JANUARY 2025! um. Happening.

Happy holidays! Hoping the season is gentle and good for you and your's. 

December has been all about planting seeds. But with some extra on top!

BRING YOUR KIDS! MY GOB! That was a lot of Bring Your Kids! And thankfully so! We had three shows: one at the Bryant Lake Bowl (swoon) and two in St. Paul! So many thanks to Tyler and Matt at 825 Arts, Dan at Cadenza Music, and Jeremie and Jackson at the Bryant Lake Bowl for taking such care of us! Sweetness all around! 

I did some time up in Anoka at the Anoka Middle School for the Arts, playing with 6th graders. Thanks to COMPAS, Jolanda, and every teacher there! Also thanks to Avant Garden and their wifi. 

Also through COMPAS, I also started memoir class at Kensie - St. Anthony. We had to take a short break cuz middle school, and I'm excited to get back to them!

My teen improv group finished up our seven sessions and had their showcase on December 15th - - AND THEY DID SO GREAT! 

January. LFG.

 - I'm helping run some Arts and Wellness classes up at the St. Croix Falls Public Library, made possible through a collaboration between theSt. Croix Falls Public Library and the Center for Creativity and Public Health.. Details here! 

 - Bring Your Kids! at the Bryant Lake Bowl on Jan. 11th and Cadenza Music on Jan. 18th!

 - There's a Crack in Everything returns!! So excited! We'll be at Resource, a beautiful space in South Minneapolis. January's show features 1-800-Music and other beautifuls. 

 - I'll be playing some of my ukulele tunes at Cabaret Open Gym on Monday Jan. 13th, hosted by the amazing Leslie Vincent. 

 - Maybe teaching some middle school improv through Children's Theatre Company? 

 - I'm teaching a Flash Memoir class at Crow's Feet Studio, starting Tuesday Jan. 7th. It's gonna be so lovely. Join us if you can! 

 - I'm helping organize COMPAS's Emerging Young Artists Gallery show! 

Finally, I started a substack. No one asked for this. But if you'd like some thoughts on Improv or Art-Making (and so many lists), it's here. 

I hope you and your's are well, and finding ways to take care of oneself and those dear. Happy New Year's, love. We can.  

December 2024... and here we are

Hi loves!

We did it! We did November... and it was a lot. And heartbreaking. And all of the worry and grief. And, folks are moving to What Next mode.. and there's a lot of instructions on how to do that. It's rough. And we have to. 

It feels weird to talk about art and career stuff in these moments. And we still get to do these things. AND SHOULD.

Bring Your Kids! is at the Bryant Lake Bowl! We sold out! It was VERY SILLY. Thank you to everyone who came and we can't wait to do it again!

I got to perform for Alison and Marlowe's Retirement Show from Strike Theater!

And then it was a lot of planting seeds. Brainstorming and reaching out and chatting and that part is so so good.

December has a bit more to it, as December usually does.

Bring Your Kids has an action packed month!

- Saturday November 30th at 825 Arts!

- Saturday December 7th at Cadenza Music!

- Saturday December 14th at the Bryant Lake Bowl!

- Saturday December 21st at 825 Arts!  

That's a lot! YOU BETTER LIKE SILLY.

I've been teaching a 7 week Teen Improv workshop, and we're nearing the end. So grateful to Sandra for organizing it all, to Normandale Hyland Methodist Church for the space, and these brilliant teens for making me laugh. Our showcase is on Dec. 16th, and they're going to rock it.

I'm working with the wonderful Anna Solfest, creating Wellbeing for Everyone programming for the St. Croix Falls public library through June 2025. So many thanks to Danette McCarthy, Su with the SCFPL, and Center for Creativity & Public Health. More info to come!

I'm helping put together COMPAS's Emerging Young Artist's juried art show! More info to come!

Through COMPAS, I'm back at Anoka Middle School for the Arts, and also starting a memoir class for residents of Walker Methodist - Kensie. 

I'll be back at Children's Theatre Company, teaching middle schoolers, if you have a middle schooler! I'll be removing every box and extraneous object from the classroom before class*! 

I'm offering a Flash memoir class starting Tuesdays in January! Please join us! 

I started a substack! No one asked for this! 

In stupid news, I turned my phone into a Tap to Pay thingie! It only took this long! #CAPITALISM!

I hope you are well, and finding some Joy and Direction? Support? Community? Clarity? Softness? Time? in this season. It's hard, for me, to forget that January is around the corner, with whatever that may bring. Get small, get spite-ful, get full of love. LET'S FUCKING GO, indeed, loves. 

Sending so much love out to you. <3 

Just a seventh grader from ValleyView. 

*The number of middle schoolers that want to hide in boxes! IF THEY SORT OF FITS, THEY SITS. 

Wild Times oh November

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Hoping it was charming; Minnesota piled big wet galumphing clumps of wet cold, which melted by trick or treat time. A couple of full size candy bars were procured. Good stuff. 

October has been a thing! 

 - Finishing up classes at HUGE. :( 

 - Finished a class at STRIKE! And what a class it was!

 - Will finish my session with JFCS (postponed for plague reasons) through COMPAS. 

 - Sang two songs at Tablesalt Production's fundraiser, Songs of Power, Protest, and Joy! A beautiful night! (LOOK AT THIS PICTURE. IGNORE ME. THESE ARE THREE OF THE FUNNIEST AND MOST TALENTED HUMANS AROUND. SEE THEM EVERY CHANCE YOU GET, SILLIES!)

 - TRICK! Ran a "Creating a Play" MEA workshop for 4th and 5th graders at Children's Theatre, which was honestly lovely. EXCEPT FOR SOME CHILD GIVING ME THE COVID PLAGUE.  

 - TREAT! Got to play music for Melancholics Anonymous fundraiser at Art House North, and 'am so incredibly grateful. What a show, what an incredibly generous audience, what a beautiful sounding venue... here's my whole heart!

 - Adorable rides again!!  Butch totally Adorable'd at Minne-melange. I was sick, and I'm still jealous. 

 - Put together an anthology for the folks at Tasks Unlimited through COMPAS. When it's printed, I'll tell you all about it, promise.  

 - Started Teen Improv classes down in Bloomington. So many thanks to Sandra for the plotting and planning. Here we go!

 - I turned 49! Whatta thing! I got to see my parasocial best friend, Mike Birbiglia, at the State Theater. He's doing well. (And absolutely found myself missing the cozy conversation of his podcast. How dare he perform and do his job, and DO IT WELL? Weird times.) 

 - Oh! That commercial I shot in Sioux Falls last December is up! Behold! And hire SDN Communications, who are amazing folk and took such care of us!

Updates!

Bring Your Kids! is now at the Bryant Lake Bowl AND 825 Arts in St Paul! INDEED! We will now only play venues who's address starts with an 8! So incredibly excited for all of the silliness. Info and tickets at Bring Your Kids!

And that's about all, currently, for performance. Realizing that November might be a bit of a OrganizePlotAndPlan month, which will honestly speed by, and then drop off into December. The plotting and planning ain't gonna scheme itself. 

Take care of yourself, loves. See you in December. 

 

OCTOBER! A MONTH FOR ALL!

Tomorrow.. It's a beautiful month. 

Today's high is, like, mid80s... so we'll have snow for Halloween. 

September! All things started. 

School started! Both kids spent time sick, but seem to be generally OK with all of the changes. 

I started some programs for COMPAS with the Memory Café at Jewish Family and Children's Services and with Park View Day Program up in Buffalo. (Dear world, please know that the shiniest HyVee resides in Plymouth, MN AND NOW I'M DATING THE PLYMOUTH HYVEE. PROB'BLY GONNA MARRY IT.)

Classes started at HUGE and Strike. 

And planning started. Let us plan. 

I got to do a couple of wonderful one-offs: so many thanks to Mary Jo Pehl and her Garage for the Performing Arts! So many thanks to Sam for joining me! And so many thanks to Jim and Dennis of Tablesalt Productions, and letting me be a part of their "Love in the Time of Democracy" improv workshop. Just a dream. 

October... will be what it will be. 

HUGE closes at the end of this month. Going to teach there feels so.. tender, until the class actually starts. Then, it's just breathing and joy again. Still so sad. 

Bring Your Kids! will be at HUGE Saturday Oct. 12th at 4 p.m.... and then moving back to the Bryant Lake Bowl in November! This last show is stacked! Z Puppets Roseschnoz! Billy from the Jolly Pops! WHUT!? Tickets here! 

I get to play some original spooky songs at Melancholics Anonymous' S'More S'Melancholics: a Firelit Fundraiser on Saturday Oct. 19th at the Art House North in St Paul - - so excited!

I get to sing a song at Tablesalt Production's annual fundraiser on Wednesday Oct. 9th at the Black Forest Inn in Minneapolis. The theme is “Songs of POWER, PROTEST and JOY!" Lovely!

I turn 49 years on the 20th, which is the SAME DAY that Mike Birbiglia is performing in Minneapolis. My parasocial relationship continues, but in real time! I also (somehow) have tickets to Jay Jurden and Julio Torres!? GOOD LORD. (Also, Rita and I have tickets to be in the same room with children book author, artist, and Irishman Oliver Jeffers. This is honestly pretty lovely.) 

I also get to take a night fully off and go do a cabin thing. Just me and a ukulele. And maybe a drum machine. A book. A television program. WHO KNOWS. 

In news of THIS WAS THE 1990s, this movie turned 30?! years old. Priscilla Queen of the Desert (not without its problematic content, certainly.) was a family favorite. We were a Time Bandits family, a Northern Exposure family, a Newhart family, a Hill Street Blues family, and a Priscilla Queen of the Desert family. As my mom would say, "It's a neat flic." (Hugo Weaving! Guy Pearce! Terence Stamp! sigh.) 

I'll see you....

I've started this blog a couple of times. 

There's been some hard stuff: final decisions have been pushed through. HUGE Theater will close at the end of October. 

Not speaking for the whole community, but the folks I've connected with - - we're all in mourning. Stuck in the grief, AND so grateful for 2 more months of this very precious play space. In gratitude, and it's such a goddamn bummer. 

I keep telling myself, "This is the dirt... The flowers will grow." But oh man, we loved that dirt. Scrappy and lucky and we're all sad. 

August! 

 - Got to teach at HUGE's Summer Intensive and THEY WERE JUST INCREDIBLE! 

 - I played the Uptown Porchfest and it was goddamn dreamy. 

 - I was a guest at Pants on Fire at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Congrats to Sarah!

 - I went to my 30th High School Reunion. #bwahahahahah I am grateful for the smart, funny, and kind humans who talked to me, were kind enough to have dinner together before, who bought me a shot, and 'am utterly impressed on how those old social strata are still at play. (I'm learning that maybe the culture of I went to high school in was a scooch toxic? In the 90s?! WHA???) To the gentleman who told me, "Hey! You aged great!"... that charmed the heck out of me. :) <3 

 - I got written about in my hometown paper! 

 - My family went to Duluth and it was dreamy. Oh Duluth, your lake eats ships and your mansion murders people, but boy, you are a lovely place to visit. 

And September is here!

 - Bring Your Kids returns on Saturday September 14th!

 - I'm part of an Improv Workshop called Love in the Time of Democracy for TableSalt Productions on September 25th. What guidelines for improv are also 

 - I'm teaching a Low and Slow improv workshop at Strike Theater on Wednesday September 18th! 

 - Teaching begins at Strike, HUGE, maybe Children's Theatre Company, and a couple COMPAS projects begin. 

 - And maybe some teen improv?! If you have a teen who's curious about improv, come join us! Classes starting in October!

 - I'll be singing songs as Penny and the Bandits (joined by the incredible Samantha Baker Harris) at Mary Jo Pehl's Garage for the Performing Arts on September 28th! Email maryjopehl//gmail for tickets! :) 

And now planning planning planning... Future thinking and throwing fishing lines. What's a good fit, what sticks? Move forward with love. <3 

Doggy days

Lake Harriet and Chad's legs (he was very nice)

Somehow, it's almost August. July went for so long (and continues!) that hopefully we can swim in summer for just a bit more? 


Summer is that weird panic of "Oh please don't be too hot" and "Oh my god it's beautiful out do something now" and "Just please go to the summer camp situation we've provided for you" and "Do we have enough food to make lunches?"... 

But also, it's nice. The weather doesn't try to kill us like it does in the winter. There's patios and bunnies and birds. Our front yard has proclaimed its independence from the ways of man. 

Note the pinky.

Family travels were completed! We saw family in far away places and also got to spend some time next to an ocean. Only one flight was cancelled (booo), but the youngest and I got sat next to a 90 year old Cameroonian chieftain AND THAT IS BASICALLY A MIRACLE. We might have also seen the start of the torch running through Paris, or it might have been some offshoot of Bastille Day and people cheering for laughing young men on garbage trucks. There was a bagpiper; that's all I know. 

Gives no fucks.

Teaching-wise, I'm over with the wonderful folks at Opportunity Neighborhood through COMPAS for three session, and I got to do the silliest Intro to Improv for Little to Bigs for Hearts and Minds Learning Community. 

Performance stuff? No. Not really. There's some gentle prodding and planning for fall (Got into the studio! Yay! Did some auditions! Yay! Signed some contracts, have had some meetings. Reached out to Bring Your Kids! folks. Poke poke.) Just one teaching thing with the absolutely wonderful folks at Opportunity Neighborhood through COMPAS. 

EDIT! I'll be playing Uptown Porchfest! Woohoo! Info to come, probably here. 

I'm getting back on the writing music bus, as traveling with family does not lend itself to solitude. 

August in Minneapolis brings the chaotic good of the Fringe Festival! Cool people doin' weird stuff! Do I like my theater in 55 minute chunks? I DO! 

I'll also be going down to Sioux City, IA for East High School's Class of 1994 30 year reunion. (insert manic feels for the inexorable march of time.) I was not a socially successful high schooler; there were some amazing, talented, and funny folks who were kind to me. I hope to see them. 

The cool thing is that I'm from Sioux City, Iowa. Most everyone's pretty nice OR SHOULD BE. 

Hoping the rest of the summer is beautiful for you and yours. And that you don't get too stressed by it all.  

P.S. Apocalypse Disco is on Spotify / Apple Music / and Soundcloud! I gave a copy of the CD to the neighbor who's story inspired this song: I hope that's okay. 

Summer, 1/3 through. Onto July, who you once knew.

June embiggened. It got full and busy, but also, it was planned for (thank goodness). 

 

 - Bring Your Kids is now on summer break! The June show was a HOOT, and we're heading back in September. 

 - Nudge's run at HUGE was a dream of goodness. I am the luckiest jerk to play with these achingly funny and beautiful folks. I love to Nudge. Thank you to all who came out!!

 

 

 - Twin Cities Improv Festival!! I was not around for party time (which is bummer, as grown up party time is a rare thing. And grown up party time with improvisers is a delight!), but got to Adorable, Attenborough, and Give the Drummer Some. Oh man. <3 

 

I love watching different improv elements "trend" - - the community felt really into narrative for a while. I adore this dance-clown-adjacent-crawl-on-each-other delight. It takes care and trust and some deep silliness. 

 - I played Stone Arch Bridge Festival! Solo, as a tiny offshoot of Bring Your Kids. It was so lovely. Do I have 45 minutes of solo kids games and mostly-original music, to be played under a tent in the rain? I do! This was not really on my bingo card, but so happy for it. 

 - I also do birthday parties for 7-8 year olds! So many thanks to Sarah and happy birthday, Max! Playing improv and theater games with rising 8 year olds is hilarious, and good if we can run a race or two in the middle. 

 - Finished up co-teaching a Improv Summer Camp at Children's Theatre Company.

 - Finished up morning art and theater classes in Maplewood for their summer school program, through COMPAS. I had a lovely (early morning) time, with apologies to that one class of 5th graders who were far too cool for my business. 

 

The kids are alright and dear. The kids are funny. The kids have the coolest names, and made some cool stuff. 

Domestically-speaking, this was also the June that my oldest kiddo 'graduated' from elementary school and my youngest 'graduated' from Kindergarten. 

(Jojo Siwa's Karma made a terrible terrible impression on millions of preteens.)

I am weeding like mad, prepping things to get out of town for a bit, and then, weirdly, it all begins again?

There's currently a fair amount of space in August and September, which may change as they draw near. Besides, homygob, clearing the basement, I think there's space to ask things like, what can we self-create? What can be seeded? 'What sounds like fun' is a nice question. Also, is this a good time? (i.e. there is never a good time.) And maybe actually figure out how grant applications work. 

Also, realizing that I will be in town for the Fringe Festival: I think I'm going to see some Fringe shows. We'll see what happens. 

🧡