Category: teaching

The Rain Here

It rained here the other day with such big, round drops, that a person could walk five paces in between getting wet. But that was just one rain. The big-drop rain doesn’t seem to be the dependable personality of the rain here. The one constant I’ve seen so far is its ability to both approach…

Robin

With everything that is happening just in my own little life, I haven’t really mourned the death of Mr. Robin Williams yet. I found out about his death at our going-away party in Chicago two weeks ago, mere hours before we packed up the car to head to our new home down south. So the…

Big Life Changes are Always Hard

As a writer (and a performer of those stories), my writings are often well thought-out. But with all of the feelings I’ve had lately, instead of thinking-out the thoughts, I’m just going to put-out the thoughts. Big life changes are always hard. A lot of times, they’re rewarding too. But man, they sure can be…

Signs

When I moved to Chicago, and found myself stuffed onto very peopled trains, wedged between tall buildings, and lamenting the lack of trees, I thought to myself, “I am not a city person.” But Chicago grew on me. I became a professional at riding the train, enjoyed exploring the insides of those giant buildings, and…

What I’ll miss about living in Chicago

I have lived in Louisville, KY; Cincinnati, OH; Seattle, WA; and Chicago, IL. I’ve been living in Chicago now for seven years. A couple of years ago, I fell in love. I fell in love with a physicist who was in the middle of a three-year research contract at Northwestern. I fell in love with…

Advice for the Internet Age

Be sure to not misspell your username when you are creating it. Don’t make your password so difficult that you can’t remember it. And most importantly, if you do not have an actual pet, do not choose the “What is the name of your pet?” security question.  Because you will most likely not remember which…

needing and wanting

What I need to do right now figure out how much alcohol we need to order for the wedding reception research moving companies and compare the quotes I’ve gotten research photo booth companies pack more boxes figure out the garbage/recycling companies in our new neighborhood fill-out the change-of-address form something involving rehearsal dinner something involving…

Sincerely Yours — a master class for improvisers

It’s been a while since I taught this master class here in Chicago.  So, it’s about time I brought it back!  This is one of my most popular master classes, and is frequently requested when I travel about the country to teach for various improv communities.  I like to keep the class sizes relatively small,…

Chicago and Me

Seven years ago, I moved to Chicago from Seattle.  I landed in a whirlwind of auditions and new opportunities and took on all sorts of fun and wonderful projects.  One of these projects was a ridiculous show called “Impress These Apes,” which, if you’re in Chicago and haven’t heard of it, you should totally check…

Moving

When I moved to Seattle, it was unintended and impulsive. I was 22, going on invincible, and the world was my vegan oyster. I was either really good at living in the moment or just too unaware of the future that it didn’t really hit me how difficult it was to move thousands of miles…