Are You Famous, Yet?

We discuss our low numbers and cost/benefit ratio. Download numbers are revealed. Laura and Jake talk about stopping regular production of the podcast. As is fitting, the sound would not work (curse you dongles) so we are using a MacPro mic and it sounds as bad as you'd expect. See https://jakescruggs.com/blog/2019/01/01/the-truth-about-my-podcast for the data we discuss. Stay subscribed if you like: We may do updates of our lives as events progress. Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

Bryn W Packard and Nilsa Reyna join us from New York City, update us on their lives, and introduce us to Lauren Sowa. Lauren Sowa is an actor and independent filmmaker. In 2016, she co-founded Form & Pressure Films to tell stories that inspire and provoke thought, while encouraging diversity and equality on set and on screen. Their first film, Marisol, is currently beginning its festival journey. As an actor, Lauren has been featured in the films Café Artist, The Devil’s Well, 42 Seconds of Happiness, which won multiple awards on the festival circuit and is now available on Amazon Prime, and The Rainbow Experiment, which premiered at Slamdance and was just picked up for distribution. She is on the board of NYC Women Filmmakers, an organization in the city devoted to cultivating the careers of women filmmakers through education and community. Her interview series Women in Film Portraits can be found on Instagram. Lauren received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is proud member of Actor’s Equ

This week's episode is the audio of the Friday September 14th, 2018 Three Cat Theater's Cabaret on the Lake hosted by Rob Dorn and produced by Laura Force-Scruggs. The performers were: Judy Parker (Storyteller), Matthew Lee Amyx (Storyteller), Danii Gallegos (Comedian), Bob Lawrence (Author/Reader), and Willa Moore (Musician/Poet). Willa Moore's guitar wasn't behaving so she asked us not to record her but gave us two recorded songs to insert. As always the Berger Park Cultural Center was wonderful to inhabit and the staff helpful. There is video of this event (along with 2 videos that Willa Moore provided) online here: https://youtu.be/Hz1Yokz3Pcg Follow us on Twitter or Facebook Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

Daniela Thome is an actor, and recently writer, who has traveled from New York city for just a few months to be a part of the play "Not For Sale" which just recently opened and is Jeff Recommended. She's acted in Fru Mary, The Surprise , The Addicts, Elvira, One Minute Play Festival, Patience, Fortitude, & Other Antidepresants, Three Sisters, Cinderella, Life Without Joey, In The Shadow, and Oh de Sea! And that's just the theater. She has been in the films: God I Miss You, Fat Guy, Saudade?, and Hispanacea. Not For Sale By Guadalis Del Carmen, Directed by Sara Carranza http://urbantheaterchicago.org/not-for-sale Produced by Urban Theater Company in Chicago 9/18- 10/20 2018 Part of Destinos Festival http://www.clata.org/destinos-main   A bunch of links to things we discussed in the podcast: Childrens Theater of Madison CTM - https://ctmtheater.org/ Maduka Steady - https://vimeo.com/51212982 Young Shakespeare Players - http://www.youngshakespeareplayers.org/ West High School, in Madison WI - https://www.fac

David Holcombe returns for his 3rd appearance and updates us about projects that were just a gleam in his eye when we last talked... For instance: The 3 part "Anthropology Anthology" is now finished and plans are in the works to release it as a single unit. A big part of the discussion is about "Blacksite: The Musical!" A musical that David has filmed but not finished because he needs your help to finish production. There's an IndieGoGo campaign https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/blacksite-the-musical#/ that only has 3 days left so please go there now if you'd like to help make this musical. The film is about an illegal detention/interrogation building run by the Chicago police with no accountability. The Guardian released a series of articles detailing the crimes committed by the Chicago police force a few years ago - they can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/homan-square http://daholcombe.com http://www.softcagefilms.com https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/blacksite-the-musical#/ Follow us

Thom Britton and Jonathan Pritchard join us to discuss "The Seance" which is best described by this quote from their recent press release: A 'spook-house' show for the smart set; The Seance is an original stage show that recreates an authentic Victorian-era seance. We will investigate the history of the seance, tell stories of the participants and demonstrate the exact techniques used by psychics and mediums who claimed to contact the dead. You will learn exactly how a seance was performed in a theatrical environment. "The Seance" is playing Oct. 13 at the Prop Theater in Chicago and in Detroit's  Hilton Garden Inn Southfield on Oct. 19 & Oct. 20th. Their website is: www.WePlayWithTheDead.com We had a interesting discussion of mentalism, the origins of the seance and escape artistry, and how crazy popular mysticism was in the 1890-1910 era. Thom and Jonathan are complete pros at audience interaction so it should have come as no surprise to me that they were non-stop interesting and engaging with great sto

Classic episode from Apr 7, 2014 This week Laura brings Greg Ledger, storyteller and fellow podcaster! Greg's Podcast: A Dear School 0:01:30 Say hello to Greg! 0:02:20 Obamacare may be working for Bryn shortly 0:02:50 Nilsa already has Obamacare… because she's more organized than Bryn 0:06:00 Recorded some radio spots for Engine Lab of Tampa with Brian McKenna at BToven Studios 0:08:00 This Greg had an incredible guest on his podcast… our own Laura Scruggs. Drinking may have been involved. 0:10:30 Greg tells us how storytellers do it 0:12:25 Practicing storytelling in the shower 0:15:20 Greg took a 30 year moritorium on creativity 0:18:50 Early problems with drink and fleeing the country… to paint a guy's house 0:20:05 Calgary, The Stampede, and roving hoards of intellectuals 0:23:10 Deported by the RCMP and the road to sobriety 0:25:25 Moving to Chicago and the worst phone ever 0:29:00 Getting back into artistic stuff and getting nasty 0:29:55 Writing and breakdowns 0:33:30 Schwarzenegger 0:37:55 Masking you

Pete Blatchford has been an actor for 35 years. He has performed in Chicago, New York and Edinburgh. He has acted with Yippie Fest, On the Spot, Three Cat and many other Chicago theatre companies. Pete is an ensemble member of On the Spot theatre company. He wrote the book, "Wicked, Immoral, Utterly Bad!" an illustrated history of Chicago Theatre, 1837 - 1974. For more information about his book, visit wickedchicagostage.com. Pete is available for presentations about his book as well! He also co-wrote the play, The Night Chicago Died, with Tim Davis. It was produced by the Beowulf Theatre Company. His other scripts, The Warthogs of Wartonia, as well as adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo and War of the Worlds, were performed by Pete’s theatre company, Pendragon Players. And he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree at Roosevelt University. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

Super quick update about a new showing of "Uncle Fun: You're the One" (https://unclefunyouretheone.com) with some very interesting women at the American Visionary Art Museum (http://www.avam.org) in Baltimore. The show is September 23rd, 2018, is a benefit for the museum, and costs 100 smackers. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

01:12 - The Benefactor returns. Matt Shuemaker is Bryn’s high school friend and our first repeat guest (back from the 6th episode)! 02:18 - Yet another person comes in from out of town and paints the town red. A discussion of Rocky - the musical ensues. 05:22 - Guess which members of our crew have never seen "Rocky"? Surely not our star and focus of the show... 09:40 - "All the Way" the LBJ bio play with Bryan Cranston 13:30 - Jake tells a sports story! 20:22 - Uh... We explain the triangle offense. What happened to this podcast? 21:15 - A Death in the family http://t.co/vJGcXWf893 29:17 - Similarities between Nilsa's Dad and Bryn's Mom. 38:13 - Death chat ends with Jake transparently changing the topic to "Community." How 'bout the 2nd D&D episode, eh? 40:21 - Nilsa doesn't like one of Bryn's favorite movies: "House" the super artsy Japanese movie from 1977. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_%281977_film%29 44:44 - Matt, still lives in the "death sty" and has become "The Grain Elevator Specialist" 48:2

03:12 - When did Maureen and Daniel know they wanted to sing? 06:04 - Origin story of and what is Scapi? 10:19 - Advice on promotion, especially on social media. 10:55 - Ashley Ray: https://www.facebook.com/arayhay 13:04 - Scapi's podcast: https://scapimag.com/category/podcasts/scapi-radio/ 22:38 - YouTuber Casey Neistat: https://www.youtube.com/user/caseyneistat 25:20 - What is Scapi now? https://scapimag.com/ 30:15 - Natalia Roxas: https://scapimag.com/2018/07/24/scapi-radio-07-24-18-filipino-kitchen-natalia-roxas/ 33:47 - DIY Fest: https://scapimag.com/2018/05/01/scapi-diy-theater-and-performance-may-2018/ https://scapimag.com/2018/05/31/scapi-diy-theater-and-performance-june-2018-2/ 35:02 - DIY Chicago: https://www.facebook.com/groups/diychicago/ 36:42 - 24 Hour Concert: https://www.facebook.com/events/2191744730840136/ 40:26 - Politics and Scapi. 41:06 - Eat the Rich: A Case for Land Value Tax: https://scapimag.com/2018/07/23/eat-the-rich-a-case-for-a-land-value-tax-in-chicago/ 41:30 - Andre Vasque

This week we welcome Dr. Walter J. Packard (Bryn's Dad) to the podcast for a heart-to-heart. Twitter: @WJPACK2 0:00:30 Bryn introduces "the big guns" 0:02:25 Nilsa's Dad… 0:03:00 Is Bryn famous, yet? No… not yet. 0:04:25 "Kinky Boots" with Dad and Broadway's survival. 0:09:00 "12 Years A Slave" worth seeing, even if you don't want to see a super-heavy movie about people being terrible in an institutionalized way. 0:12:30 Walter's first memory of Bryn: he was late. 0:13:45 Grandmothers and desperate measures 0:14:55 Bryn's relationship with classy horror movies as nurtured by his grandmother 0:21:45 "Some horrible things can't die" 0:22:35 Nilsa's in absentia observation: "I think you just enjoy reacting to things" 0:24:00 Bryn Packard is presented in "Feel Around" 0:24:35 LOUD NOISES! 0:29:30 A shout-out to Romero's "Day of the Dead" and intestine yanking 0:31:25 Nature vs. nurture 0:33:45 Bryn and his Dad love "Halo". A lot. 0:38:00 We sure talk about serial killers a lot- what is this, 1996? 0:40:00 Childho

This episode is a recording of the July 13th, 2018 Three Cat Theater Productions’ "Cabaret on the Lake" performed at the Berger Park Cultural Center, sponsored by this very podcast, and hosted by its own Laura and Jake Scruggs. Video of the event is at: https://youtu.be/dhsijBYDU9E T’was a hot night so we had a box fan blowing on the performers which, unfortunately, was picked up extremely well by our microphone. Our audio engineer did his best to filter out a fair amount of the "box fan sound" but it is still pretty audible. We are sorry about the audio quality of the episode. That being said, it was a great show with a packed house, heaps of emotion and laughs so please do enjoy. Performers: 1) Deborah Hines - Storyteller Deborah is native Chicagoan, a former South Shore-ite, transplanted to the strange land of the North Side. Since childhood she's been a writer and a lover of writing, throughout stints working as a long lines telephone operator, a typesetter, a licensed esthetician and a devoted spa manage

We interview Nilsa's childhood friend and “Sextra” from the movie “Shortbus" Janie Martinez http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2554808/ @MartinezJanie 01:44 "Can anyone truly know Janie Martinez?” No. 03:34 How Nilsa and Janie met 06:15 And almost destroyed their high school 12:30 Chicago suburbanites marvel at the well funded and versed South Texas high school drama program Janie and Nilsa come from: Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School 15:23 The College of Sexual Frustration 17:15 On not getting cast b/c costumes cost too much to make for a large woman 22:15 Making $186 to be wardrobe supervisor on the original production of “How I Learned to Drive” 26:45 Walking away from a paying gig to pursue more 38:00 Working once or twice a year on something artistic 39:22 Fat Sex by Details magazine comes a calling 54:51 “I just want to hug the screen right now!” screams Laura 59:00 And Janie does a public access TV show once a month called Goddesses: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/goddessbbw 01:05:36 We bring it back around to

This week we welcome Shawn Wickens and Gavin Starr Kendall: founders of The Bad Theatre Fest and Bad Film Fest Gavin Starr Kendall: @TheStarrKendall Shawn Wickens: @shwickens 0:02:00 Our guests are the founders of "The Bad Film Fest" www.badfilmfest.com 0:02:39 Starr hails from Texas, which he has in common with Nilsa 0:03:00 Turns out Shawn has actually listened to an episode of the podcast and proves it 0:04:46 Starr Fellows a woman to New York, as one does, and falls-in with some cool artists 0:07:33 Performing arts, ice sculptures and ephemerality 0:09:55 Twigs and "True Detective" 0:10:27 The Brick Theatre and its "dangerous" beginnings 0:19:13 What's Shawn's story? 0:22:08 "I immediately thought: this guy is interesting." 0:28:18 Tell us about the Bad Theatre Fest and Bad Film Fest Mr. Kendall and Mr. Wickens 0:38:30 Where's My Cereal? 0:41:20 We're targeting people that share the same definition of the word "bad" 0:44:40 "There's things that get in that we're scared of…" 0:48:20 BadFilmFest.com - 201

Jake and Laura sit down for an quick chat about Laura's new job at Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co. - http://chicagotrolley.com, recent film premiere, cabaret, and fairy training events. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

02:37 - 2PM Q&A session begins 26:25 - Gentleman John Battles start paying 39:53 - Captain Ambivalent performs 52:11 - Gentleman John Battles spills some water and plays a bit more. 56:36 - 7PM Q&A session begins Video of all this is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ALQ6knI-o3o 1000 thanks to Chicago Filmmakers for handling all the logistics of 2 shows at 50, then 60, 75, then a third show, then building risers in time for the show before us (and therefore us too). Please donate to https://www.chicagofilmmakers.org/ if possible. All of their personnel were very supportive and helpful. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

This episode was recorded live at the fabulous Berger Park Mansion on June 8th, 2018. Curator/Creative producer Laura Scruggs made it all happen and Jake Scruggs hosted and told some comedy jokes. If you like what you hear, the show is presented the 2nd Friday of every month except January. Video of the event is here: https://youtu.be/WUZT5xC0EtM Jake Scruggs - Jokes about being married to Laura Jake grew up in Lansing, IL the son of a sculptor and a writer and spent his pre 30s getting 2 degrees in education and teaching for the better part of a decade. In 2004 he turned an apprenticeship into a career as a software developer. Executive producing his wife’s documentary “Uncle Fun: You’re the One” has involved mostly sound editing, tech support, and funding. He also co-hosts and produces the podcast “Are You Famous, Yet?” (also with his wife Laura Force Scruggs). Jake took a stand up class 5 years ago and this will be his second performance ever. Writer Amy Crider (special thanks for filling in for an artist

http://bigfunbigfun.com 03:27 - Steve has the largest piece of Whoops fake vomit. If it were any bigger, there would be a failure in the physics of creating the product. 05:12 - The first time Steve walked into Goodies, it changed his whole life and career path. 08:55 - We discuss Ted Frankel, known as “Uncle Fun,” former owner of a now-defunct store that bore his nickname. 16:13 - Steve returned to Cleveland and worked with people with special needs 18:28 - Big Fun Columbus 19:05 - Steve called Ted/Uncle Fun and said he wanted to start a store like Goodies and told him about the warehouse (a very unusual thing for a collector to do) 22:14 - Big Fun has been open for 24 years. 25:28 - Steve went from stock (market) to (selling) schlock. 27:15 - A mini tornado knocked out a window in a warehouse and ultimately helped him start his Big Fun empire. 30:55 - Mile High Comics. 33:54 - Nilsa asks for a visual tour of the store 36:38 - Ernie Anderson Giulardi - Paul Thomas Anderson's father. He was the voice-over guy

Martin Felshman is a freelance baker who has been doing stand up for the last 7 years. His proudest comedy accomplishment was when he was invited to Wizard-con 2015 in Madison Wisconsin where he got to tell jokes while wearing a very pretty dress. He is a co-producer of the Cupcake Comedy Cabaret every Thursday evening at the Gallery Cabaret, and a co-host of the machine culture podcast "Podzooky" where a bunch of comedians get real tired and talk about kaiju monvies, and co-producer of the new Dungeons & Dragons themed Comedy Show "Slide into your Dm's" the third Thursday of every month at Bonus Round Cafe in Boystown. Also, he loves thrifting and you check out his odd finds on Instagram @weirdthriftshopfinds. He's been presented on The Three Cat Cabaret on the Lake and The Chicago Digital Arts and Music Fest as well as being a co-producer and contributor to the Ghost Planet’s, a defunct surealist talk show. And he is a fellow member of Uncle Fun Nation, has co-custody of the Wishbot and is featured in t