If This Is True with Chris Hall

Simone is a theatre practitioner from Malta with experience in acting, directing and scriptwriting. She has an MFA in Staging Shakespeare from the University of Exeter and a strong background in scripted theatre. She is a member of the improv troupes Playing Dead Theatre, Sabir, the online troupe Close Distance and is one half of the duos Invisible Women, Pairentheses and Bold Curls. She was a founding member of the Brussels-based troupe The Ghost Sheep. Simone has taught and performed all over Europe. She loves a good duo and we talked about the importance of relationships in duo scenes and other forms. We also talked about having characters that you want the audience to root for, even if they are terrible people.Don't miss this one!!

The debut of ‘Playa Dust in My Soul’ made Sarah Marshall a newly minted author late in the seventh decade of her life. The shortcomings of her first draft initiated a writer’s journey that took over twenty years to learn how to carve a story from a mountain of information.As a Burning Man village leader for over twenty years, Sarah has witnessed firsthand how temporary communities catalyze permanent transformation. As a trans woman she had the experience of the event's grace in welcoming her in from outsider to enthusiastic participant. As a business professional with many past lives (military, martial artist, firefighter, engineer, adventurist, spiritual seeker, community activist), she bring lived experience to stories about reinvention and what happens when broken people find belonging in one of the most intense environments on earth. The novel explores second chances, radical acceptance, and the crucible of transformation that is the playa.

Yuehan is a designer by day and an improv nerd by evening. Originally from Shanghai, China, and now based in Stockholm, Sweden. She is the founder of English improv community - Fika Improv Group in Stockholm, where she's committed to connecting improvisers and sharing our passion for improv in a welcoming space. Graduated from Second City, she has also been training with teachers from different schools around the world like Jay Sukow, Liz Allen, Susan Messing, Aretha Sills and Billy Merritt. Yuehan is half of the Scandinavian Asian duo "Herring & Chopsticks", is a performer at BIT Comedy Network, teaches and performs at several international improv festivals as well as locally. Through her performances and teaching, Yuehan strives to create a fun, connected atmosphere and is passionate about spreading the joy and freedom that improvisation brings. Yuehan brings joy to everything she does. Don't miss this one!

Ophira Eisenberg is a standup comedian, writer, and podcast host (NPR, CBS, CNN, The Moth, HBO, Comedy Central, iHeart) who headlines theaters and comedy venues across the world, tours regularly with the Moth Mainstage, and hosts the weekly parenting-comedy podcast Parenting is a Joke (Webby Finalist for Best Host). She also hosted NPR’s trivia comedy show Ask Me Another for 9 years. Her breakout memoir Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy (Seal Press) has been optioned for a television series, and her solo show Leaving A Mark: A Comedy About Scars won Women in the Arts & Media Award for Solo Show Scripts and just finished a successful European tour.We talked about parenting with night time jobs, handling hecklers and so much more. Give this a listen! For more information, go to ophiraeisenberg.com.

Monte Schulz received his M.A. in American Studies from University of California, Santa Barbara. He published his first novel, Down by the River, in 1990, and spent the next twelve years writing a novel about the Jazz Age. His most recent novel, award winning Metropolis, was published in 2022. His father is the late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Building on the world Schulz created in his highly successful book Metropolis, Undercity collects the voices of brave survivors, of those who’ve refused to submit to the indignities of eugenical persecution, the horror of gas chambers, and relentless warfare in rural provinces. Some of these stories demonstrate the moral disaster of eugenics, while others tell of courage and love and that indomitable magic of the human spirit that refuses to be silenced in the face of unspeakable crimes. This sweeping tale is a warning to us, as well, that what we might think is unimaginable needs only apathy and inattention to arise. We discussed writing, music and so much more. Don't be a blockhead! Listen to this!

John Lutz is an actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is best known for playing J. D. Lutz on the sitcom 30 Rock, and for his work as a writer on the NBC series Saturday Night Live for seven seasons. In 2014, he joined the writing staff of the NBC late-night talk show Late Night with Seth Meyers.Lutz began his professional career as a writer-performer with Chicago's ImprovOlympic and The Second City theaters. He was hired at Saturday Night Live in February 2004 after spending three years touring with Second City. We discussed life on the road and in Chicago, struggling with the Harold and succeeding with its structure, and so much more. Don't miss this one!John will be performing in 2SQUARE with Peter Grosz at Del Close Marathon (DCM) 26, Sunday, June 14, at 7:30 PM at the Theater for the New City, Stage Two. For tickets, go to https://ucbcomedy.com/dcm.