JANUARY 2011 (Inaugural Show)
Angela Benander
Angela Benander was born in a blizzard on Groundhog’s Day. She is the oldest of six kids but is only biologically related to one of them. Raised in a tiny town in Northern Michigan, Angela moved to DC after college and spent ten years working on Capitol Hill. In 2007, she was so fed up with politics she moved to Chicago at the height of winter, and has been recovering here ever since. She is working on a novel and lives in Uptown with her cat Odin.
Regan Davis
Regan Davis is an improviser, actor, and director originally from St. Petersburg, Florida. He has performed at the Chicago Improv Festival and Chicago Sketchfest, Miami Improv Festival, and directed groups in Florida, Chicago, and for a number of festivals. He was the 2010 winner of the SKALD Maelstrom improvised storytelling competition, and is a contributing writer for Top Story! Los Angeles.
Kevin Gladish
Kevin Gladish is thrilled to be part of this first launch of StoryLab & humbled to be counted among such talent! Kevin is an actor who has worked around town with companies such as WNEP, New Leaf, Griffin, Steep, and Timeline theatres to name a few. Kevin has just started getting up the courage to tell his own stories in front of people. He was last seen as part of WNEP’s Frequency at Transistor, as well as The Moth, where he won the Story Slam in October. Thanks to Scott for letting him be a part of this, and to his amazing family and friends for their encouragement and support.
Erin Payton
Erin Payton earned a BA in Creative Writing at U of I Champaign-Urbana; it was there that she discovered improv. She moved to Chicago to study at iO Chicago, where she has taught, coached and performs weekly with Carl & The Passions. She also improvises with Homey Loves Chachi and Cheetarah. Erin wrote and produced the musical Rising from the Crashes in October 2009 and produced and wrote four stories for the storytelling show Holiday Punch in the Face at iO Chicago in December 2010. Erin thanks her friends, family, her husband Roger, and Rocky and Baby for their continued support.
J.H. Palmer
J.H. Palmer is a secret writer who has lived in Chicago since pretty much forever. Her writing has appeared in Gapers Block, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, Babble, and Christopher Street. Her superpowers include the ability to name any song that was 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 speak to housecats. You can keep up with her on her blog, Buttered Noodles (www.buttered-noodles.blogspot.com).
Michael Van Kerckhove
Michael Van Kerckhove 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 Club, Essay Fiesta 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. www.MichaelVanKerckhove.wordpress.com
FEBRUARY 2011
Dominique Lewis
Dominique Lewis is new to the storytelling scene, but very excited to share her stories. She’s been in Chicago for about the past five years and loves it. Dominique has worked in the improv scene in Chicago for the past few years and currently performs with the lovely ladies of Valid Hysteria across the city.
Jenna Marotta
Jenna Marotta is an improviser who writes, most recently for Chicago magazine and timeoutchicago.com. Her journalism school thesis was called “Lady and the Tramp Stamp: The Stigma behind Lower Back Tattoos,” and she once played an extra on Saturday Night Live named Eileen Dover.
Eric Paskey
Eric Paskey has been an ensemble member with BackStage since 2006. He is a graduate of Kent State University and the ImprovOlympic training center. Credits with BSTC include Denise Druczwski’s Inferno (Phil Ligras), The Skin of Our Teeth (Telegraph Boy), Medea (Son), and The Ruling Class (Dinsdale). Eric has also had the pleasure of working with the National Theatre for Children, Collaboraction, Signal Ensemble Theatre, Dramatis Personae, Rubicon Theater Project, Halcyon Theatre Company, Arts/Lanes, and New Leaf Theatre. He is a devoted fan of Cleveland’s professional sports teams and a pitcher for the Second City and iO softball teams. Little known fact: as a child, Eric had Who Framed Roger Rabbit completely memorized! Completely memorized.
Craig Rennak
Craig Rennak is a Chicago based improvisor. Currently he primarily works with ComedySportz and the Playground Theater and has twice competed in WNEP’s Maelstrom improvised storytelling competition. His great american novel is stuck at page 2, his one-man-show had no dialog, and this will be his first time telling a prepared story for an audience. He hopes you enjoy it.
Cynthia Shur
Cynthia Shur grew up on the West Coast, moved to the East Coast, then split the difference and settled in the Midwest. She is an actor & improviser who spends her work days in the mysterious back room of the DePaul University Library. Cynthia is excited & thankful to have an opportunity to share her work with Story Lab, and often thinks fondly of her college writing teacher, Olga Broumas, even when she isn’t writing enough.
Merrie Greenfield
Merrie Greenfield is more pleased than you know to be performing for Story Lab. She’s performed original pieces for The Neo-Futurists, Mortified, the Moth, Beast Women, Sweetback Productions, Hell in a Handbag, WNEP, and others. She is the Michigan 2010 Maelstrom champion, WNEP’s improvised storytelling competition, and first to be crowned in the middle of a tornado. Mostly, she’s an actress, which is somewhat easier, existentially. Check out the entirely bad-ass “Write Club” at the Hideout in March, and “Lighthousekeeping” at the DCA Theater this Summer, pleaseandthankyou. A proud NY native, she uses an Arizona driver’s license. It’s got a 2037 expiration date. Seriously.
MARCH 2011
Michelle Conrad
Michelle Conrad is a patented software designer/wanna-be storyteller. She has ZERO storytelling experience but has been inspired by the many incredible storytellers she has heard across various venues in the city and finally decided to throw her hat in the ring. This will be Michelle’s first, and likely only, story in Chicago, as she will be leaving this great city at the beginning of April to head to the SF Bay area.
Erin Elizabeth Orr
Erin Elizabeth Orr is tickled to be playing storyteller this month! She has been lucky enough to work with the Right Brain Project on such productions as “Chalk”, “And They Put Handcuffs On The Flowers”, “Put My Finger In Your Mouth” and “The Modern Prometheus” and is currently in production with “My Filthy Hunt”. She has also been seen in multiple productions with The Factory, Speaking Ring Theater, WNEP Theater, InFusion Theater, Per Diem, Point of Contention Theater, Silent Theater, Bootstraps Comedy Theater, and most recently in The Mammals’ “Seven Snakes”. She was also lucky enough to play with Don Hall and Joe Janes in this year’s Sketchfest 2011! Originally from Texas, she spent time as an acting intern at Milwaukee Repertory Theater before making her move to the Windy City. Her next projects will be working on the second installment of The Nine and Joe Janes’ 50 PLAYS PROJECT. Thanks to Scott for this opportunity! Xo
Lisa Scott
Lisa Scott is former business reporter who now tries to write only for fun and shock value. She has performed personal stories for New Town Writers’ Group and the Estrogen Fest, while her plays have been developed by Stage Left Theatre and Stockyards Theater. Lisa formerly was a member of the improv group Valid Hysteria.
Tom Wolferman
Tom Wolferman majored in English with the dream that he would someday be hired as a retail copywriter to promote overpowering fragrances for men. It set the tone for a provocatively scented career. As a freelancer writer, he has since marketed surgeon’s gloves, pinball machines, cement and other less glamorous products. His humor has appeared in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Reader. Tom once applied for a custodial job as a “Mopper” because the position was misspelled as “Moper.” (Honest.) Although highly qualified, he wasn’t hired. www.tomwolferman.co
Adam Ziemkiewicz
Adam Ziemkiewicz continues to mine his experiences as a former dogwalker, mime, baker, religion teacher, office cleaner and personal driver for a sex therapist, among his countless jobs both odd and soul-stirring. A current ensemble member with Theatre Momentum, he will be directing Emotives at The Apollo Theater Studio in April. When not looking for permanent employment — Benefits? What are those? — he continues to mold a children’s adventure story he is certain will make you glurb.
APRIL 2011
Bente Engelstoft
Bente Engelstoft grew up in the tepid suburbs of Houston, TX. At the ripe age of 14 she was shipped off to Denmark for boarding school for undisclosed but surely lewd reasons. She received her BA in theatre at the University of Glasgow. While in Scotland, she formed her first company, I Must Admit Productions and had the pleasure of working and performing with Palazzo Theatre. Improvised and devised theatre beckoned her to Chicago where she has studied with Second City and IO. Bente can currently be seen performing with the improv troop High Sobriety and improvised theatre ensemble Theatre Momentum.
Alice Kim
Alice Kim is a cultural organizer, writer and activist. She is the director of The Public Square, a program of the Illinois Humanities Council that creates spaces for public conversations. She blogs about adventures in activism, culture, and every day life on her site, Dancing the Dialectic. She has worked closely with prisoners and their family members to abolish capital punishment and to end torture with impunity in Illinois and nationwide. She also teaches as an adjunct for the Gender and Women’s Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago and serves on the editorial board of In These Times and the advisory board of the Children and Family Justice Center.
Conrad Lawrence
Conrad Lawrence is a novelist, screenwriter, playwright, short story writer and visual fine artist who did time in a corporate bank for the crime of making a bad life decision. He’s on parole now at a job development agency. Conrad is also a visual fine artist who does surreal mixed media of digital and photography, as well as a fine arts photographer.
CJ Leavens
CJ Leavens is so happy to be telling a part of her story for the first time via Story Lab. CJ owns and on-line Vegan Baking company called The Leavening Bake Shop, www.theleavening.com. She can be seen as a catholic nun, Sister Mary Marzipan, in Hubris Production’s group: Cabaret H. Also, CJ is a proud cat lady who enjoys a good mixtape. Thanks to Scott and the Story Lab crew for all of the wonderful encouragement.
Matt Ulrich
Matt Ulrich is very excited to be a storyteller this month! He first moved to Chicago after leaving the US Army in 2007. He regularly performs in theatres throughout Chicago, but calls the Annoyance theatre his home. Ask him anything, and he will give you an honest answer!
Paul Whitehouse
Paul Whitehouse, Programming Manager of 2nd Story, is a Chicago based theatre artist and has performed with Chemically Imbalanced Comedy Theatre, Improv Playhouse Touring Company, Redmoon Theatre, The Morris Brothers Educational Tour, and Theatre Momentum. His one-man show, ½ Caf Chronicles , was produced as part of Redmoon’s First Annual J.O.E. Festival at Belmont Harbor in fall 2010. He has taught Shakespeare and improv at Traveling Players Ensemble in the woods of Virginia, helped young Chicago actors script their stories in the loop at Goodman Theatre with the General Theatre Studies Program, and has been a guest teaching artist at Dexter High School in pure Michigan. He is also a proud Kalamazoo College graduate.
MAY 2011
Theresa Ohanion
Theresa Ohanian was born a nomad and just by chance found her feet in Chicago about a year and a half ago. An actor, improvisor and teacher who studied at Emerson College in Boston, Theresa will be making her storytelling debut with Story Lab. She is not sure she is interesting yet, but finds other people endlessly fascinating. When she is not crashing her bike or doodling, she is working on creating the perfect theatre in her head (which you are all invited to, by the way, when she wins the lottery). You can see her perform with Theatre Momentum at the Apollo Theatre or leading the TUTU Workshop, a home for wayward artists, on Tuesday nights. You should stop by. Thanks for listening!
Peggy O'Neill
Peggy O’Neill was born a poor white child, and now is a poor white middle-aged woman. She was an un-supermodel in her youth, in addition to 50 million other jobs. She studied improv back in the dinosaur ages at 2nd City. She currently does voice-overs, ‘middle-aged’ modeling, commercials, and most anything else someone will pay her for…well, almost anything. She started writing workshops with Arlene Malinowski about a year ago. This is her 3rd time performing a story for an audience, at least an audience that wasn’t cornered by her at a dinner party or drunken barbeque.
Aaron Pagel
Aaron Pagel is a semi-new transplant to Chicago from Los Angeles, where he was pursuing a career in stunt work. Currently, he works for Groupon as a Quality Assurer and is excited to talk about horrific things that he’s done instead of actually doing them.
Timothy David Rey
Timothy David Rey–is a Chicago-based writer/performer whose plays and performance pieces have appeared at Scott Free’s HOMOLATTE, THE CHICAGO CALLING ARTS FESTIVAL and STRAWDOG THEATER’S Hugen Hall Cabaret–as well as other venues—since 1996. He has been interviewed by WBEZ’s (Chicago Public Radio) Nick White (‘Hello Beautiful’) and Jason P. Freeman (chicagopride.com). His writing has appeared in After Hours: A Journal of Chicago Writing & Art, national magazine, Black Child and in the e-zine SWELL as well as on WBEZ’s Amplified Series. Timothy’s current on-going body of work is entitled: Upon The Threshold: New Plays and Performance Pieces for Multicultural Casts and Actors. Learn more about Timothy and his work on Facebook or contact Timothy by email at: [email protected]
Jon Sales
Jon Sales is a current (and past) Theater Momentum ensemble member with this season’s shows happening at the Apollo Theater Studio. Originally from Pennsylvania, he was an improviser and a founder of the Philadelphia Improv Festival (now in its 8th year!). Jon has been inspired by the many storytelling events around the city (particularly This Much Is True) and looks forward to sharing. Jon wishes to thank his wife Diane as well as
family and friends, fellow storytellers, oh and Scott and Story Lab crew for their encouragement and support.
family and friends, fellow storytellers, oh and Scott and Story Lab crew for their encouragement and support.
Audery Naomi Smith
Audery Naomi Smith is a Chicago native, whom currently resides in Bensenville, IL. Her humble beginnings as an aspiring writer came at the age of 9 when she won her first (of four) Young Authors’ Award. She is currently a Theater: Acting major with a minor in Playwriting at Columbia College Chicago. Audery was recently in Post Mortem under Don Hall of WNEP Theater. She is the recepient of Columbia’s Fresh Play Prize for Love Song Vignettes, a play she wrote. Audery can be seen in one of Joe Janes’ Fifty Plays directed by Rebecca Langguth.
JUNE 2011
Rachel Bierma
Rachel Bierma grew up all over the east from MI, NC, GA, FL, AL, IL, NH, and back to IL. She has a degree in Marketing and minor in Logistics with a side concentration in Art, and has had various careers in sales, operations, law, and local government. Currently, she works part time for two different law firms in the west loop and is trying to grow her jewelry business recycling leather in her spare time. Rachel has a passion for “weird” encounters, which is why storytelling appeals to her.
Eric Bjorlin
Eric Bjorlin grew up in Ohio but ventured west (to Chicagoland) for college, then left to live the life of a nomad for 4 years before returning last summer. In his short (but getting longer) life, he’s worked as a paperboy, bank teller, camp counselor, math teacher, lifeguard, and recruiter, among other jobs. He currently works on the education team at Active Transportation Alliance, advocating for more and better walking, biking, and transit in the Chicago area. He attempts to write daily (though rarely succeeds) and has performed a few pieces at open mics and student shows in various capacities.
Amanda Cohen
Amanda Cohen did Second City Conservatory, ComedySportz U, Annoyance classes, and a bunch of teeny improv and sketch groups you never heard of. She makes a living as a face painter and a PowerPoint specialist, doing just enough of each so that she won’t get bored with the other. She also sometimes plays JoAnne Worley in a local live game show. Back in her pre-Chicagoan era, she was a stand-up comedian. She’s mostly over that now.
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.
Hector Reyes
Hector Reyes has been in and out of the Chicago Improv scene since 1998 and has performed in such venues as iO, Second City, The Annoyance Theatre and The Playground. He recently took up acting and was trained in the Meisner Technique by Kathy Scambiatterra at The Artistic Home. He has also trained in Mime with The Mime Company under Amanda Brown as well as clown with 500clown under Molly Brennan. He was in the award winning short film “At Last! Okemah” and is in preproduction for the film “The Catastrophe“. His life is much more exciting when you put it that way!
Shane Skeldon
Once upon a time, Shane Skeldon was in a creative writing program. He had very good teachers. But Shane was an irascible sort, and he was asked to leave. He was left with this advice: Get out of school and into the world … wait tables, meet people … the stories will come. Shane hopes they’re starting to arrive.
JULY 2011
Beth Cummings
Beth Cummings can most often be seen sewing funny pillows and otherwise being surrounded by fabric and thread. Since she spends her days talking to no one but her dog, being in front of a room full of strangers and telling her secrets should fulfill her quota of human contact for a week or so. So thanks for that. Oh, and she makes a mean lasagna.
Amy Gorelow
Amy Gorelow is an actor, musician, and preschool teacher. Six years ago, she moved from Atlanta to Chicago, where she feels much more comfortable. She’s a member of Piccolo Theatre in Evanston, has been a pirate clown at Navy Pier, and played bass in the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics. See more at amygorelow.com.
Jerrod Howe
Jerrod Howe is a transplant to Chicago and new to storytelling. He comes from a comedic and stage production background, as well as a life lived in service. He believes he has found his home in Chicago and finds new ways to contribute and thrive amongst the artistic community. He wants to improve his writing ability and believes storytelling is the next step towards finding his true artistic voice.
Mary Lorenz
A New Orleans native and Saints fan by default, Mary Lorenz’s decision to move to Chicago four years ago was influenced largely by a desire to try something new and minimally by a craving for Rainbow Cone. By day, Mary is a copywriter in the sexy, exciting and sometimes dangerous world of B2B marketing. By night, Mary dabbles in improv, sketch and stand-up comedy, and has performed around town at venues such as Lincoln Lodge, Cornservatory, The Playground Theater, The Annoyance and Second City. Today, she can be seen performing regularly at Chemically Imbalanced Comedy with the house team A Dozen Red Roses or as a cast member with Laugh Out Loud Theater in Schaumburg.
Michael McCauley
Michael McCauley edits financial modeling research papers for a living. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Clackamas Literary Review, DIAGRAM, Eleven Eleven, and Painted Bride Quarterly.
Casey Pilkenton
Casey Pilkenton is pretty geeked to be here. A transplant from rural Georgia, she does her best to hide her southern accent unless she’s drinking. Casey is currently an employee at the Second City, co-hosts the web talk show “Pop Culture Shock.” Visit the PopCultureShockShow channel on YouTube to check it out. She performed throughout the south and (somehow) Las Vegas, Nevada before bringing her nonsense to Chicago. Casey’s most recent project, her original one-woman show Trapped in a Box, was just produced at CIC. Passion for the written word was evident early on in her life. Her first song, “If You Have Love, You’re Rich, If You Have Money, You’re Poor,” was a hit among her 2nd grade classmates. Here’s hoping this material has a bit more substance! Many thanks to Scott for this opportunity, family members for their dysfunction, and you…for your ears.
AUGUST 2011
Rhiannon Koehler
Rhiannon Koehler is an actress, writer, and student at Loyola Marymount University in LA. Recently, she has studied at the London School of Economics, where she worked for Graham Allen MP. She has been published multiple times in the Parliamentary Press and Nottingham North News and is a staff writer for the Los Angeles based social justice magazine, “Passion.” This summer she has been focusing on voiceover and her work with Steep Theater. She is very excited to be a part of storytelling in Chicago.
Willy Nast
Willy Nast graduated from Northwestern University, where he studied creative non-fiction. He loves beer, boxing, and greyhounds, though not necessarily in that order. He updates (far too infrequently) his own blog about writing at trustmeimawriter.blogspot.com. His greatest accomplishment is being the only Willy Nast on Facebook.
Maggie O'Keefe
Maggie O’Keefe would not deem herself as a storyteller. With a B.A in Theater however, Maggie finds it necessary to find many more ways to express herself. Maggie has been to Black Rock before and thoroughly enjoys their burgers – try one. Instead of listing off the things she may be working on right now, she wants to thank you for listening and she hopes it was super enjoyable.
Marie Scatena
Marie Scatena is a second generation Chicagoan who appreciates stories about growing up especially with teenagers who ask why questions. Her years at the Chicago History Museum included the gift of working with Studs Terkel. Marie is learning to be a better listener and teaches oral history at Columbia University in New York.
Dustin Sharpe
Dustin Sharpe is an improviser, actor, and singer residing here in Chicago. Mr. Sharpe started performing in South Florida in the late nineties. Dustin was a founding member of Mod 27 productions in West Palm Beach and with them has performed at numerous improv festivals around the continent. He went to Palm Beach State College when it was known as Palm Beach Community College on a theatre scholarship and figures the name change allows them to receive more money from the government. Good for them. Dustin has completed the training program at IO and has performed sketch and improv at numerous theaters around Chicago since arriving in 2009. His last two recent shows, Emotives and Triens has been the more rewarding work he’s done in years. This will be his first attempt at telling a story to people forced to listen to him.
Eva De Souza
Eva De Souza returned to the Greatest City in the World in 2007 after living and working abroad for several years. Thinking that her riotous life on three other continents might make good reading, she completed an MA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University in June 2011. During the course of her studies, Eva discovered that she preferred writing fiction, but will dig through her sordid memory file for something to tell at Story Lab. Unlike many SL participants, Eva is not funny. She rented an apartment in the same building as Del Close one summer and waited tables with Stephen Colbert when she was a toddler, but, alas, their talent didn’t rub off on her.
SEPTEMBER 2011
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.”
Philip Buuck
Philip Buuck has long been interested in the way people turn their lives into stories they tell. Born in Indiana, Philip studied theater in New York City and is currently improvising with the groups Hugs and Pullups here in Chicago. He is also the host of the podcast So Far So Good, which asks its guests for the biggest decisions they made in the narratives of their own lives. http://sofarsogoodcast.com When not performing Philip is probably helping one local business or another with their web design and internet marketing needs. His goal is to be as widely traveled and well fed as Anthony Bourdain, though he wonders if he will be able to visit the Caribbean and convince himself to leave again. He has a wonderful girlfriend that supports him and all his crazy ideas, and whom he loves very much.
KT Lark
KT Lark is a Pittsburgh native who has spent most of her life in Chicago. In addition to studying improv at Second City and iO Theater, she is a graduate of Clarke University in Dubuque, IA. KT is a member of the Gorilla Tango Theatre improv teams Carlos Santana and Candy Hand. She can also be found giving tours in her role as a docent at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. KT is very excited to be making her storytelling debut at Story Lab. Finally a chance to write down and tell a coherent story instead of rambling on to anyone who will listen! She would like to thank R.A.M. for being her own personal storyteller.
Katie Pryor
Katie Pryor is a member of Serendipity Theatre Collective and the resident nunchuk skills expert. She currently serves as a producer of 2nd Story and can be found lurking in the corners at shows and bossing people around. After producing numerous shows, she is finally taking the leap into storytelling and hopes she doesn’t royally suck at it. Many thanks to Scott and the whole StoryLab crew.
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.
Michelle Renee Thompson
Michelle Renee Thompson grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where she received a BFA in Theatre Performance from Otterbein College…Yeah, you know…one of those degrees that guarantees a fast track to the big bucks! Since moving to Chicago in1992, She has performed with several different theatre companies, including: Chicago Actors Ensemble, Touchstone Theatre and The Bailiwick Repertory. She is a founding member of Corn Productions, where she has performed, directed, choreographed and written several plays. She also performs stand up comedy, improv comedy and has appeared in a few independent films and commercials. Michelle can currently be seen as “Sister” in “Sunday School Cinema” at the Royal George Theatre and as “Oprah” in “Oprah! A Comedy! Live Your Best Laugh” at the Annoyance Theatre.
OCTOBER 2011
Dennis DiClaudio
Dennis DiClaudio is the News Editor of Comedy Central’s Indecision website and the author of four nonfiction humor books, including The Hypochondriac’s Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases You Probably Already Have and Man vs. Weather: Be Your Own Weatherman. He has been living in Chicago for the past two years with his wife Gipsy Escobar, who is named after a Hungarian waltz, and his dog Hazel-rah, who is named after a rabbit.
Amanda Dodge
Amanda Dodge was born in Mississippi, but spent 19 years growing up in southern Louisiana. No, she’s not from New Orleans, but did live in a haunted house there for a summer. And she wasn’t affected by the hurricane Katrina, but lived through plenty of others. She graduated from the University of Louisiana (Lafayette) with a Bachelors in Fine Arts, has done stand-up comedy in Lafayette and Baton Rouge, and wrote sketches for different shows around the area. Amanda moved to Chicago in 2004, and has performed at The Annoyance Theater, worked as an actress and stage manager at Raven Theatre in Edgewater, and helped to bring Chicago its first two Fringe Festivals.
Miles Horton
My name is Miles Horton. I am a 44 year old attorney. I live in Evanston with my first wife. We were both reared in Evanston. My favorite joy and well-being activities are social and competitive West Coast Swing dancing, and skateboarding in concrete skateparks. My story is about my father. He died in Evanston on New Year’s Eve of 2009. He was ninety years old.
Rebecca Kling
Rebecca Kling is a Chicago-based artist interested in exploring the performance of identity. Her multi-media productions – composed of storytelling, video, movement, playful skips and jumps, enlightening self-discovery, accusatory glances, awkward pauses, and more – question gender, self-expression, and what it means to be at home in one’s own body. Rebecca has performed her material at The Athenaeum Theatre with New Suit Theatre Company, Temple Gallery, Fringe Festivals in Chicago, Kansas City, and Indianapolis, at Links Hall, Roosevelt and Northwestern Universities, About Face Theatre, Center on Halsted, with Caffeine Theatre at the DCS Storefront Theatre, and elsewhere across the Midwest. She has been praised by The Chicago Tribune, TimeOut Chicago, Newcity Stage, and Centerstage Chicago, and more. Rebecca has been a recipient of the Chances Dances Critical Fierceness grant, and regularly speaks at high schools and universities across Chicago. A graduate from Northwestern University’s Department of Performance Studies with an Adjunct Major in Animate Arts, Rebecca Kling is also an instructor at the Piven Theatre Workshop, on the Pride Films and Plays board of director, and a syndicated blogger with BlogHer.
Paulette McDaniels
Paulette McDaniels has more then 25 years of experience in the arts. She is the author of A Deathly Silence commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services for World AIDS Day. Ms. McDaniels has served as a community organizer in the Middle East, Europe and America. The grandmother of two, she studied at Northwestern University and Yorkshire College in the UK. She is co-author of Achmed’s Return: Legend of the Lost City, and is currently working on a Christian comedy, 10 Plagues.
Erin Pieschke
Erin Pieschke is a Nebraska native who has lived in Chicago for the past two years. A senior site specialist with Fisher Scientific, her outside interests fall to more creative endeavors. She enjoys acting, improvising, comedy writing, and crocheting things that are flat. She’s really good at making scarves. You can see her (backside) in the upcoming Samwell video, “Just Be Free”.
NOVEMBER 2011
Kevin Dolan
Kevin Dolan is an improviser around the Chicago area. Having studied at iO, he was recently featured in the Inertia Series run with Theatre Momentum. He has also performed in the Rocky Horror Picture Show with the Catalyst Collective. He can currently be seen playing with the improv groups High Sobriety and Cool Dancing Turkeys.
Noah Ginex
Noah Ginex is an artist, musician, and puppeteer who, among other accomplishments, has created a music video for Barenaked Ladies. He is also a company member of WNEP Theater. For more info, click here.
Jessie Mutz
Jessie Mutz is a theatre director and performer originally hailing from Florida. Since making her home in Chicago, Jessie has worked with groups such as Brain Surgeon Theater, Poetry Magazine, 20%
Theatre Company, and The Unrehearsed Shakespeare Company. She currently has the greatest job ever doing outreach with the Tall Ship Windy. At one point in her life, Jessie studied environmental contaminants by dissecting alligator eggs; more recently, she rappelled down a 27-story building. As for storytelling –she has always enjoyed her step-dad’s stories the best, but he would never tell them on command, only when he felt like it. Here’s to you, Steve!
Theatre Company, and The Unrehearsed Shakespeare Company. She currently has the greatest job ever doing outreach with the Tall Ship Windy. At one point in her life, Jessie studied environmental contaminants by dissecting alligator eggs; more recently, she rappelled down a 27-story building. As for storytelling –she has always enjoyed her step-dad’s stories the best, but he would never tell them on command, only when he felt like it. Here’s to you, Steve!
Patricia Savieo
Patricia Savieo has lived in Chicago nine years and can’t imagine being anywhere else. In particular, she is super-glad to not be living in Arizona. Social worker by day, she is a co-founder of Hubris Productions and is currently undertaking her second NaNoWriMo challenge. She loves the Blackhawks, pizza, and a guy named Brian. Also, she recently agreed to make her beautiful niece’s wedding dress.
Natasha Tsoutsouris
Natasha Tsoutsouris 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.
J. Weintraub
Over the past 35 years, J. Weintraub has published a variety of fiction, essays, poetry, and translations in in all sorts of literary reviews and periodicals, from The Massachusetts Review to Modern Philology, from Gastronomica to Prairie Schooner. He has been an Around-the-Coyote poet, a StoneSong poet, and a featured writer at the Twilight Tales reading series, at Tuesday Funk, and at “March Madness, Murder & Mayhem” for the Uptown Writers Space as well as with the TallGrass Writers Guild at the Bourgeois Pig. This Fall his short stories, “The Year the Padres Won the Pennant” (depicting the disastrous effect on a marriage of the Chicago Cubs meltdown in 1984) and “Afloat” (a tale blending a traditional sci-fi with the legend of Faust) will appear in anthologies published by Main Street Rag Press. Currently a network playwright at Chicago Dramatists, he has had one-act plays produced in New York, Naperville, and Middleboro, MA, and a staged reading of his one-act play “Security, Inc.” will be part of the Saturday series on Nov. 5 at Chicago Dramatists (2:00 pm; Chicago & Milwaukee). Samples of his work can be found here: http://jweintraub.weebly.com
DECEMBER 2011
Brian Barasch
Brian Barasch is a promoter, producer, marketer, advocate and admirer of the arts. Growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, Brian realized his complete inability to act or memorize lines during an agonizingly terrible high school production of The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail and henceforth decided to shift his focus to the non-performance aspects of the theatre. After completing a degree in theatre management from DePaul University, Brian set out on the glamorous and lucrative career path of non-profit arts administration. Today, Brian works in the marketing department at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and also spends some time on the side working with The New Colony – a young theatre company of super-talented hipsters whose best creative ideas come after at least two cans of PBR. Aside from his artistic pursuits, Brian can name all forty-four US presidents, enjoys the oddly relaxing affects of creating excel spreadsheets and prides himself on knowing exactly which CTA bus will get you to your destination the fastest.
Alexandra Boroff
Alexandra Boroff is an actress originally from Boston, Mass. In her 3 years in Chicago, she has been a superhero for Corn Productions, an undead child for Blunt Objects Theatre, a pirate for Tall Ship Adventures, and can currently be seen in her most breathtaking role as “Assistant Manager” at Starbucks Coffee at her store in Boystown. She really likes coffee. Like, a lot.
John Brewster
John Brewster hails from Austin, Texas, where he drinks sweet tea and Lone Star Beer while two-stepping in his borrowed cowboy boots. John has six years of experience in Chicago as a writer and actor, performing in the past at IO, The Annoyance, Stage Left, Playground, and Strawdog Theaters, and is a founding member of the Chicago-based sketch group GERMANS. John currently oversees health and environmental marketing campaigns in Austin and performs with Scout at Coldtowne Theater.
Pete DeBolt
Pete DeBolt is a Chicagoland native born to a large family of master storytellers with big personalities. His 15 year career in sales, marketing, and international trade sent him around the world, presenting to hundreds of corporate audiences. But corporate presentations are typically boring consisting of endless, mind numbing PowerPoint slides. Any attempts to incorporate his talent for storytelling into his presentations were crushed by bullet point obsessed management. Friends and colleagues recognized Pete’s talent, passion, and need for storytelling and encouraged him to write of book of his stories. In the summer of 2011, he began to transfer his stories from memory to paper.
Carrie McDonald
Carrie McDonald is pleased as punch to be appearing at her first story telling event. Carrie made her acting debut on TLC’s What Not to Wear, where she sported muumuus and rocked her own style, which was a fashionable mix of teenage boy, old lady, and cheap 80s throwback. As a return Peace Corps volunteer, she made a difference by chain smoking, drinking moonshine, and chasing after French doctoral students in the jungle. In addition to be an excellent human being, she enjoys performing stand-up comedy, pretending to go to the gym, and her never end quest to quit smoking.
Sarah Michaelson
Sarah Michaelson is studying writing with Arlene Malinowski. She has performed at ’SpeakEasy, Speak Hard’ and ‘Here’s the Story’ as well as publishing her essays in YogaChicago. Sarah’s the producer of a short documentary film, “The Voice Box” based on her friend and muse, Ellen Frohardt. Sarah is also on the board of Creative Artists in Service Together, an organization that promotes the arts to the human services community.