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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.
December 12th Cast
Rives Collins
Rives Collins is truly thankful to have found a way to make a life doing what he has loved ever since he was a rambunctious kindergarten child. He was recently inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, and was awarded the Campton Bell Lifetime Achievement award from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. He has told stories on three continents, and is the proud recipient of the Oracle Award from the National Storytelling Network. A theater, director, prison educator, and champion of children, he was endowed with the Charles Deering McCormick Professorship of Teaching Excellence from Northwestern University. He is particularly delighted to step into a new role, as he has recently become an exuberant grandfather to a beautiful baby girl.
Randy Ford
Randy Ford first fell in love with stories while growing up in Tennessee, where the rich tradition of Appalachian storytelling is still part of everyday life. Randy became a radio reporter and a political aide, spending 14 years in Washington, D.C., before moving to Chicago in 2015. He has performed on stages throughout the Chicago area and runs First Story Strategies, a freelance-based business that helps nonprofits tell the stories of the people they serve.
Suzie Garfield
Suzie Garfield used to cope with the world by day and do serious stuff by night. Now that she’s retired (sorta), she does what she wants and she does it when she wants to do it. She glues together her family of now-adult children and the people they bring with them, she explores the past, present, and future of the universe to nurture her connection with things beyond her own life, and she tells stories about her discoveries and her adventures—always a slice of the world that she sees and experiences.
Juan Pablo Herrera
Juan Pablo Herrera is a second-generation immigrant who was born and raised in Chicago. He has been a life-long community organizer around education, gentrification, and immigration in the Logan Square and Humboldt Park neighborhoods. Most weekends you can catch country dancing at Charlies as part of Second City Country Dance Association; a queer group of folks that perform all over the city. He is the pastor at Urban Village Church in Wicker Park; a LGBTQ affirming congregation. Juan Pablo spends most of his free time working on his garden and spending time with his kids Gabriella and Nathan.
LaTanya Lane
LaTanya Lane (she/her) is a company member with 2nd Story, a two-time alum of the Voices of Our Nations Arts writers' workshop, and winner of the 2018 Diverse Worlds Grant from the Speculative Literature Foundation. She is trying so. very. hard to finish her novel. You can learn more about LaTanya and her work at www.latanyalane.com.
Connie Shirakawa
Connie Shirakawa was born at the Mary Thompson Chicago hospital on Ashland Avenue in the near westside neighborhood where she grew up. Her parents Lily Ota Shirakawa and Ichi Shirakawa met in the Jerome Arkansas concentration camp for Japanese-Americans, in the 1940s. She received a degree in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago and then worked as a copywriter at several major Chicago ad agencies, including Leo Burnett. Today, she writes and performs stories for Goodman Theatre's Education & Engagement GeNarrations program, Do Not Submit, Free Street Theatre, Solo Sunday, Backroom Stories, and 2nd Story. She recently completed a writing residency at the Ragdale Foundation. Her show “Warrior Women” has been presented at the Chicago History Museum as part of Asian History month and The University of Illinois Champaign. She most recently performed a shortened version entitled “Riceland” for the Japanese-American Jerome Concentration Camp conference. Her story “Knock, Knock” was featured on NPR's “ Snap Judgement” SPOOKED podcast.
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 850+ 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 850+ 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.