On Saturday at Martyrs', we will feature a full day (from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM)* of professional sessions from an absurdly talented roster of storytellers, writers, teachers, and artists. We have curated a nice variety of workshops, presentations, and conversations filled with inspiration, practical advice, juicy takeaways, and exciting ideas.
One of the most frequent complaints at conferences is that attendees have to choose between two sessions they'd really like to experience, but that are scheduled concurrently. This won't be a problem at The Get-Together. None of our development sessions compete with another. Also, you are welcome to come and go as you please - attend all, some, or none!
*Ample seating will be available for every participant, should they all choose to attend. The timing and schedule of the day will be available before the weekend kicks off.
We will also be featuring a new drop-in Improv Gym across the street at Dance Center Chicago with the inimitable Liz Allen!
One of the most frequent complaints at conferences is that attendees have to choose between two sessions they'd really like to experience, but that are scheduled concurrently. This won't be a problem at The Get-Together. None of our development sessions compete with another. Also, you are welcome to come and go as you please - attend all, some, or none!
*Ample seating will be available for every participant, should they all choose to attend. The timing and schedule of the day will be available before the weekend kicks off.
We will also be featuring a new drop-in Improv Gym across the street at Dance Center Chicago with the inimitable Liz Allen!
Liz Allen
Improv Gym
On Saturday, drop in and play with world-class improv coach Liz Allen. No experience necessary!
Sessions run 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM and 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM.
Improv Gym
On Saturday, drop in and play with world-class improv coach Liz Allen. No experience necessary!
Sessions run 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM and 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM.
For the past 31 years, Liz has performed, coached, and directed improv. Liz performed with iO Chicago’s house team Frank Booth, taking the first-ever long-form improv show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1995. Liz coached the iO Chicago house teams Valhalla and Fatty Four Eyes and Mission Improvable, founders of the Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica.
Liz was iO Chicago’s Training Center Director for 3 years, and in 1999, 2000 & 2001, Liz won iO Chicago’s Coach of the Year Award, later renamed the Liz Allen Excellence in Teaching Award.
Over the years, Liz has taught all class levels in the iO Chicago. She’s directed numerous improvised and scripted pieces, including The Two Horsemen (Jim Carlson & John Lutz), Big Guy Little Guy (Ryan Kiessling & Lloyd Ahlquist), Devolution (written by Sean Benjamin) at the Neofuturarium, Friends of Clark County Variety Show, and Eight for Eight Stories I-III in Las Vegas.
Liz is a corporate improv trainer. Clients include Ernst & Young, Bechtel Pen, Zurich American Insurance, University of Wisconsin, Motorola, MGM Grand, Southwest Gas, Power Construction, Women in Entertainment Las Vegas, Truro University, Heritage Healthcare, Google, Hoffman LaRoche Switzerland, Mondelez and Catch+Release.
In 2004, Liz directed a main stage revue for The Second City at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, the first-ever fully improvised show on The Strip. In 2006, with Jimmy Carrane, Liz co-wrote the book Improvising Better (Heinemann). The Vegas Theater Hub awarded Liz as Guest Speaker of the Year and Best Workshop of the Year 2015. Liz was honored to coach The Commune, the improv ensemble in Mike Birbiglia’s 2016 feature film Don’t Think Twice. At the 2019 Rollins College Winter with the Writers Festival, Liz was selected to be a guest speaker and featured author. She directed the improvised long-form show A Family Affair, which performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2019.
Liz works with speakers to enhance collaboration and presentation skills. Clients include Josie Ahlquist Digital Educator, and former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal.
Liz was iO Chicago’s Training Center Director for 3 years, and in 1999, 2000 & 2001, Liz won iO Chicago’s Coach of the Year Award, later renamed the Liz Allen Excellence in Teaching Award.
Over the years, Liz has taught all class levels in the iO Chicago. She’s directed numerous improvised and scripted pieces, including The Two Horsemen (Jim Carlson & John Lutz), Big Guy Little Guy (Ryan Kiessling & Lloyd Ahlquist), Devolution (written by Sean Benjamin) at the Neofuturarium, Friends of Clark County Variety Show, and Eight for Eight Stories I-III in Las Vegas.
Liz is a corporate improv trainer. Clients include Ernst & Young, Bechtel Pen, Zurich American Insurance, University of Wisconsin, Motorola, MGM Grand, Southwest Gas, Power Construction, Women in Entertainment Las Vegas, Truro University, Heritage Healthcare, Google, Hoffman LaRoche Switzerland, Mondelez and Catch+Release.
In 2004, Liz directed a main stage revue for The Second City at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, the first-ever fully improvised show on The Strip. In 2006, with Jimmy Carrane, Liz co-wrote the book Improvising Better (Heinemann). The Vegas Theater Hub awarded Liz as Guest Speaker of the Year and Best Workshop of the Year 2015. Liz was honored to coach The Commune, the improv ensemble in Mike Birbiglia’s 2016 feature film Don’t Think Twice. At the 2019 Rollins College Winter with the Writers Festival, Liz was selected to be a guest speaker and featured author. She directed the improvised long-form show A Family Affair, which performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2019.
Liz works with speakers to enhance collaboration and presentation skills. Clients include Josie Ahlquist Digital Educator, and former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal.
Michele Carlo
Change Is The New Same
Cultural references can work differently for different audiences. Here's how to find a useful frame of reference for listeners of all backgrounds and ages.
Change Is The New Same
Cultural references can work differently for different audiences. Here's how to find a useful frame of reference for listeners of all backgrounds and ages.
Michele Carlo is a writer, storyteller (and sometime actor) who has performed across the U.S.: at the Gotham Storytelling Festival, the Clearwater Arts & Music Festival, the Hans Christian Andersen series in Central Park, and the MOTH Mainstage in New York; the Share The Fire and National Storytelling Network story conferences; multiple house concerts; multiple podcasts (including RISK!, No Name NYC, and Story Collider); on NPR (with Latino USA and WNYC radio); and the WGBH-PBS series “Stories from the Stage.”
Michele is also the author of the NYC-set memoir “Fish Out of Agua” and has contributed to several anthologies, including “RISK!,” “No, YOU Tell It,” and Big Other’s "Puerto Rican Writer’s Folio: A Hauntology.” She collaborates with fellow storyteller Eric Vetter to bring storytelling to Washington Heights, N.Y., with a monthly “No Name Super Story Party” show. Follow her on Instagram: @michele_as_shell, and for more info go to www.michelecarlo.com
Michele is also the author of the NYC-set memoir “Fish Out of Agua” and has contributed to several anthologies, including “RISK!,” “No, YOU Tell It,” and Big Other’s "Puerto Rican Writer’s Folio: A Hauntology.” She collaborates with fellow storyteller Eric Vetter to bring storytelling to Washington Heights, N.Y., with a monthly “No Name Super Story Party” show. Follow her on Instagram: @michele_as_shell, and for more info go to www.michelecarlo.com
Emily Lansana
Everyday Magic: Finding Stories in the Objects and Moments Around Us
Some of the most powerful stories begin in the smallest, most familiar places. In this session, we’ll explore how everyday objects, routines, and fleeting moments can spark meaningful, resonant narratives. Through guided prompts and supportive sharing, participants will practice transforming ordinary details into stories filled with humor, heart, and personal truth.
Everyday Magic: Finding Stories in the Objects and Moments Around Us
Some of the most powerful stories begin in the smallest, most familiar places. In this session, we’ll explore how everyday objects, routines, and fleeting moments can spark meaningful, resonant narratives. Through guided prompts and supportive sharing, participants will practice transforming ordinary details into stories filled with humor, heart, and personal truth.
Photo by Ozzy Ramsay
Emily Hooper Lansana is a community builder, and performing artist. For more than thirty years, she has performed as a storyteller, sharing her work with audiences throughout Chicago and across the country. She has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival, the National Association of Black Storytellers Festival, and at a variety of museums, colleges and performance venues. Her work seeks to honor those whose stories are often untold, especially those of the African diaspora. She is the recipient of several honors including the 3Arts award, OxBow Inspirators award and 3Arts Next Level award. She has received support for her artistic projects from the Center for the Study of Race Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago and the Illinois Arts Council.
Recent work includes performing and or leading projects with University of Chicago, DuSable Museum of African History, Southern Foodways, Mississippi Museum of Art, Free Street Theater, Prison Neighborhood Arts Project, MAMAS: Activating Movements for Abolition & Solidarity (Mothers of the Kidnapped Project a Chicago-based group of MAMAS who are mothering and caring for survivors of Chicago police torture and frame-ups), SOL Collective and Beyond Prisons.
Emily is recognized for curating and directing innovative interdisciplinary collaborations including Remembering Ourselves Whole and Refracting Freedom. She creates complex connections that expand the traditional form and function of oral storytelling to
include theater, film, visual installation, and more.
She has played a range of leadership roles. Currently she serves as Senior Director of Programming and Engagement for the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. Her consulting efforts have supported the work of a number of institutions including Housing Matters, Pierce Family Foundation, The Field Museum of Natural History, eta Creative Arts Foundation, and the Old Town School of Folk Music.
As an adjunct professor, Ms. Lansana has taught at Columbia College, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, DePaul University and Chicago State University. She has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Black Storytellers and as President of the Chicago Association of Black Storytellers. She received her BA in Theater Studies with a certificate in Teacher Preparation/Education from Yale University and an MA in Performance Studies from Northwestern University.
Ursa Miles
Starting at the Beginning: Traditional Telling for Personal Tellers and Beginners
Have you ever wanted to tell a traditional folktale? Not sure where to start? This workshop will take participants through the process of developing a folktale from collection to stage. No previous folktelling experience needed.
Starting at the Beginning: Traditional Telling for Personal Tellers and Beginners
Have you ever wanted to tell a traditional folktale? Not sure where to start? This workshop will take participants through the process of developing a folktale from collection to stage. No previous folktelling experience needed.
Storyteller, educator, playwright, and actress Ursa Miles got her start performing competitive oral interpretation in the Arkansas high school circuit (ASCA/ACTAA). She was a state semi-finalist and often performed in ESL classrooms to help English Language Learners learn English inflection. In 2010, she attended Arkansas Governor's School for vocal music. There, she studied composition and performance. She worked her way through college by taking tech positions at nearby theatres: stage managing, designing lights, and designing props. She graduated with a degree in theatre and speech education in 2015 receiving university awards for technical theatre achievement and communication scholarship.
Had Ursa been a sane person, she would have used her new, shiny teaching license to land a salaried teaching job, to buy a house, to settle down, but something about that life didn't feel right. On an impulse, she applied to the Storytelling grad program at East Tennessee State. Within a year, she and her broken-down Merc Sable limped their way to Appalachia to start a new life. There, she fell in love with storytelling and sharing her Ozark culture.
In Johnson City, she had the honor of studying under storytelling greats including Clare Murphy and David Novak as well as the honor of being selected to perform at the first ever student spotlight hour at the International Storytelling Center hosted by the Jonesborough Storytellers Guild. She also became a member of the performing ensemble at Night Owl Circus.
Ursa now lives and works in Chicago as a performer and writer. She performs for ages 3-103 at schools, coffee shops, theatres, and bars. Her writing has appeared on-stage at the Big Muddy New Play Festival and in-print through Rune Bear Weekly, Sirens Call, [Alternative Route], and Chrome Baby. She is also the voice behind Bella in the radio drama series Nineth Planet. She is currently touring her solo show, Ozark Phantasmagoria. Her book, Passive Aggressive Fables for Adults, is available wherever books are sold.
She has also finished a PhD in Communication and Theatre in her free time.
Had Ursa been a sane person, she would have used her new, shiny teaching license to land a salaried teaching job, to buy a house, to settle down, but something about that life didn't feel right. On an impulse, she applied to the Storytelling grad program at East Tennessee State. Within a year, she and her broken-down Merc Sable limped their way to Appalachia to start a new life. There, she fell in love with storytelling and sharing her Ozark culture.
In Johnson City, she had the honor of studying under storytelling greats including Clare Murphy and David Novak as well as the honor of being selected to perform at the first ever student spotlight hour at the International Storytelling Center hosted by the Jonesborough Storytellers Guild. She also became a member of the performing ensemble at Night Owl Circus.
Ursa now lives and works in Chicago as a performer and writer. She performs for ages 3-103 at schools, coffee shops, theatres, and bars. Her writing has appeared on-stage at the Big Muddy New Play Festival and in-print through Rune Bear Weekly, Sirens Call, [Alternative Route], and Chrome Baby. She is also the voice behind Bella in the radio drama series Nineth Planet. She is currently touring her solo show, Ozark Phantasmagoria. Her book, Passive Aggressive Fables for Adults, is available wherever books are sold.
She has also finished a PhD in Communication and Theatre in her free time.
Murphy Monroe
Give In
A talk about stage fright, authentic performance, and what happens when you stop pretending to be okay and let the real thing in. This won't be a wellness talk nor a breathing exercise. It will be an honest conversation about nervous systems, authenticity, and the counterintuitive truth that the most powerful thing a performer can do is stop fighting themselves and start trusting what's already there.
Give In
A talk about stage fright, authentic performance, and what happens when you stop pretending to be okay and let the real thing in. This won't be a wellness talk nor a breathing exercise. It will be an honest conversation about nervous systems, authenticity, and the counterintuitive truth that the most powerful thing a performer can do is stop fighting themselves and start trusting what's already there.
Murphy Monroe is an autistic activist, successful executive leader, and gifted inclusion speaker who brings lived experience and eye-opening professional insight to every room he enters. Diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, and Tourette Syndrome, Murphy spent much of his early life masking and resisting these identities—while also managing a daily, lifelong battle with photophobia, a painful hypersensitivity to light that shaped every aspect of how he moved through the world. Over time, he’s not only come to embrace these facets of himself but transformed them into powerful sources of strength, clarity, and connection.
He is the Executive Director of The Actors Gymnasium, a nationally treasured circus school and theater company, where he has led a transformative turnaround—automating operations, increasing access, and steering the organization through the pandemic into financial strength. Murphy also owns the True REST Float Spa in Skokie, Illinois. Having spent more time in sensory deprivation than nearly anyone on record, he brings a rare depth of insight into nervous system regulation, mindfulness, and sensory accessibility. He has curated a popular community healing space that supports not only neurodivergent individuals but anyone seeking relief, restoration, and calm.
In addition to his organizational leadership, Murphy serves as a City Commissioner in Evanston, Illinois, where he advocates for inclusive public policy, disability access, and full ADA compliance. His civic work deepens his mission to build environments—public and private—where all people can thrive. From boardrooms to classrooms, Murphy delivers powerful keynotes, workshops, and audits that shift mindsets and build skills. His offerings blend storytelling, strategy, and systems thinking—helping audiences move from awareness to action on inclusion, access, and disability justice.
He created and performs Love, Autism, a one-person show told through letters about relationships, identity, and life on the spectrum. His special interests are pacifism, donuts, and the Grateful Dead, and he's floated for over a thousand hours in sensory deprivation tanks—though not all at once.
He is the Executive Director of The Actors Gymnasium, a nationally treasured circus school and theater company, where he has led a transformative turnaround—automating operations, increasing access, and steering the organization through the pandemic into financial strength. Murphy also owns the True REST Float Spa in Skokie, Illinois. Having spent more time in sensory deprivation than nearly anyone on record, he brings a rare depth of insight into nervous system regulation, mindfulness, and sensory accessibility. He has curated a popular community healing space that supports not only neurodivergent individuals but anyone seeking relief, restoration, and calm.
In addition to his organizational leadership, Murphy serves as a City Commissioner in Evanston, Illinois, where he advocates for inclusive public policy, disability access, and full ADA compliance. His civic work deepens his mission to build environments—public and private—where all people can thrive. From boardrooms to classrooms, Murphy delivers powerful keynotes, workshops, and audits that shift mindsets and build skills. His offerings blend storytelling, strategy, and systems thinking—helping audiences move from awareness to action on inclusion, access, and disability justice.
He created and performs Love, Autism, a one-person show told through letters about relationships, identity, and life on the spectrum. His special interests are pacifism, donuts, and the Grateful Dead, and he's floated for over a thousand hours in sensory deprivation tanks—though not all at once.
Tim Rhoze
A Conversation with Tim Rhoze
Casual interview session with extended Q&A
A Conversation with Tim Rhoze
Casual interview session with extended Q&A
Tim Rhoze has been the Producing Artistic Director of the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre since 2010. FJT is a professional theatre company located in and supported by the City of Evanston. During his career he has produced and/or directed over forty productions
including: 1619: A Journey Of A People, Honey Pot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women, Pass Over Until The Flood, American Son, Twilight; Los Angeles 1992, The Meeting, Fires In The Mirror, Nutcracker(ish), Crowns, Having Our Say, Home, From the Mississippi Delta, Home, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, Woza Albert!, Going to St. Ives, Single Black
Female, A Song For Coretta, Yellowman, Sweet, Lady Day At Emerson Bar & Grill, Bear Country, Nobody, Fences, Piano Lesson, Ain't Misbehavin, K2, The Glass Menagerie, Intimate Apparel, An Iliad, Clybourne Park et.al. Tim is also the writer/director of Why Not Me? A Sammy Davis Jr. Story, Maya’s Last Poem, and director/co-writer of A Home On The Lake, Black Ballerina, and The Baldwin |
Giovanni Experience.
Since his move to Chicago from Detroit, MI in 1991, he has performed in over 30 productions at the Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens, Northlight Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and performed in Steppenwolf’s Airline Highway on Broadway with The Manhattan Theatre Club.
You have heard his voice on numerous regional and national voice-over campaigns including McDonalds, Budweiser, Ray-O-Vac, American Family Insurance, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Lowes, Gatorade, and Marvel’s Wastelander Series. Tim has worked in episodic television in Los Angeles and Chicago where he has made numerous guest starring & recurring appearances on Malcom and Eddie, The Practice, Becker, Friends, Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago PD and Comedy Central’s Southside among others.
As FJT’s Producing Artistic Director, Tim has produced and hosted the annual City of Evanston Kwanzaa and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebrations, That Art Thing We Do Black History 24/7/365, A Conversation With Black Evanston Artists, Juneteenth Festival, Women’s History Month Champagne Bruncheons; Gloria Bond Clunie Playwright’s Festival, FJT Summertime Concert Series which has included The Black Voices of Opera, The Songs From Broadway’s Black Musicals, The Great Ladies of Jazz, and the Amazing Grace Gospel Concerts. He has collaborated and partnered with Piven Theatre Workshop, Northlight Theatre, Family Focus, Evanston Public Library, District 65, Northwestern University, YWCA, and Beth Emet Synagogue along with local businesses.
Tim has developed and facilitated an array of theatre based programs including the Design-Technical & Theatre Management Program for teens in partnership with Northlight Theatre, FJT PrimeTime Players Older Adult Drama Clubs, Tater Tot Theatre Company for children ages 5-7, plays for Young Audiences at the Ecology Center, Adult Acting and Playwriting Workshops, Pop Up Family Theatre at Evanston’s Farmer’s Market, and the Intergenerational arts program YSTEP-Youth & Senior Theatre Ensemble Project. He has been a guest director with Evanston Township and Niles West High Schools.
including: 1619: A Journey Of A People, Honey Pot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women, Pass Over Until The Flood, American Son, Twilight; Los Angeles 1992, The Meeting, Fires In The Mirror, Nutcracker(ish), Crowns, Having Our Say, Home, From the Mississippi Delta, Home, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, Woza Albert!, Going to St. Ives, Single Black
Female, A Song For Coretta, Yellowman, Sweet, Lady Day At Emerson Bar & Grill, Bear Country, Nobody, Fences, Piano Lesson, Ain't Misbehavin, K2, The Glass Menagerie, Intimate Apparel, An Iliad, Clybourne Park et.al. Tim is also the writer/director of Why Not Me? A Sammy Davis Jr. Story, Maya’s Last Poem, and director/co-writer of A Home On The Lake, Black Ballerina, and The Baldwin |
Giovanni Experience.
Since his move to Chicago from Detroit, MI in 1991, he has performed in over 30 productions at the Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens, Northlight Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and performed in Steppenwolf’s Airline Highway on Broadway with The Manhattan Theatre Club.
You have heard his voice on numerous regional and national voice-over campaigns including McDonalds, Budweiser, Ray-O-Vac, American Family Insurance, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Lowes, Gatorade, and Marvel’s Wastelander Series. Tim has worked in episodic television in Los Angeles and Chicago where he has made numerous guest starring & recurring appearances on Malcom and Eddie, The Practice, Becker, Friends, Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago PD and Comedy Central’s Southside among others.
As FJT’s Producing Artistic Director, Tim has produced and hosted the annual City of Evanston Kwanzaa and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebrations, That Art Thing We Do Black History 24/7/365, A Conversation With Black Evanston Artists, Juneteenth Festival, Women’s History Month Champagne Bruncheons; Gloria Bond Clunie Playwright’s Festival, FJT Summertime Concert Series which has included The Black Voices of Opera, The Songs From Broadway’s Black Musicals, The Great Ladies of Jazz, and the Amazing Grace Gospel Concerts. He has collaborated and partnered with Piven Theatre Workshop, Northlight Theatre, Family Focus, Evanston Public Library, District 65, Northwestern University, YWCA, and Beth Emet Synagogue along with local businesses.
Tim has developed and facilitated an array of theatre based programs including the Design-Technical & Theatre Management Program for teens in partnership with Northlight Theatre, FJT PrimeTime Players Older Adult Drama Clubs, Tater Tot Theatre Company for children ages 5-7, plays for Young Audiences at the Ecology Center, Adult Acting and Playwriting Workshops, Pop Up Family Theatre at Evanston’s Farmer’s Market, and the Intergenerational arts program YSTEP-Youth & Senior Theatre Ensemble Project. He has been a guest director with Evanston Township and Niles West High Schools.
Scott Whitehair
The Thoughtful Tour Guide: Leading Your Listeners Through Story Structure
In this participatory workshop session, we'll look at the many options we have and things to consider in arranging our material and sharing it with listeners.
The Thoughtful Tour Guide: Leading Your Listeners Through Story Structure
In this participatory workshop session, we'll look at the many options we have and things to consider in arranging our material and sharing it with listeners.
Scott Whitehair is a storyteller, instructor, and producer from Chicago, IL. Scott is the producer of This Much Is True, Chicago’s longest running monthly storytelling series, the creator of Story Lab Chicago, which has put over 950 first time performers on stage since 2011, executive director of Do Not Submit, a grassroots network of open mics across Chicagoland with the goal of connecting people through personal narrative, and cohost of Story Vroom Vroom, Evanston's monthly storytelling party.
His training sessions are in demand, and he has worked with clients such as RW Baird, Loews Hotels, Crate and Barrel, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Blue Cross Blue Shield, R/GA, Zendesk, Johnson & Johnson, ISBA Mutual, Boston Children's Hospital, Chicago Cares, and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. In 2016 and 2017, he was a featured presenter at The Woodmark Summit, a symposium of 26 children’s hospitals from across North America. Scott’s private coaching clients include a Fortune 500 CEO, a candidate for U.S Surgeon General, and professional public speakers, as well as construction workers, high school students, and grandparents. Scott’s monthly personal narrative course has been selling out consistently since 2012, and he has been a frequent guest instructor at DePaul University, Northwestern University, Loyola University, The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and Hong Kong University.
He was the featured instructor at Hong Kong Story Worthy Week 2014, headlined by David Sedaris, and taught a special elective at All Hallows College in Dublin in 2015. As a performer, Scott has been seen on stages across the US and abroad, including Steppenwolf Theater, the historic Green Mill, Woodstock Opera House, NYC's Webster Hall, Park West, and Second City. He has been featured at The Fox Valley Folk Festival, The Evanston Public Library Storytelling Festival, Printer’s Row Lit Fest, Storytellers of San Diego Festival, and The Kansas City Storytelling Celebration. He has made appearances on TV, radio, and podcasts including WGN-TV, PBS, FOX, NPR, Sirius XM, Spotify, and the Risk podcast.
In October 2017, Scott made his debut at The National Storytelling Festival's Exchange Place in Jonesborough, TN. Scott was formerly on the board of directors of The National Storytelling Network, the professional association of U.S. storytellers. He is proud to be a 2024 Meier Foundation Award winner.
His training sessions are in demand, and he has worked with clients such as RW Baird, Loews Hotels, Crate and Barrel, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Blue Cross Blue Shield, R/GA, Zendesk, Johnson & Johnson, ISBA Mutual, Boston Children's Hospital, Chicago Cares, and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. In 2016 and 2017, he was a featured presenter at The Woodmark Summit, a symposium of 26 children’s hospitals from across North America. Scott’s private coaching clients include a Fortune 500 CEO, a candidate for U.S Surgeon General, and professional public speakers, as well as construction workers, high school students, and grandparents. Scott’s monthly personal narrative course has been selling out consistently since 2012, and he has been a frequent guest instructor at DePaul University, Northwestern University, Loyola University, The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and Hong Kong University.
He was the featured instructor at Hong Kong Story Worthy Week 2014, headlined by David Sedaris, and taught a special elective at All Hallows College in Dublin in 2015. As a performer, Scott has been seen on stages across the US and abroad, including Steppenwolf Theater, the historic Green Mill, Woodstock Opera House, NYC's Webster Hall, Park West, and Second City. He has been featured at The Fox Valley Folk Festival, The Evanston Public Library Storytelling Festival, Printer’s Row Lit Fest, Storytellers of San Diego Festival, and The Kansas City Storytelling Celebration. He has made appearances on TV, radio, and podcasts including WGN-TV, PBS, FOX, NPR, Sirius XM, Spotify, and the Risk podcast.
In October 2017, Scott made his debut at The National Storytelling Festival's Exchange Place in Jonesborough, TN. Scott was formerly on the board of directors of The National Storytelling Network, the professional association of U.S. storytellers. He is proud to be a 2024 Meier Foundation Award winner.