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Dave Maher appeared on "This American Life" to tell his story of waking from a coma to read eulogies from his friends on Facebook. He has brought his one-man shows blending standup, improvisation, theater, storytelling, and performance art to Steppenwolf and the Edinburgh Fringe. He teaches storytelling and creative unblocking independently and at the Annoyance Theatre. If you like irreverent discussion of the meaning of life, check out Dave's afterlife interview podcast This Is Your Afterlife and his alt-weekly style newsletter, Hella Immaculate.
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Elizabeth Gomez is a comedian, storyteller, writer, and casserole Queen. She is a founder of the Windy City Rollers roller derby league; founding writer at Drinkers with Writing Problems; and has performed at Story Club Northside, This Much is True, You're Being Ridiculous, and other spots around town. Her biggest dream is to be Beyonce. You can find out more about her at www.ezgomez.com or follow her on twitter @JuannaRumbel
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Tim Barnes is a Los Angeles born Chicago based comic who’s writing about himself in the third person right now, I’m not kidding. His jokes centers around race and social norms and stuff like that. Chicago Magazine has called his humor “gently absurd” and named him one of the 16 Chicago Comics You Should Check Out… in it’s 2014 fall issue, and The Chicago Tribune has described him as “a smooth wordsmith who is sharp, polished and confident…”
He has appeared on NBC, WBEZ, WGN 720 AM radio, and Vocalo.org. He hosts TouchVision TV’s interview/story podcast, It’s All True! featuring conversations with prominent comedians and entertainers including Eddie Izzard, Wyatt Cenac, Greg Proops and more.
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Jenna Chapman is Co-Director of CHIRP's Annual Record Fair and erstwhile Creative Writing 101 student. Born in the UK, she grew up in the western Chicago suburbs, went to college in Minnesota, and came back to the city proper for grad school. When she was seven, she memorized the spelling of antidisestablishmentarianism from the dictionary to impress her friends, and has steadily been building an improved understanding of social dynamics ever since. Published works include numerous editions of origami-ed M*A*S*H notes, a series of escalatingly PG-13 jump rope rhymes, and three chapters of a very elaborate Twin Peaks/X-Files/Stargate SG-1 crossover fan fiction. She now lives in Andersonville with her roommate, two laptops, and an ever-expanding Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel collection.
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In the grand tradition of underemployed artists, Eden Robins has been: a singing waitress, a dildo salesman, a dental assistant, an abortion clinic receptionist, and a Swahili teacher, and is currently a comedy writer for big pharma. She usually writes fiction, some of which you can find online, and she is the co-host of the Chicago live lit series Tuesday Funk, as well as half of the weekly podcast Should I Worry About This?. She blogs rarely at monkeythumbs.com and tweets with some frequency @edenrobins.
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Meredith Kachel is an illustrator, comedian and producer living in Chicago Illinois. She makes comedic art, videos and animations, personal websites, and also performs as a stand up comedian. She's a graduate of the School of the Art Institute. She was also an illustrator at the John G. Shedd Aquarium, and helped paint President Barack Obama's mural in his campaign headquarters. Her illustrations were on NBC's "The Office".
She produces a weekly alternative stand-up and variety show, Chicago Underground Comedy, a monthly stand-up comedy show called Hoo HA! Comedy, and a roast and insult show called BEEF. She was a contestant in "Impress These Apes", and sings and plays in a band called The Gunny. Her work is informed by self-deprecation, storytelling, and whimsical structures. She is publishing two books this year. Her cat, Thelma, is deaf, and Meredith's favorite activity is sneaking up on her and scaring her into jumping into the air and screaming. You know. Like a monster.
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Atalee Judy is a professional stuntwoman with Chicago-based Asylum Stunts who began her career as a highly physical professional dancer and choreographer who developed an extreme release technique style of movement in 1998 that she coined The Bodyslam Technique. It's a codifed system of Falling Techniques taught to dancers to utilize better integration in/out of the floor.
She got her Bachelor of Arts in Dance Performance from Columbia College, and ran a successful dance company called Breakbone DanceCo. from 1997-2013. Atalee now designs & produces her own casual wear clothing line called BONEware Clothing made from upcycled rock t-shirts (etsy.com/shop/BONEware).
She is known for her work on The Good Fight (2016), Jacketman (2015),The Sacrifice (2014), Divergent (2014), Playland (2010), The Artsiders (2007).