S through V

Joshua Safford

Joshua Safford has been a professional storyteller since 1990. As a screenwriting student in LA he realized he needed to tell a story to sell one and get through a pitch meeting then he realized that he enjoyed telling stories orally rather than visually because it gave him creative control and he got to look into the eyes of his audience. Joshua is a storyteller in the old tradition of folktales and fantasy; personal narrative is new to him but is now on a journey to find where myth and reality cross. For the past twenty years he has been performing his original fantasy stories at Renaissance and faerie festivals across the country including The Arizona Renaissance Festival, Festival of Legends, Spoutwood Faerie Festival, The World of Faeries Festival, Faerieworlds Festival, The Maryland Faerie Festival, The New York Renaissance Faire, The Bristol Renaissance Faire and the Carolina Renaissance Festival. He is also a member of the steampunk storytelling and violin duo the Absinthe Minded Professors. He teaches trickster mythology through magic in the schools. He also has a career as a character magician that he wishes wasn’t eclipsing his career as a storyteller. Joshua has also performed at the Illinois storytelling festival, Starburst storytelling festival and moonlight mystery series. He has four storytelling recordings. Joshua has never performed at the moth or a story slam because reality is not his domain. He’s crossing that bridge and is having a good time losing his way.

Dmitry Samarov

Dmitry Samarov was born in the USSR and immigrated to the US at the age of seven. He’s the author of Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab. He paints and drives a cab in Chicago, Illinois. He hopes to one day be unemployed.

David Santori

David Santori studied improvisation and storytelling at Second City Chicago where he appeared at Second City Sunday Morning Stories. He has performed at venues all over the Chicagoland Area including Here Chicago, The People Tree, Story Club South Side, Homewood Stories, Back Room Stories , The Blackout Cabaret, TenX9 at Uncommon Ground and Kibbetznest, Naperville' Ghost Stories in the Park in the Dark, and is a host at Do Not Submit Homewood. He was also a facilitator in the Cook County Department of Corrections Storytelling Lab before the Pandemic.

Jill Schacter

Jill Schacter is a longtime Evanston resident. Before Evanston she lived in Toronto and before that Thunder Bay, so she has steadily been making her way around the Great Lakes, heading south. Jill does communications for the Evanston Public Library which is great because she gets to go to the library 4 times a week just to do her job. She wants you to know that the Evanston Public Library will be having a storytelling festival during the first full weekend of October. She loves to tell stories and loves hearing them even more. Actually, she loves to write them, the telling is a bit of a stretch!

Jeremy Schaefer

Jeremy Schaefer stays busy most days writing, marketing and performing theater for young audiences. When he’s not serving as marketing director for Imagination Theater he enthusiastically promotes and performs his own original, interactive storytelling assemblies for K-5 students. After school lets out, he shifts focus to older audiences as an improvisor with Laugh Out Loud Theater, a stand up comic, and a writer of plays and sketch shows that have been performed by pH Productions, Big Picture Group and others. He is currently participating in Choosing to Be Here: A storytelling Festival at The Side Project Theatre Company.

Whitney Schaffer

Born and raised in small town Indiana Whitney spent many summer days wrecking her bike and still has the scars to prove it. She’s an advocate for s’mores culture and can often be found with a cup of coffee in her hand. Whitney has always loved writing and storytelling. She’s told stories right here for Story Lab, closed out the night with a tough story at Is This A Thing?, and continues to tell stories every day to anyone who will listen. Her ultimate life goal is to help others feel less alone by telling stories about her life.

Bridget Schank

Rabble-rouser, fundraiser, and storyteller. A former community organizer and lobbyist, Bridget has been telling stories for social change for the past 20 years. She chose to stay home full time when her son, Jack, had a liver transplant in 2011. Bridget is deeply committed to community service and is the President of the nonprofit, Arlington Cares, She loves to travel but hates to pack, played women’s football at Notre Dame and bakes a mean strawberry rhubarb pie. Her husband Tim often warns people of her sixth sense that borders on “witchcraft.” Bridget has performed at First Person Live, Truth Be Told, Soul Stories, Story Sessions, Story Collider, and more. Bridget lives in Arlington Heights with her husband Tim, daughter, Gracie, son, Jack, and her aggressively affectionate golden retriever, Corby.

Cathy Schenkelberg

Cathy Schenkelberg made a recent move back to Chicago from Los Angeles to reconnect with her roots and present her solo piece -Squeeze My Cans! A Midwest Girl’s Journey Into Scientology And Back Out Again. Aside from her success in voice over, Cathy has spent the past two years performing. As Veronica in God of Carnage, Madame Thenardier in Les Mis and most recently Sue Ellen in Honky Tonk Angels. Cathy is very proud to say that she was Pepper the Clown on WGN’s Bozo Show. Now Cathy is picking up the pieces after leaving the cult of Scientology and happily free to express without fear, her story and experiences in the “church.” The church’s logo is “What’s true for you, is true for you.” Well, Cathy finally knows the truth and it ain’t pretty.

Tim Schreiber

For Tim's first mid-life crisis, he got married and had kids. After studying English, Journalism, German, Linguistics, Education, and Library Science, he was a professional librarian for 13 years until he gave all of that up to stay home with his two young children. In addition to hearing and telling stories, his hobbies include playing tennis, reading long history books, and creating spreadsheets for his solar panels. You know, middle-aged dad stuff. Tim discovered storytelling in front of a live audience in 2018, when he finished in second place at two StorySlam shows in a row, caught the storytelling bug, and got involved in other storytelling events around Chicagoland.

Jack Schultz

Jack Schultz is an actor, teacher, and storyteller in Chicago. He’s Artistic Director of Green Shirt Studio and former Artistic Director of The Agency where his solo show I’m Falling In Love All The Time enjoyed a sold out run on Chicago’s off-loop theatre scene. A story exploring opioid addiction through the lens of caffeine and romantic relationships, I’m Falling In Love All The Time travels to colleges and recovery communities to tackle stigma around substance use disorders. He also appears in Season 7 Episode 2 of The Carbonaro Effect where Michael Carbonaro tricked him into believing a viking skeleton tried to attack him at a construction site outside of O’Hare Airport. To find out more about Jack visit jackgschultz.com.

Kim Scott

Kim Scott is a third generation librarian working in the western suburbs. She loves stories, both written and spoken, and believes her life has been saved by the stories others have shared. When she's not booking chefs, storytellers, and subversive cultural programs for her library, she can be found taking long walks, doing improv, or playing with her young son.

Lisa Scott

Lisa Scott is a Chicago-based storyteller and playwright. She most recently has worked with Small Fish Radio Theatre and Thespinarium and is so happy to be able to share a story with you through This Much is True. A native of Washington state, Lisa loves Chicago for its back alleys and tree-lined streets but sure misses the mountains.

Laura Scruggs

Laura Scruggs is honored and thrilled to be co-hosting Do Not Submit with Karen Genelly! Laura absolutely loved performing at Do Not Submit, when it started at Powell's. She has performed her one woman show, "Punk Grandpa," around the country. She is so excited to now have it performed as a multiple character play (at the FRIGID Festival at NYC and at Three Brothers Theatre) and it has recently been published by Chicago Dramaworks. Laura is also working on a commission from Three Brothers Theatre to write the story of Macbeth from Lady Macbeth's perspective, set in the context of the American government; this script will be performed later this year in Chicago and Waukegan. Laura's short play, "Bossy," about her time as a park drama instructor was recently produced by Unity Players in Chicago. She is also working on a documentary about the late Chicago toy store, Uncle Fun and the man behind it, Ted Frankel. She co-hosts a weekly podcast with her husband in which they interview artists of all kinds, entitled "Are You Famous, Yet?" Laura has taught theatre in a variety of environments, from the Chicago Park District to inner city schools to a Jewish community center. She also enjoys faeries, puppets, festivals, hiking, thrift shopping and social justice!

Alina Serban

Alina Serban, a Romanian-native turned Chicagoan, blends her 17-year TV journalism expertise from Romania with a vibrant American storytelling flair. From gracing Eurovision stages to captivating audiences at The Moth StorySLAM, she creates meaningful narratives. As the Chief of Staff at Embrace Living Communities, she champions affordable housing for seniors and individuals with disabilities in Chicagoland.
Alina lives with her husband Matt, their son Daniel, JubJub the iguana, and their fish, Tina 2 and Dingleberry.

Lynda Shadrake

Lynda Shadrake, a long time Chicago actor, teacher, improviser, is happy to add storyteller to that list. She is an ensemble member of Griffin Theatre, appearing in several of their shows and touring extensively with their critically acclaimed show Letters Home and their classic children's show Frindle. In addition to her work with Griffin, she has worked with Steep, TimeLine, Redtwist, and Oak Park Festival theatres. For many years she played Sister in the long running hit Late Nite Catechism and was in the cast of Flanagan's Wake. After graduating from the Second City Training Center a very long time ago, Lynda was enmeshed in the Chicago improv scene for many years. You may have seen her pop up on your computer in a Door Dash ad where she got to ride a Vespa. She retired from UIC last year where she had worked as a standardized patient coordinator in the medical simulation department. (Standardized patients are actors hired to portray patients in health care scenarios for medical student.) She will never retire from acting.

Dhamana Shauri

Dhamana Shauri likes to craft stories that entertain, uplift, and educate. Her goal is to explore the human condition and create images that allow the listener to “see” as well as hear her story. Her career as a teacher has provided her with a world of lively information from which to draw.

Mark Shields

Mark Shields is a Chicagoland native who’s settled in Andersonville after 18 years in Washington, D.C. He works in communications for lefty causes by day, and loves telling and listening to stories by night. He’s appeared in shows in Story District, Outspoken, and Steppenwolf’s “You’re Being Ridiculous.”

Karen Shimmin

Karen Shimmin is the co-host of All Write Already!, the "completely unpretentious" literary podcast. Karen also co-hosts and co-produces Essay Fiesta, a monthly live lit show, which takes place at the Book Cellar on the third Monday of each month. (For anyone who has trouble keeping track of Mondays, the next one is May 19). Karen graduated from Northwestern’s creative writing and theatre programs and has performed around the city.

Anne Shimojima

Anne Shimojima, a retired school library media specialist, now regularly performs in festivals, schools, libraries, conferences, and museums. Anne also gives workshops on the use of storytelling in education and the creation of family history projects. Her family story about the Japanese-American incarceration camps in World War II is available at www.racebridgesforschools.com.

Connie Shirakawa

Connie Shirakawa is a Chicago native who writes, acts, and tells stories about growing up in her parents' rooming house on the westside. She has appeared in many Fillet of Solo Festivals with the Goodman Theatre's GeNarrations program, with Do Not Submit, the film SCUTLY with Women of the Now, Free Street Theatre's production of "Los Milagros" and is a frequent 2ND STORY teller.

Eric Shivvers

Eric Shivvers is a freelance graphic designer who turned to writing in the fall of 2006 when his mother could no longer pick-up the phone due to Alzheimer’s. Eric wrote in a cathartic manner, keeping alive the memories of the good times they shared. What Eric discovered was the Irish rock band, U2, sat in the background, playing the soundtrack to his life. Eric’s recently self-published memoir, I’m a Fan: How I married U2 into my life without going to the altar is the result of his writing journey. Please visit the book’s official web site www.iamau2fan.com and read more about Eric’s mom and his U2 fandom.

Shanna Shrum

Originally from St. Louis, MO, Shanna Shrum is a Chicago based writer, actor and producer whose previous solo plays have been performed in New York, Canada and once in a theatre covered entirely in aluminum foil somewhere in Kansas. When she isn't performing you can find her jogging on the lakefront path or laying on her couch doing nothing. She is very excited to join This Much is True for the first time.

Madhu Shukla

Madhu Shukla is a theatre based facilitator and storytelling practitioner from Bangalore, South of India. Born to multicultural parents and raised in a culture very diverse from her family of origin - she has always tangoed and tangled with themes of identity, home and belonging. A social artist, daughter, wife, cat mom, trainer, counsellor, teacher, entrepreneur, healer- in all of the many roles she inhabits - what she values most right now is riding the tidal polarities of life with gratitude and making space for healing nurturance. Currently, she is based out of Chicago - exploring life, living and being in a new city on a new continent. She savors the famous Chicago winter by tucking into a warm bowl of ramen and staring endlessly into the vast still blues of Lake Michigan.

Ali Siddiqui

Born into a household of over 16 family and extended family members, Ali has grown to love sharing stories across a (very long) dinner table. These family members and the diverse community Ali grew up with on the North Side of Chicago continue to inspire many of his stories today. After graduating from Loyola University, Ali served as a Teach For America corps member where he taught high school Chemistry on Chicago's South Side. Despite his amazing adventures teaching, Ali decided to turn over his snow boots for some sunglasses by moving to California to work on a project for the Gates Foundation. Now, after a one-year-turned-five-year trip to California, Ali is back in Chicago and working remotely as a Learning Design Consultant. He's reconnecting with his Chicago roots and taking on a slew of new projects which including running a nonprofit organization, starting a cheesecake business with his four siblings, and trying to teach his father how to use the remote.

Corky Siegel

Corky Siegel has earned an international reputation as one of the world’s great blues harmonica masters. He is a composer, blues pianist, singer / songwriter, and recent winner of the Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest/Meet the Composer’s national award for chamber music composition and the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award for Music Composition. Mr. Siegel’s career began with a fortunate break when he formed the legendary Siegel-Schwall Band that toured the major rock palaces and clubs in the 60′s and 70′s. He was introduced to the blues through his very first steady engagement at Peppers, where his job included performances with the blues masters themselves, such as Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf. Corky Siegel has 18 recordings and over 35 reissues on: Vanguard, RCA, Alligator and Gadfly Records, and two album projects for the prestigious classical label Deutsche Grammophon (DG). Mr. Siegel’s solo recorded performance of William Russo’s Street Music with Seiji Ozawa and the San Francisco Symphony won the French Government’s Grand Prix du Disque, and received the Recording of Special Merit in Stereo Review for the LP and again in 1988 for the re-released compact disc. Corky Siegel has written and performed works for Arthur Fiedler and the San Francisco Symphony, the Grant Park Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra – for a Kennedy Center performance. His latest symphonic work Blues for a Green Planet – Opus 10 was commissioned and performed with the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago. He also composed “Continuum” with Alwin Nikolias (father of modern dance) and Murray Louis. His music has been choreographed by 5 different international ballet companies and has been used for many national TV specials and motion pictures as well as the 1988 Olympic men’s figure skating competition, the 1997 World Championship skating competition, and three PBS programs – one of which won an Emmy Award in 2002. Mr. Siegel continues to perform as guest soloist with symphony orchestras world-wide, and has continued to perform numerous symphonic collaborations through the years with Doc Severinsen.

Angel Simmons

Angel Simmons is a multitalented artist from Chicago’s south side. She is an author, speaker, runway model, storyteller, blogger at “Love’s Great Design”, president and CEO of The Message, Inc., and the current “Ms. Worldwide Illinois Ambassador” for the Live Out Loud Charity. Angel works with the one of the largest worship arts conferences in the country. She has been featured in books, a print magazine, a gospel cd, and as a guest on both radio and television. Angel is known for her crisp delivery of spoken word, and and gets others onstage as co-host of Do Not Submit: Englewood.

Jonas Simon

Jonas Simon is the author of the wildly popular* blog “Zen and the Art of Waitering” as well as the best selling** book of the same name. A veteran of Chicago’s stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy scenes, he can currently be found performing nightly to crowds of enthralled audience members in downtown Chicago – usually at a chain restaurant that rhymes with “Schmeezecake Factory.”
*according to his mother **currently ranked #242,128 among Amazon.com’s Paid Kindle “Best Sellers”

Kiran Singh Sirah

Kiran Singh Sirah is President of the International Storytelling Center (ISC), prior to his appointment at ISC, Kiran developed a number of award-winning arts, cultural and human rights programs in cultural centers across the UK and Ireland. Recognized for advancing storytelling as a tool for building social empathy and intercultural understanding, he has spoken and led programming at the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, the US Senate of foreign relations, US state department and the Pentagon. Kiran champions his beliefs in the power of human creativity, arts, storytelling and social justice through his advisory role to UNESCO Scotland and as a Rotary Peace Fellow. In 2017, Sirah was awarded the “Champion of Peace” recognition at Rotary International Day at the United Nations in Geneva. Kiran firmly believes Storytelling not only has the power to enrich lives, but it also holds the key to building a conflict free society. Kiran is proud of the fact he won the 2015 badass title of Southern Mr. Biscuit King, and he did so by performing a biscuit poem whilst balancing one on his head.

Jessy Lauren Smith

Jessy Lauren Smith is a Chicago-based writer on her way to LA. She has been an artist-in-residence at Ragdale and Blast Theory, and has told stories with 2nd Story, Story Lab, That Maxwell Bitch, Super Tasty, and giftLIT. She also is a founding member of Living Room Playmakers, a playwright-driven collective that writes plays for unusual spaces and throws great parties. She holds an MFA from Northwestern, in the palm of her hand, for an hour each day. You can find her at jessylaurensmith.com and on Twitter as @fareforward.

Janna Sobel

Janna Sobel is a writer, performer and storyteller. She also supports people of all ages in doing these things at the Second City Training Center, The University of Chicago Lab School and the Old Town School of Folk Music. She is the Associate Artistic Director of Mudlark Theater in Evanston. She also really likes to tell stories, and has been honored to be a featured teller recently with Chicago Slam Works’ Two Sides, The Encyclopedia Show, Essay Fiesta, Real Talk Live and Story Club, and this April will mark her second time performing with This Much is True! Janna also co-produces Here’s the Story on the first Sunday of every month at Stage 773, where everyone is invited to tell, and is presently working on a solo performance about getting sick and then getting well.

Francesca Sobrer

Francesca Sobrer comes to Chicago via Bloomington, Indiana where she was the director and teacher of North Theatre for over 20 years. An east coaster, she is the girl from Nantucket, where there are more stories than limericks. Also an actress, a writer, a semi-retired teacher, Francesca has presented stories for Story Lab, Do Not Submit, Soul Story, First Person Live and is a recent MothStorySLAM winner. Presently she is in rehearsal for Bloomington’s Cardinal Stage production of Ada and the Engine performing the roles of Anabella and Mary Sommerville March 26- April 11.

Carrie Soukup

Carrie Soukup enjoys her days as a family organizer, chore aficionado and cheerleader. Coming from a long line of kitchen table storytellers, she is famous for such tales as, "Dentures", "One Way Street" and "That's my Bathroom Stall." As a young adult, she and a team traveled the country in a van for a year telling The Greatest Story Ever Told. She blogs about prayer and perspective for those who work with children and is writing her first book. On a great day, you can find Carrie knee boarding or training exotic baby birds.

Minton Sparks

Minton Sparks is a wildly original poet, performance artist, novelist, teacher, and essayist. Her appearances range from the venerable Old Towne School of Folk Music to the American Songbook Series at Lincoln Center in New York City. Minton’s books, Desperate Ransom and White Lightning, and her writing have received wide acclaim from NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered and BBC’s Bob Harris Show. She has appeared on stage with Ben Folds, Punch Brothers, John Prine, Jacob Dylan, Rosanne Cash, and country legend Pam Tillis. Minton also teaches a writing/performance workshop at universities and professional organizations across the country.

Mike Speller

For more than 25 years Mike Speller has performed on stage and on camera all over the United States. A skilled improviser and experienced storyteller, Mike also holds a teaching degree in Speech and Theater. Mike would like to share stories with you for an unforgettable ride to the destination of your choice.

Tim Stafford

Tim Stafford is a poet, storyteller, and public school teacher from Lyons, IL. He is the editor of the Learn Then Burn anthology series on Write Bloody Publishing. A former Chicago Poetry Slam Champion, he has performed at poetry festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe as well as on the HBO series Def Poetry Jam.

Johanna Stein

Johanna has worked as a writer, producer, director and actor with Comedy Central, Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, The Oxygen Network, Showcase, The Movie Network, UPN, VH-1, Noggin, CTV, The Family Channel and The CBC. On The World Wide Internets her shorts and public service announcements have been viewed millions of times, and no, not all of those hits are because of her mom. She also created a live comedy show and performed at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. She co-created and produced “Ripe Tomatoes” a sketch comedy show for Carsey-Werner-Mandabach and The Oxygen Network and would like to thank the 17 midwestern housewives who watched it. Oh and did we mention she’s kick-ass funny? You can check her out at: http://www.jojostein.com

Karen Stein

Karen Stein (kindly, gently) criticizes grammar and style in the daylight hours, then tells stories once the sun goes down. She is the founder and creative director of Here:Say Storytelling in Traverse City, Michigan, but tries to dip into the Chicago area (where she grew up) as much as possible to take in or tell stories. Karen has produced shows on behalf of Northern Michigan organizations such as Interlochen Public Radio, the Dennos Museum, Safe Harbor Emergency Shelter, Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, and Up North Pride.

Jane Stenson

Jane Stenson is an experienced storyteller and teacher. Much of her work is in schools helping teachers and students craft and tell their personal stories. Recently, she presented to the U.S. Department of Education on the fundamental nature of storytelling for the Arts for Arts Integration and Literacy 2013. Stenson was admitted to The Kennedy Center this summer 2013 as a Teaching Artist; and is the current Co-Chair of YES! ( Youth, Education, and Storytellers' Alliance for the National Storytelling Network). She has co-authored three books on storytelling in education and two booklets on the Common Core Standards and Storytelling. Jane is now hard at work writing about storytelling and science – trying to figure out how the oral tradition and STEM curricula fit together. www.janestenson.com

Darren Stephens

Darren Stephens makes his living as a full-time freelance actor, voice talent and voiceover coach. His voice has been heard on hundreds of radio and television commercials and his face seen briefly (!) on-camera on Chicago Fire and Chicago PD, and as the commercial spokesperson for Physician’s Mutual Insurance and another thing he’s going to talk about in his story. Darren sometimes can be heard at with his three-part bluegrass harmony comedy group, The Famous Brothers. As an improviser, he’s performed with Baby Wants Candy and the Free Associates and the Second City House Improv Musical Ensemble. Currently he’s performing with the group BLUNCH!, which is made up of skilled improv veterans. BLUNCH! performs on Sunday, April 14th at the Bughouse Theater – learn more at BughouseTheater.com.

Jim Stevens

Jim Stevens studied film and theater in Chicago and Paris. He is currently an artisan, filmmaker and an inconspicuous eclecticist. He still treasures the Most Improved Bowler trophy he received… at age 11. More recent accomplishments include selling a condo in this market, getting the last of his wisdom teeth removed and being at his current job for 14 ½ years. Jim is excited to be a participant in the storytelling community for the first time.

Megan Stielstra

Megan Stielstra is the author of Everyone Remain Calm and the Literary Director of 2nd Story. She tells stories in all sorts of theaters, festivals, and bars, and her writing has appeared in The Best American Essays 2013, The Rumpus, Other Voices, and elsewhere. She teaches writing and performance at Columbia College and The University of Chicago, and her essay collection, Once I Was Cool, is coming spring 2014 from Curbside Splendor.

Dave Stinton

Dave has been writing and performing in Chicago for twelve years, with plays produced at WNEP Theater, the Bailiwick, EP Theater, and the New York International Fringe Festival. He’s a past winner of WNEP’s SKALD storytelling competition, and he wrote “The Banquet of Life,” a now-defunct food column for the online magazine The Simon “The Sound of One Hand Withholding Applause” is a fiction blog he used to update regularly. Perhaps someday he will again. Just in case, here is the address: http://shaxpur.livejournal.com/

Susan Stone

Susan Stone has been a professional storyteller, and teaching artist...for a looong time. She is the Founder and Co-director of the Evanston Public Library Storytelling Festival (coming up in October!). She was as adjunct faculty member at National Louis University, a school librarian, and drama teacher/director, and for many years taught theatre games, improv, and story theatre at the Piven Theatre Workshop. She has performed at museums, festivals, Indian reservations, synagogues and schools around the country as well as in Warsaw, Poland. She is on the Illinois Arts Council Artist’s Roster. Her personal narratives weave throughout dramatic, funny and introspective Jewish and multicultural tales for adults as well as children. Many of her stories appear in anthologies, and she has been honored with awards for her CD's (Parents' Choice Gold, NAPPA Gold , Storytelling World Awards). She loves words. "Oy" is one of her favorites. www.susanstone-storyteller.com

Steven Strafford

Steven Strafford has been in lots of plays. He is the author and performer of Methtacular! It is currently running at Theater Wit in Chicago! Reviews have been awesome, come see why!!! Info: www.methtacular.com or at aboutfacetheatre.org

Deborah Strahorn

Deborah Strahorn has been telling stories for more than 10 years. She believes that Storytelling is the “Voice of Literacy.” In an effort to support children’s language and reading development she presents a workshop entitled Literacy All Around Us. Deborah holds a BA in communications from Northern Illinois University with minors in Theatre and Art. She is a professional storyteller and member of Kuumba Storytellers of Georgia, the Southern Order of Storytellers, Women’s Imaginative Guild of Storytellers and the National Association of Black Storytellers. She currently teachers Storytelling and Acting at Drew Charter School.

Jeremy Strozer

Jeremy was a participant in the original workshop, and a member of Horse 2 Water, the performance group which eventually became This Much Is True.

Jeremy Strozer is a military history buff writing first-person historical flash-fiction of The 20th Century’s War. He trained in international security policy, improvisational acting and story-telling to become a Fulbright Fellow, a Presidential Management Fellow, and work with people around the world to remove unexploded ordnance from war-ravaged countries; stem the flow of the world's most dangerous weapons; and reduce the likelihood of war between the world’s most powerful countries.  Jeremy lives in Falls Church, Virginia with his family where he works to reduce the human cost of war through writing his Threads of The War series.

Lydia Stux

Originally from Ohio, Lydia insists on saying “pop” for “soda,” and pronouncing “roof” with the same vowel sound as “foot,” to the amusement of native Chicagoans. Now retired from an uninspiring career, she has more time to act, sing, write and travel. She helped organize the recent Chicago-Paris Cabaret Connexion, which brought French and American singers together for a week of camaraderie, singing and master classes. Lydia is a newly-minted docent at the Museum of Contemporary Art. After being exiled to the suburbs for several decades, she moved back to the city a year ago, swapping living with twin sons for a quieter existence with her cat, Phantom, who bites.

Gillian Summers

Gillian is Irish, and grew up in Liverpool, where everybody inherited the 'gift of the gab'! She is a recently retired R.N., who has lived in Australia, California, Hawaii, Oregon and now, more recently, Chicago. Realizing she may have more stories than she has years left to tell them, her New Year's resolution is to die trying!

Jill Summers

Jill’s work can be heard with increasing infrequency on Chicago Public Radio and has appeared in Stop Smiling, Ninth Letter, VAIN, and MAKE magazines among others. She has received the Illinois Arts Council Literary Award and is a former Opium Magazine Literary Death Match Champion . You can find her online at www.callingallmonkeys.com.

Amy Sumpter

Amy Sumpter is a stand up comic who can be seen all around town with the Kates at the Book Cellar or The Laugh Factory. She was also one of Last Comic Standing's top 100 comics this last season. When Amy isn't slingling jokes she can also be seen rapping with She's Crafty, Chicago's All Female Beastie Boys Tribute Band. Please tell Jimmy Fallon we would love to do his show!

Marvin Sussman

Marvin Sussman is a WW II veteran born in Chicago and now living in an Elmhurst retirement community with his wife. They have three sons and four grandchildren. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He worked for the International Harvester and Borg Warner Corporations, mostly as an industrial engineer, a so-called “efficiency expert”, an idea which always caused his wife to laugh. Late in his life, he has been cajoled, threatened, and forced by his grandchildren to write a war memoir.

Mare Swallow

Mare Swallow is the founder of the Chicago Writers Conference, a professional speaker, and a former actress and sometime writer who performs at readings all over Chicago. She loves to travel (most recently, to Graceland!) and she makes a mean mojito. If you only visit one of her websites, visit chicagowritersconference.org.

Willa Taylor

Willa J. Taylor has been the Director of Education and Community Engagement at Goodman Theatre for the past seven 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.

Paul Teodo

Paul Teodo is the second ever Chicago Moth Grand Slam champion. He has 2 great sons and a love for writing,theatre, storytelling,music, movies, and hanging out with family, "family" being whoever is willing to hang out with and eat with. He was raised in an Italian family on the south side of Chicago that could not hang together unless there was lots of food and lots of stories. One of his favorite sayings in life is this: "The sign of a truly rich man is not he who has the most, but rather he who needs the least" He trys to keep things simple and focus daily on what is really important. His real job is serving as the Chief Operating Officer of an inner city hospital on the south side of Chicago. The hospital is run by a group of caring and committed nuns from Lithuania.

Ray Teresi

Ray Teresi is a enthusiastic story collector and sometimes storyteller who believes in the power of stories to transform lives. Since entering the Chicago storytelling scene over a year ago, He has enthusiastically lent his support in many ways to the storytelling community and produced a storytelling series called Storytelling: Missionary Style, a charitable event that has some of Chicago’s finest storytellers and takes them beyond the city boundaries to spread their art far and wide. He is the co-producer of Seven Deadly Sins, and the creator of Second Hand Stories. Ray lives in Lincoln Park with his black & white cat Audrey.

Dan Terkell

A lifelong city kid, Dan has been an eyewitness to, and sometime participant in the urban circus that is Chicago since the 1950s. For all his lengthy work life, he's held straight jobs including budget analyst and planner, copywriter, teacher, and CTA bus pilot. A shameless bleeding-heart liberal, Dan also publishes a politically-fueled blog, Hardwired to Reason. Incidentally, that candelabra in the photo is not an optical illusion. It really is implanted in his skull. He believes in spreading the light by being the light (with all due respect to Yoga Bhajan).

Prescott Tolk

Prescott is very funny. So are his jokes. He’s appeared on Comedy Central, The Bob and Tom Show, and TBS. The Chicago Reader declared him a Critic’s Choice and Time Out Chicago dubbed him a “Don’t Miss.” Aside from headlining clubs and colleges across the country, he has performed his one-man show High Jinxed to rave reviews. It was named Best Stand-Up Show at the inaugural United Solo Festival in New York.

Ozzie Totten

Ozzie has claimed Chicago as his home for the past seven years. He's actively involved in 2nd Story, where he serves as a company member and the manager of the podcast program. In his free time, he's a die hard Minnesota Twins fan. Yes, you read that right.

Tony Ho Tran

Tony Tran is a writer and storyteller based in Chicago, Illinois. He's been published in Playboy, Huff Post, and Business Insider -- among other places. Follow him on Twitter @TonyHoWasHere to keep up-to-date with his performances and writing.

Will Tremont

Natasha Tsoutsouris

Natasha is excited to have found the storytelling community and is even more excited to have a bio. She is also well versed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu so if you don’t like her stories, she’ll choke the hell out of you.

Diamond Tucker

Diamond has found herself with many stories to tell. She’s even made a career of listening to others’ stories as a therapist. Her first foray into storytelling was through writing and performing original music. She has traveled the world collecting diverse perspectives and stories. Diamond has recently started using live storytelling as a new creative outlet and looks forward to continuing her storytelling journey.

Diggsy Twain

Mr. Diggs is a dreamer that envisions a world where people are more empathic by understanding each other. He believes storytelling is a powerful tool to help people understand each other. So, he is on a mission to share his experiences on both the north and south sides and hopefully other will join in and share their stories.

Kimberly Vanbiesbrouck

Kimberly Vanbiesbrouck is an actor, dancer, singer, writer and most importantly, a Mom to a brilliant up and coming Theatre/Directing Major at Ithaca College...go figure! She’s a Belgian girl raised in Detroit, but thanks to her highly useful Bachelors degree in Theatre and Dance, she has appeared in numerous productions across this great land of ours; from A Chorus Line, Forbidden Broadway, Always, Patsy Cline, Motherhood, the Musical, to the long running, highly successful and all too relatable show, Menopause, the Musical. Kimberly has been fortunate enough to be apart of story telling events all around the Chicagoland area; such as, Filet of Solo, Chicago Story Sessions, Voicebox, Homewood Stories, Miss Spoken, Art Inspired Live Lit and Louder Than A Mom. She is thrilled to be making her debut at This Much is True!

Michael Van Kerckhove

Michael is a Chicago-based writer & performer and the current Artistic Director of NewTown Writers’ performance arm. He has appeared in and co-produced several installments of NTW’s performance series (Working Stiffs, Solo Homo, etc.). He has also presented work with Story Lab Chicago, Essay Fiesta, Story Club, and Blue Moon Studio Theatre’s Solo in Blue series. He is slowly but surely working on his full-length solo show, Battles With Boys. Check out his stuff at www.michaelvankerckhove.wordpress.com

Shamontiel Vaughn

Shamontiel Latrice Vaughn is a full-time, freelance copywriter, editor and journalist on Upwork. The Chicago native has 15 years of journalism experience (including the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Defender); 13 years of editing experience and 11 years of digital experience. When she's not reading, writing or editing, Shamontiel is a professional dog walker for Wag and a three-time officer of a Toastmasters group.

Maria Vorhis

Maria Vorhis is a writer/performer, teaching artist, filmmaker, and human. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a B.A. in Theatre Arts where she was introduced to the wonderful world of clown, which has become the guiding force of her creative work. She tours her one-woman show “Are You There, George?” through living rooms, and in 2014, was awarded “#1 Newbie of MN Fringe” by vita.mn. Film credits include web series, “Sad Dad” and feature film, “These Hopeless Savages,” for which she was awarded Best Supporting Actress by The Wild Rose Film Festival. In June of 2016 she wrote, produced, and acted in a short film, “Sexpert Franzen.” Maria currently teaches improvisational storytelling to seniors with memory loss and co-hosts Do Not Submit in Albany Park, a storytelling open-mic the last Monday of every month. You can read about her clown, Petunia, on her blog, hands and feet, in which she documents Petunia's adventures driving around Chicago. www.mariavorhis.com