Do we have a collection of wonders lined up for you on September 1st. Too much goodness in one room. The gentle and generous Tara Defrancisco (voted “Funniest in Chicago” by Chicago Free Press, New City, and Chicago Reader, and voted one of the Top 25 Funniest Women in America by Curve Magazine), will be by my side, playing co-host for the night. And, we have amazing people to tell you stories.
After two years of patiently finessing the situation, Norm Holly, the mysterious leathercloaked and bespectacled Head of the Conservatory at The Second City, has agreed to feature with us. And Tyler Greene, who produces The Chicago Moth, will be making his OWN notes-free storytelling debut on our stage! Julie Meckler, who makes story-ballad music so beautiful you will want to fill your house with it all the time, will also be featuring, along with Kelli Honeysweet, a singer, mom, activist, and former Audience Favorite who is finally returning, and Tim Stafford, an award-winning and beloved Chicago performance poet, who you gave the win to last month.
So wonderful. Please read on for more about these folks.
Norm Holly has directed Second City shows including Baby Richards Got Back and 40 Oz. And a Mule. He was the Assistant Chairman of the Columbia College Theater Department for eight years and directed many productions there including Caucasian Chalk Circle with Jeff Perry and Barbara Robertson and Once in a Lifetime with Michael Maggio. Norm appeared in the New Broadway Theater production of Streamers with Dennis Farina, directed by Terry Kinney. He was director of the live comedy series Anti-Comedy I/II/III with Dino Stamotopolous and Andy Dick, on-camera director for Cinifolio (now Short), and director and producer of Second City’s NBC pilot as well as dozens of revue productions.
Tim Stafford is a poet and public school teacher. He has appeared on the HBO series Def Poetry Jam and has performed internationally at festivals such as the ABC Brecht Festival in Augsburg, Germany, The Zurich Poetry Slam Festival in Switzerland, and the Kiel Week Poetry Slam Festival in Kiel, Germany. The classroom poetry anthology he edited, Learn Then Burn was published by Write Bloody Publishing in 2010. he is a member of the Speak’Easy Ensemble and cast member of the Encyclopedia Show.
At times, French songstress Julie Meckler’s story can sound almost cinematic. Leaving behind a life as a theater actress in her native Paris, Meckler immigrated to the US in early 2008 and bought her first guitar in New York City. There, the music began, as did her journey across a country she’d never seen before. After visits to Buffalo, Detroit, Portland and Vancouver, she settled in Chicago just as her visa expired. This began a determined, hopeful path as she opted to stay despite fears of deportation and never seeing her home country again. Over four years of honing her craft onstage – from gallery lofts to songwriter circles to sold out bills at venues such as the Hideout, Empty Bottle and Schubas – she’s assembled a collaborative group of Chicago veterans that includes bassist Brett Bakshis (Wooden Rings, Belleisle), guitarist Will Phalen, guest guitarist Ryan Anderson (Go Long Mule), trumpeter James Davis (ALDRIC, Zing!), and drummer/percussionist Shawn Rios (Stolen Silver, Dick Prall). Touted in the Tribune’s Metromix as one of “15 Chicago Artists to Watch” alongside The Disappears and The Smith Westerns, Meckler and band have spent the last two years hard at work at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio with producer/multi-instrumentalist Will Phalen (The Stereo Addicts, Musikanto, Bailiff). The result of their labor, the aptly-titled Queenshead, will draw listeners with potent genre-spanning singles, but is a record created to be absorbed in its entirety. Each piece is a vital element of the story, yet mystery and unanswered questions still prevail; every tune portrays a different character, unpredictable and sensitive yet blunt in their nature.
Tyler Greene is the Events Coordinator for Chicago Public Media (WBEZ 91.5FM and Vocalo 90.7FM) and proudly holds court as Assistant House Manager for the national radio show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! Tyler also produces storytelling events in Chicago for The Moth, the New York City-based storytelling organization, and serves on their Chicago Advisory Board. He is the General Manager/Podcast Producer of General Admission (generaladmissionchicago.com), a website that explore various art communities. As a storyteller and director, he’s worked exclusively for 2nd Story, where wine meets storytelling in a beautiful way.
Kelli Honeysweet is a proud mother raising two handsome boys. She is also a Chicago Native, a full-time straight-A student, and a performer. As a singer, Kelli has performed for many different events, from weddings and conventions and rodeos and county fairs, to appearing as a soloist in front of 2,000 people at the Museum of Natural History. She sings in various genres from pop to RnB to contemporary country. She has even sung in a Christian Rock Band, and has laid down vocal tracks for various rap artists in Chicago, St. Louis and Columbus. When Kelli’s name was plucked from a jar at Grown Folks Stories, founded by her childhood friend Cara Brigandi, Kelli caught the Storytelling fever. She went on to become a regular Storyteller at Grown Folks stories and has also been featured at Stoop-Style Stories founded by Lily Be. She has been spreading her wings in additional areas such as Acting, Directing, Keynote Speaking, Creative Writing, and Improv, and is a member of the Improv group Laugh Coma.
Please join us on September 1st when these wonderful people, plus five others from our audience, will tell their stories. And bring a story yourself, to make the night perfect. We will be at Theater Wit this month, at 1229 W. Belmont, just next door to Stage 773.
Please secure your tickets in advance HERE. Our shows have truly been selling out, and we DO NOT WANT to turn you away at the door, especially when you have cooked and carried something all the way to our doorstep. Guarantee those seats by purchasing tickets online.
Here’s the Story
September 1st
Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont
Potluck at 7:30, Show at 8pm
Please secure your tickets in advance HERE.
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