O through R

Achy Obejas

Achy Obejas is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Ruins, Days of Awe and three other books of fiction. Her poetry chapbook, This is What Happened in Our Other Life was both a critical favorite and a best-seller. Her translation, into Spanish, of Junot Díaz’ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao / La Breve y Maravillosa Vida de Óscar Wao was a finalist for Spain’s Esther Benítez Translation Prize from the national translator’s association. She is member of the Editorial Board and a columnist for In These Times, and on the editorial advisory board of the Great Books Foundation. Her most recent book is Immigrant Voices: 21st Century Stories, co-edited with Megan Bayles and published by the Great Books Foundation. Born in Havana, she is currently the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Mills College in Oakland.

Karen O'Donnell

Karen O’Donnell, D.D.S. says she is blessed to tell stories to captive audiences of helplessly mute while her hands are busy doing dentistry. Karen has studied improvisational theatre at Comedy Sportz, has trained with Tony Robbins, and other leaders in the personal development field. She has told stories at Story Lab, Trace Chicago, Stoop Style Stories, Write Now, Chicago Solo Theater and in Flossmoor at the St. John’s 4th of July Ice Cream Social. Karen is also a 'Certified Story Coach'. Passionate about storytelling, she launched HOMEWOOD STORIES to 'bring it back home' to Homewood,,,, to share with and tap into the talent in the south suburbs, northwest Indiana and beyond. — — in Homewood, IL.

Matt O'Leary

Matt O'Leary was born in New York, but he's lived throughout the whole country in his life, typically within a few miles of the ocean. He moved to Chicago six years ago and immediately fell in love and now hopes to remain here the rest of his life. Prior to moving to Chicago he mostly worked on and around large ships, but these days Matt works as a professional watchmaker. When he's not repairing watches Matt enjoys cycling, racing on sailboats, playing with his cat, and telling stories to anyone who will listen.

Kathy O'Neill

Kathy O'Neill has read her short stories and poetry about growing up Irish Catholic in New Jersey at the iBAM! Irish Books, Art and Music Celebration and has read at Storylab, "Is this a Thing" and Jamie O'Reilly's Roots Salon. O'Neill is a writer, journalist, special events producer and publicist. She works for the Irish American Heritage Center and often appears on in the media, such as NPR and the Chicago Sun Times, discussing issues of Irish identity. O'Neill has been a writer for NewCity Newspapers and was the Midwest Correspondent for ABCNews.com. She has also worked for Redmoon Theater, the Democratic National Convention, Nightline, Good Morning America and World News Tonight, with Peter Jennings.

Jeremy Owens

Jeremy Owens is the creator and producer of You're Being Ridiculous, which has a new show coming up on August 16 at Mary's Attic. He has told stories with Lifeline Theatre's Filet of Solo Festival, Story Club, Guts & Glory and The Paper Machete. He's a writer for Oy Chicago and Gapers Block and wants to be Whoopi Goldberg when he grows up.

Susan O'Halloran

Susan O’Halloran has been a story artist since the 1970s and has been covered by such media outlets as PBS, ABC Nightline, The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. About her storytelling skills, The Chicago Reader’s Critic Choice said, “O’Halloran has mastered the Irish art of telling stories that are funny and heart-wrenching at the same time.” Within her own storytelling profession, she has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival and the International Storytelling Center Residency Program and received the 2006 Leadership and Service Award and the 2011 Circle of Excellence Award.
Sue is producer of the Facebook online storytelling festival, StoriesConnectUsAll (formerly the JustStories Festival), which features professionals and everyday people sharing stories of cultural healing and understanding. She is producer of award-winning, multi-cultural television shows, performances and films including Black, White and Brown: Tribes & Bridges at the Steppenwolf Theatre and More Alike Than Not: Stories of Three Americans – Christian, Jewish and Muslim. Sue lives in Evanston, IL and can be found at: www.susanohalloran.com.

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.

Valentina Ortiz

Valentina Ortiz is a storyteller, musician and a writer. Four books and four records show her intense work registering personal and community stories. She has toured Mexico and other countries with her storytelling and music concerts. She was recipient of the Mexico´s Ministry of Culture grant in 2014 for her personal story show called Canción para Omecihuatl, also she was honored with the Golden Cenzontle award for her social involvement through stories, with her nonprofit association Zazanilli Cuentos A.C. She has worked stories and music in different community healing projects for the last 10 years with very good results. As a musician she specializes in Latin percussion and Mexican prehispanic drums, she has played with Salsa orchestras and Big Bands for the past 25 years. Her last recording was the record 100% Xochiquetzal, Rumba y Sabor, with her Salsa music compositions.

Tony Ozzauto

Tony Ozzauto grew up in the south Suburbs of Chicago. While attending Columbia College his instincts told him to leave school and move to California. Where he became News Director of a financial television station and produced 2 local talk shows. He moved back to Chicago after 13 years and quickly got involved in the television production community winning several International Television Awards for producing corporate television programs. At the age of 58 Tony decided to make a career change and enrolled in cosmetology school. After graduating he become a platform artist traveling around the country performing on stage at trade shows and teaching seminars. He is now teaching cosmetology in a western suburb. At the age of 63 Tony made some radical changes in his life. These changes opened up his world which allowed him to see things differently they have opened his mind heart and talents to write and tell stories.

Jim Padar

Jim Padar is a Chicago native and a retired Chicago Police officer. He has been writing as long as he can remember, initially attracting attention as a University of Illinois college freshman with a piece published in The Pier Glass. (U of I at Navy Pier? He must really be old!) Post college he was first published in Flying Magazine, writing about an experience as a student pilot. In 2011 he started a blog (www.OnBeingaCop.org) drawing in part on his experiences as a homicide detective. The blog has logged over 65,000 views from more than 65 countries. Readers tell him he writes cop stories with soul and compassion. While he has trouble remembering where he put his car keys, he somehow seems to recall murder cases from 40 years ago. Most recently he has done memoir readings at the Irish American Heritage Center and is also a two time winner at the Moth StorySLAM.

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.

Kristin Pedemonti

Kristin Pedemonti is an award-winning Cause-Focused Storyteller, Speaker, Finalist in TED Talks Talent Search and published author of three books including A Bridge of Stories: Risking it all to connect classrooms and cultures in Belize. Currently, she serves as one of the highest rated facilitators at the World Bank where she is a Storytelling Consultant and Presentation Skills Facilitator. Kristin has performed and presented on 5 continents in 20+ countries, and was the 1st American accepted to perform in Iran at the Kanoon International Storytelling Festival in Iran. She is the Founder and former facilitator of her volunteer project Literacy Outreach Belize. Kristin donated programs for 33,000 students and taught 800 teachers how to use their own indigenous legends to teach first person narrative writing in their schools. She is a firm believer in the power of story to connect, create better understanding and to heal. Her latest project, Steer Your Story, provides tools and techniques to shift from limiting beliefs to a more empowered and propelling story. A survivor of childhood trauma, Kristin uses her gifts of compassion, curiosity and courage in service to others so they too can steer their story into one of empowerment and fulfillment.

Jennifer Peepas

Jennifer Peepas is a writer, filmmaker, and cinema teacher based at Columbia College Chicago. She has read at Story Club, Story Club South Side, That's All She Wrote, and Guts & Glory, and she writes an advice blog at CaptainAwkward.com.

Melissa Perrin

Melissa Perrin is a co-host of Do Not Submit Evanston, an open mic storytelling night in the Snug at the Celtic Knot. She has told stories at the Laugh Factory, Do Not Submit, Storylab and Story Jam. An ardent teacher, Melissa illustrates through stories and narration while giving seminars, at retreats and on stage. She believes the stories we tell about ourselves can define who we are, for better or for worse. Altering that story can be a powerful tool in living a full life. Melissa is a native of the North Shore. She secretly wishes she had been born and raised in Phoenix Arizona so that she could introduce herself as a Native Phoenician. [She just likes how that sounds.]

James R. Peterson

James R. Petersen gave sex advice to the readers of Playboy magazine for twenty years. USA Today once called him the number one source of sex information in the country. He did stand-up sex therapy on college campuses, wrote about sex when sex was new, and appeared on the David Letterman Show. Once. If you followed his advice, or were injured trying the Chinese Basket Trick, please note that the statute of limitations has run out. He discovered live storytelling last summer, first entertaining match.com dates one dinner at a time, then moving on to whole audiences at Moth storyslams and Do Not Submit.

Mark Piekarz (Musical Guest)

Mark Piekarz is a lyric tenor and pianist who has particular interests in art song, cultural programming and liturgical music. He is an active vocal soloist in the Chicago area, and has sung with some of the finest classical ensembles in Chicago. For the past four years, he has researched the history and repertoire of Polish vocal music, written both in Poland and the U.S. He's presented the fruits of this research in two solo concerts, for which he provided his own translations in the program notes. He's performed with Bella Voce (Chicago), Coriolis (Evanston), Wicker Park Choral Singers (Chicago), Redmoon Theater, and at the Irish American Heritage Center. He's a graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and lives in Logan Square. http://markpiekarzmusic.wordpress.com/

Danielle Pinnock

Danielle Pinnock is currently starring in the world premiere of her solo documentary play, BODY/COURAGE, at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. She just completed a co-starring run in Twist Your Dickens, The Second City and Goodman Theatre’s 2015 comedic holiday production and was also featured in The Second City’s 2015 NBC Universal Break Out Comedy Festival; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 with The Other Theatre Company; and as an understudy in the Goodman Theatre’s By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. Her written work about body awareness has been featured on Buzzfeed and other publications. Danielle Pinnock is a graduate of Temple University and received her MFA in Acting from the Birmingham School of Acting (United Kingdom). She has studied with famed solo performer and documentary theater playwright Anna Deveare Smith, is a 2015 Bob Curry Fellow with The Second City and a 2016 First Folio Fellow with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

Jonathan Pitts

Jonathan Pitts is an award-winning international improv theatre artist from Chicago with over 30 years’ experience. He’s a creator, director, improviser, producer, and teacher, and he’s also the Founder and Executive Director of Chicago Improv Productions. He co-founded the Chicago Improv Festival and produced it for 20 years. He created and produced the College Improv Tournament for 10 years. He was Teen Comedy Fest’s executive producer for 7 years. He’s also the founder and producer of Chicago Podcast Festival for the past 2 years. He has taught and performed internationally in 12 countries, as well as all over America. He’s performed in over 1,250 improvised shows. He has created the improv shows, “The Make ‘Em Ups”, "The Oracle", "The Silent Movie", “Solo Plus One”, “Stopwatch”, and "Storybox Unscripted Theatre". He taught at The Second City for 16 years and he’s a contributing writer to their book on improvisation. He taught story-based improv at Piven Theatre Workshop. He’s also taught at 25+ American cities at regional improv fests and improv theatres. For 3 consecutive years he was selected by New City magazine as one of "Chicago's Top 50 Theatre Players" and he’s been interviewed about improvisation in books, newspapers, online posts, podcasts, radio, and TV.

Angelina Pizzi

Angelina has been a jazz club waitress, internet marketer, commodities pit trader, classroom teacher, high-profile nanny, and parent coach. When she isn’t busy wearing all the professional hats, she enjoys telling stories of love, loss, and overcoming trauma. Even though she hasn't "won" anything related to storytelling, her inner Stuart Smalley reminds her that she's good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like her.

Richard Pniewski

Richard Pniewski is a retired award-winning English and Drama teacher. He also has directed plays for Artcraft Theatre in the Beverly neighborhood and, more recently, for Evergreen Park's Candlelight Theatre. After years of appreciating the storytelling stage at the Fox Valley Folk Festival, he has decided to join the storytelling community.

Anthony Ponce

Anthony Ponce is a veteran Chicago journalist. In July 2016, he received national attention when he announced he quit his job as an anchor/reporter at NBC to become a full-time Lyft driver, and launch the storytelling podcast, Backseat Rider. In his new role, Anthony brings audiences the wide-ranging, hilarious, touching, sometimes bizarre, and always real conversations he has with his passengers. “Listening is a lost art form,” he told CNN. “What I think is missing right now in our national dialogue is aggressive listening.” Anthony graduated from Indiana University and has a Masters in Journalism from Northwestern University. He lives on the North Side of Chicago with his wife, Maggie, and son, Theo.

Phyllis Porché

Phyllis Porché grew up on the south side of Chicago. She is a storyteller, fiction writer, and teacher. She began telling stories to her students as an icebreaker, and then took it to the stage. She is a Chicago Moth winner and has told stories at Literate Ape and First Person Live events. She believes in the power of words and encourages her students to use them wisely. Her secrets to writing are late nights, chunky peanut butter, strong coffee, and writing by hand.

Aaron Potts

An actor, filmmaker, musician, and photographer from Chicago. Aaron was born in Columbia, SC and grew up in Evanston, IL. After graduating from Boston College with a degree in International Studies, Aaron returned to Chicago to pursue acting and film. He has worked in the industry in a variety of roles as an actor, director, post-production manager, and producer.

Molly Powers

Molly Powers is a “mature” transwoman and a recovering lawyer. Not ready to retire she has turned her energy to performing arts as a singer and aspiring story teller not to mention spending time with her adult kids and grandchildren (who still call her Grandpa and that is okay). She has done one woman cabaret performances and is currently studying Italian art songs in addition to coaching boys high school lacrosse for Whitney Young High School. She has performed with Artists Giving Back and is joining their Board of Advisors in the fall. Molly currently focuses her stories on her journey of discovery and transition. Hopefully she will get that out of her system and find some new topics worthy of a good tale. She feels that This Much Is True is like getting a promotion from the Arizona Instructional League to at least Double A ball. She hopes her stories inform, inspire, but most of all entertain.

Rachna Prasad

Rachna Prasad has always been curious about the people around her. After years of striking up conversations with strangers on the el, she discovered podcasts and started mainlining shows daily. After a move to the suburbs, Rachna created an at home storytelling group called "At the Well" followed by her first public show "First Person Live." Today, when she isn't logging carpool hours in her minivan, Rachna is busy co-producing Naperville's only live storytelling show "The People Tree."

Deborah Pratt

Deborah M. Pratt is a significant force in Hollywood. She’s an American Director, Writer, television Executive Producer and actress. She was Executive Producer of “The Net” for USA network, co-Executive producer and head writer on iconic NBC series the Quantum Leap and Tequila and Bonette for CBS. She wrote for multiple television series including Quantum Leap, Magnum, P.I., The Pretender and Airwolf. She made her directorial debut with Cora Unashamed for the BBC, PBS and Masterpiece Theatre's The American Collection. Ms. Pratt is a five-time Emmy nominee, a Golden Globe nominee, and recipient of The Lillian Gish Award from Women in Film, The Angel Award, The Golden Block Award, and Six B.E.N. Awards. From the award-winning series Quantum Leap to the internationally acclaimed Masterpiece Theatre's Cora Unashamed.

Kate Prior

Kate Prior is a classic underachieving overachiever. She teaches cybersecurity basics at the corporate level by day, writes a never-ending novel by night, and paints and draws on the weekends. You can check out her artwork this weekend at the Edgewater Arts Festival, taking place in September. Occasionally, she participates in storytelling events like Is This a Thing?, Serving the Sentence, and Do Not Submit.

Dylan Pritchett

Since 1990, Dylan Pritchett has been a full-time storyteller and currently resides in his hometown in Williamsburg, Virginia. Dylan shared a 13-year relationship as one of a handful of teaching artists in the John F. Kennedy Center’s “Partners in Education” National Touring Program. Dylan is a past President and present Festival Director of The National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc., recipient of the Zora Neale Hurston Award (the highest honored award of NABS), Author of children’s picture book entitled “The First Music”, and Co-Editor of collection of stories written by African American storytellers entitled Sayin’ Somethin’. With this all said, Dylan is most proud of his 32-year marriage to Patricia Byrd-Pritchett and having two wonderful children, Dylan Jr. and Shannan!

Anne Purky

Anne Purky is a renegade mom of an astonishing differently abled daughter now in college! She is active in politics, disability rights, and advocates for the homeless with PADS in Waukegan & Zion. She studied film & writing at Northwestern and the School of the Art Institute and has jumped into the storytelling scene performing at Story Jam, Chicago Dramatists, Truth be Told, Beast Women, Ragdale, Story Lab and others. She resides on the North Shore where she chronicles entitlement with raucous glee! In Janaury, she will perform her solo show, My Michelin Guide to Psych Wards, at The Fillet of Solo Festival.

David Quach

David was born and raised in Sydney, Australia and moved to Chicago in 2010. He has told his personal stories on stages across Chicago, including at the Moth, 80 Minutes Around The World, StoryClub South Side, Back Room Stories, First Person Live, A Book That Changed Your Life, Soul Stories Live and Stand & Deliver, Story Sessions and Story Serenade. During the day, David is a number crunching data scientist. In his spare time he runs, plays in the Chicago netball league, reads nonfiction books and listens to podcasts. He is also a graduate of the improv programs at iO and The Second City. You can follow David on Instagram or Twitter: @QuachDavid.

Gloria Rabil

Gloria Rabil is a writing and storytelling coach and owner of Prose Story Consulting, LLC. Her storytelling journey began with improv. It was a natural transition from improvising narratives on stage to crafting true, personal stories. Gloria spends her days helping writers bring their projects to life or reviving the ones they keep meaning to finish. She is one of the producers of Testify ATX, Austin's longest-running storytelling show.

Carol Ramsey

Carol Ramsey has lifetime license from the FCC to operate a radiotelephone, but instead she writes, performs and teaches the true, personal story. She has performed twenty-eight stories in the past twenty-four months including at Listen To Your Mother and The Moth – London. She teaches storytelling through non-profits including Austin Bat Cave, Girl Forward and A.P.P.L.E.. She builds community at Austin Storytelling and shares her journey at CarolMRamsey.com. She lives with her husband and three girls in Austin, Texas.

Steve Rashid

Steve Rashid is an Emmy-winning composer, a performer, producer, and recording engineer. He is the Artistic Director of Studio5 in Evanston, and the creator and host of “Chicago Jazz Live” on WDCB radio. Onstage, he is most comfortable behind a piano but will be appearing this evening without his usual 1200 pound prop.

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.

Teresa Rawlings

Teresa is a native Nebraskan. She made it to Chicago after a decade in Memphis--where she once met a man on a plane who told her she looked like Elvis, then asked her if she'd like to go to Graceland. She’s been a project manager at a women's research center, a violence against women educator, and now works at a visual note-taking firm. She’s written and performed in two one woman shows and is now delving into storytelling. One of her favorite memories is getting a surprise bump up to first class on a flight from Berlin to Chicago. She found the bathrooms to be roomy and well lit.

Annalise Raziq

Annalise Raziq is a versatile performer, and has worked with renowned playwright Tony Kushner and also played the back end of a dragon. A singer with the Americana band “Annalise and the Backsliders,” she is also a writer and improviser, and used these skills to help create the show “Sisters Rising” with a group of formerly incarcerated women. Annalise is a three-time Moth Story Slam winner and has recently had a story featured on public radio’s The Moth Radio Hour (and available on the podcast). But by far, her most creative act has been raising her amazing daughter Kalila Holt. Lately, she seems to spend an inordinate amount of time tending to her urban cat farm and trapping spiders in her house to take outside.

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.

Victoria Reeves

Victoria Reeves, Writer, Storyteller and Creativity/ Coach, loves to explore 3 questions. Who are you? Why are you here? What is the story you came to tell? Most afternoons you can find her sipping on an espresso, playing with words and happily contemplating the meaning of life. Her funny and reflective stories open the discourse on race, identity, border hopping, creativity and living on the edge. She has performed at Louder than a Mom, Story Lab, This Much is True, Is This a Thing? and Do Not Submit.

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.

Tom Reilly

Tom is an educator, tech non-profit exec, father, and lover of the outdoors. He began his storytelling career in high school to explain his whereabouts to his mom. Tom has since told stories with The People Tree, Let Me Tell You, and Teller's Night.

Hector Manuel Reyes Jr.

Hector is a former improviser and actor who is also a lifetime Chicago resident. He's seen many things over his many years on Earth. Some amazing. Some tragic. Some just plain stupid. But somehow, some way, he has survived. he is a stay-at-home dad currently and lives alongside his wife and beautiful daughter named Daphne.

Tim Rhoze

Tim Rhoze has been the Producing Artistic Director of the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre since 2010. FJT is a professional theatre company, located in and supported by the City of Evanston, focusing on sharing stories, programs and events that are centered in the Black American experience and those of the descendants of the African Diaspora. During his professional career he has performed in, produced, or directed over seventy-five productions, and created dozens of multi-generational and multicultural interactive community programs and events. Tim is co-founder of EPAC, the Evanston Performing Arts Collective, now representing over 15 Evanston performing organizations. His theatrical roots began as a theatre actor in Detroit, Michigan and soon included national work as a film, television, and voiceover artist. Tim has written and co-written several produced plays including Sammy Davis; Why Not Me, Maya’s Last Poem, A Home On The Lake, and Black Ballerina.

Tania Richard

Tania Richard is a Resident Playwright and Associate Artist at Chicago Dramatists. Her award winning plays include Truth Be Told, Happy. Go.Lucky., and Selecting Memory, among others. Two of her monologues are published by Heneimann. She has been nominated twice for a 3Arts Residency. As an actress she has appeared on Broadway and has performed with Steppenwolf Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, and The Second City. Tania teaches in the Film Department at Columbia College.
She will appear for her second season in A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre. Check out her blog Writing My Mind at http://trichard3.blogspot.com/

R.C.Riley

R.C. Riley is a queer warrior woman, writer, performer, and storyteller who began writing as a means of healing after a sexual assault. She has told stories at Tenx9, Loose Chicks, Sappho's Salon, The Plagiarists Salon, Piven Theater, and in her living room to any neighbors and friends that will listen! R.C. honed her writing skills at Chicago Dramatists Theater, and will be debuting her solo show, Wrong Way Journey in May as part of Three Cat Productions' SOLO Chicago Festival. R.C.'s work challenges heteronormative views and seeks to find justice for and liberate those who have felt left out, forgotten, ignored, and unloved by our society.

Marie Ringenburg

Marie is an accomplished storyteller with over 25 years’ experience. Whether funny and frolicking or poignant and pithy, she crafts stories with a directness and simplicity that draws her audience into a sublime and exciting world. She tells stories in song as well as voices folktales, fairy tales, myths, and personal stories. As a professional, Marieperforms for libraries, schools, conferences, festivals, and women’s groups. She’s eager to explore personal stories and delighted to be at TMIT!!!

Wesley Ringfelt

Wesley Ringfelt is a husband to his wife, a son to his parents, a brother to his....brother, and a servant to his dog. He teaches high school English and sometimes people laugh at things he does. He often sees the good in people and really, truly believes he's better at Connect Four and Wheel of Fortune than anyone he's ever met.

Antonio Rocha

Antonio Rocha, a native of Brazil, began his career in the performing arts in 1985. In 1988 he received a Partners of the Americas grant to come to the USA to perform and deepen his mime skills with Mime Master Tony Montanaro. Since then he has earned a Summa Cum Laude Theater BA from USM (University of Southern Maine) and studied with Master Marcel Marceau. Mr. Rocha’s unique fusion of mime and spoken word has been performed from Singapore to South Africa and many places in between including 16 countries on 6 continents. Some of the venues include The Singapore Festival of the Arts, Wolf Trap, The National Storytelling Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institution, The National Geographic, The Tales of Graz in Austria, Dunya Festival in Holland as well as many other Storytelling Festivals and educational institutions around The USA. Antonio has three very entertaining and educational award winning DVDs, a picture book and a few awards including the coveted Circle of Excellence Award by the National Storytelling Network.

Jasmin Rodriguez

Jasmin has been working in film, commercial, and print since 2014. TV includes Chicago Fire for season 5 & 6, as a Stand-in/double for the fierce fire fighter better known as Stella Kidd. She has worked in several independent films, such as Faithful Disappointments, Coffee House, The Eight Hour and the TV true crime series American Greed. Jasmin has also been busy as a commercial actor having appeared on camera in television commercials including regional spots for Honda of Kenosha, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Illinois Lottery and recently completed a print job for Amazon. She completed her training at Second City, Vagabond and is currently looking into comedy. Jasmin is a dedicated actress and hard worker who is constantly looking to improve her talents. She enjoys nature walks by the lake, bike riding, hanging out at libraries, and staying focused and positive to fulfill her dream of one day becoming a successful actor comedian.

Amy Rood

By day, Amy Rood gets paid to do software support for your library. By night, she sleeps. And in between, with no intention of going off the grid or turning into a backwoods doomsday prepper, she develops skills for a post-apocalyptic world. She can cook, compost, and make her own clothes. And she tells stories, which will be especially nice after the apocalypse when all the books have been burned and you need entertainment while you're sitting around the tire fire. Until then, she'll work as a librarian, mix you a mean Old-Fashioned, get a serious ab workout laughing with you (and probably at herself), and hang out with her world-ranked-in-air-hockey spouse and their rescued pets (including the world's most awesome one-eyed cat). And she'll still occasionally show up to tell you stories about her idyllic childhood and all the awkwardness that came after, no apocalypse required. Amy's story of awkward triumphing over sexy has been included on The Moth Radio Hour and The Moth Podcast. And she also regularly decides to do questionable things like shaving her head, not buying new clothes for a year, and trying to overcome coulrophobia; she writes about those adventures on Go Mighty: http://gomighty.com/amyr.

Adam Ross

Adam Ross is a writer, podcast creator, and storyteller at curated shows and Moth StorySLAMs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City (with Chicago coming in June 2017). A two-time Moth StorySLAM winner, Adam performed for a crowd of 1,400 at San Francisco's historic Castro Theater in the April 2016 Moth GrandSLAM, and he will return to that venue for his second Moth GrandSLAM performance in late 2017/early 2018. Adam has been writing and telling both fiction and nonfiction stories since he and his nerdy friends started ditching recess in the 4th grade to create short plays and home movies. For the last two decades, Adam has worked for technology companies in various legal and business capacities, where he has almost mastered the art of cat-herding. Though he doesn’t enjoy long walks on the beach, Adam does enjoy being a part-time science nerd, political junkie, and gay rights rabble-rouser.

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.

Fred Rubin

Fred Rubin, graduated from the University of Illinois in 1972 with a BFA in directing and playwriting. He spent the next three years in Chicago working full time as a social worker and part time as a columnist, stand-up comedian, and jingle writer. He moved to Los Angeles in 1976 and began working full-time in network television. Since 1977 he has served as a writer on fifteen network series and has been producer of such shows as, “Different Strokes”, “Archie Bunker’s Place”, “Mama’s Family”, “Webster”, “Night Court”, “Family Matters”, “Step by Step”, and “Two of A Kind”. His career has included writing sixty episodes of prime time television, ten pilots, and two made-for-television movies. He recently consulted for the Viacom/ Nickelodeon internet content team. He has guest lectured throughout the United States and internationally has taught courses at The American University of Rome and the Danskafilmskole in Copenhagen. In June 2015 he retired from fifteen years as a teacher/lecturer in television writing and screen writing for the UCLA Department of Film, Television and Theatre. Fred was also an instructor for twelve years for the ABC/Disney Writer’s Fellowship and he presently is an ongoing instructor for the Warner Brothers Writer’s Workshop, and the main instructor for the Nickelodeon Writer’s Fellowship. Mr. Rubin lives in California with his wife Marley Sims, a writer and award-winning producer of “Home Improvement”, and “Sabrina Teen-age Witch.” He has a daughter, Naomi, who is an artist, web site designer and coder, Anime book designer and a fixer and translator for film and television companies shooting projects in Tokyo.

Kate Ryan

Kate Ryan is a regional actor and producer with Indigan Storyteller. She has performed stories in Three Oaks, Michigan and northwest Indiana where she lives with her musician husband Perry. Kate has performed at the Acorn Theatre, Lubeznik Art Center, Homewood Stories, 9 x 10, Do Not Submit and the Chicago Fringe Festival. She is also a member of Old World Theatre, an acting company of UIC alumni. Kate will be in the storytelling lineup in May at the Nest in Michigan City.

​Achy Obejas

​Karen O'Donnell