napper is a Chicago-based writer, comedian, improviser, storyteller and teacher. She performs all over Chicagoland and at comedy festivals with her improv partner in their duo, CatBomb! She is a founding member of the Chicago-based Indy team, ImprovBus and was a longstanding member of the Illegitimate Players, a Chicago-based Emmy Award-winning comedy group. Catherine, who has a Master of Arts in Teaching, is also a life-long educator, reading specialist, gifted teacher and youth theater director. Along with her partner, she leads workshops for Improv for Social Emotional Learning intended to support teachers and school mental health professionals. She is a life-long, proud Chicagoan, a Mother and Grandmother, an artist, gardener, a friend to stray people, animals and plants, a free spirited Capricorn and overall cheerful gal who appreciates a good story!
Geneva Norman
Geneva Norman is a Chicago vocalist, songwriter, musician and music arranger. She has performed throughout Europe, including, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Poland, France, Spain, etc. She has performed with musicians along the W. Coast of Africa traveling South along the Atlantic coast to South Africa and in 47 of the 50 United States. She wrote the locally popular “Obama Vote Song” in 2007. She is a storyteller and has been a student and actor at The Goodman Theatre, 2nd Story, Free Street Theater, About Face Theatre, The Looking Glass Theatre and many others. She is the lead vocalist of the Geneva Convention Band and the G2 band. She has arranged many pieces of work throughout her career and is currently the creator and executive producer/director of “The Aretha Project- Chicago Tour." Geneva is the Chair of Northwestern University OLLI, DEI Committee, Chicago Campus and a Teaching Artist at the Goodman Theatre.
Nancy Solomon
Nancy Solomon has made a lot of questionable decisions in her 86 years. Luckily, many of them make good stories, which she’ll tell anyone anywhere who shows even the slighted interest in listening to them. Nancy has been an enthusiastic member of GeNarrations, the free storytelling program sponsored by the Goodman Theatre for people 55 years old and older, since 2018. She’s grateful to her GeNarrations teaching artists as well as workshop instructors Scott Whitehair and Errol McLendon, who are also two of the generous producers who create welcoming venues for storytellers and story listeners. Nancy especially appreciates the warmth, support and friendships so freely shared within the storytelling community.
James Whittington
James Whittington is fortunate to call himself an arts educator. He enjoys sharing crazy stories. He curses, like, a lot (even when the situation doesn’t call for it). His favorite cocktail is the boulevardier and he drinks his coffee black. This bio is, legit, his Bumble BFF profile, just cut-and-pasted.
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 900+ 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 900+ 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.