Are You Famous, Yet?

Originally recorded late March 2014 02:13 - Introducing Dan and a glimpse into his history with our group 04:00 - Dan and Nilsa and The Women 07:38 - "…it started when I was 11, 12 years old…" 10:45 - Encounters with soon-to-be-famous campers 14:28 - The Notorious C.T.S. 19:25 - Dan goes method 22:04 - Going to Chicago Academy for the Arts and meeting Ronnie 33:01 - "…I can drink more than anybody else, all of a sudden people like me..." 40:44 - The Great and Terrible NYU 47:55 - Acting vs. Directing and Teaching 53:35 - Seymour 59:33 - A Warlock's Dark Magic 1:04:15 - "We want to start a theater company and we want to name it after a Bruce Springsteen song." 01:09:41 - Finding the opposite 1:12:20 - "I was so engrossed with all of this stuff that I had to pull myself out of it." 1:17:07 - Summer of 2001 1:20:42 - Fools for love 1:24:56 - A lot of chaos leads to a Wonderful Life 1:30:24 - Mystery Science Theater 3000: An Obsessive Odyssey 1:37:44 - Why aren't you auditioning? 1:43:10 - Dan Taube's advice to Bryn 1:47:59 - Baby With The Bathwater and other upcoming coolness 1:50:37 - A sincere discussion about the title of our podcast 1:52:41 -"I've done what I've done because I love it and I can't imagine doing anything else…"

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Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

In this episode Jake and Laura talk about last night's showing of her Uncle Fun documentary to "The Benefactor" and "The Benefactor Jr" (see http://areyoufamousyet.libsyn.com/the-benefactors-identical-twin-episode-55) and some lessons learned.

Then they discuss two recent readings of Laura's play "The Magic of Ladie M" which is MacBeth from Ladie MacBeth's point of view with lots of magic and set in an alternate modern world where politics are even crazier than now.

Finally they reflect on the amazing Chicago stand up comedy scene now that they live within walking distance of 3 open mic comedy shows. More importantly, they reveal the secrets of getting free drinks at said shows.

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Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

00:38 - Presenting Richard J. Miller: richardjmiller.org 01:16 - How we met Richard and his relationship to previous podcast guest, Lauren Miller. 02:01 - How Richard got into his field. 04:24 - Story of Richard attempting to mix up his own drug. 09:11 - Proliferation of various drugs from morphine. 12:51 - Origin of the name of heroin. 13:22 - Bayer and heroin. 16:58 - Part of opioid crisis. 21:36 - Can drugs be made less addictive through chemistry? 26:03 - Kratoms. 27:14 - Harry Potter. 38:02 - Is magic real through medicine? 38:54 - How Richard and Lauren met. 40:12 - Love is a drug and it's hard to get a grant to study love. 41:05 - Romanticism. 44:23 - Richard's theory about Christina Rossetti. 47:06 - Symphony Fantastique by Berlioz. 48:16 - Heroin. 53:55 - Promotion time - Richard's blog: richardjmiller.org

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Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

amycrider.com

02:18 - "Leda." ledaplay.com 06:37 - Oedipus. 08:05 - Prophecy and fate. 10:04 - Thoughts on what it was like to self-produce "Leda." 15:29 - Lines Bek improvised! 18:06 - Would Amy self-produce again and breakdown of expenses for "Leda." 22:02 - Some of Jake and Laura's self-producing experiences. 25:47 - A funny thing that happened during "Leda." 27:14 - Amy has a reading of the opening scene of "Charlie Johnson Reads All of Proust" at the Make Ready with Dandelion Theatre Tuesday, February 13th at 7 pm at The Galway Arms in Chicago: https://www.dandeliontheatre.com/make-ready 33:49 - Amy's play, "Metadata," in Three Cat Productions' Next Draft Reading Series on Sept. 17th: http://threecatproductions.com/next-draft 38:20 - Some of Amy's thoughts about play writing. 43:02 - Amy's play, "Metadata" and the Steppenwolf. https://www.steppenwolf.org 45:13 - Baby steps/in-between you have to go through as a writer.

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Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

Audio Note: Bryn used a decent microphone and recorded the episode on his computer. I used the built in MacBook Pro mic and so this is one of the few episodes where the New York side sounds much better than the Chicago recording.

Guest: Andrea Prestinario http://andreaprestinario.com/ and Twitter: @aprestinario 01:10 Introducing Andrea 03:45 Intro to Meisner 08:50 Bryn and Andrea reconnect 10:14 Jake calls-out Bryn on living with women who are not his girlfriend 14:00 Finally, we let Andrea talk 20:20 Three early survival jobs 22:32 *Name deleted to protect the guilty* 27:07 http://www.eddieshrake.com for web design 30:10 "You have to be worth it for a producer to pay more for you." 40:05 Working with a legend 45:13 A worthy derailment 49:00 Finally moving to New York… and leaving again. 51:52 "The highs are higher, but the lows are lower" 52:43 Bryn asks Andrea if saying "Yes" to everything was helpful 59:05 Nilsa's New York perspective 1:03:00 Advice to the aspiring actor 1:07:43 Bryn plugs Andrea's next big show- with a falsetto. 1:12:05 Laura Scruggs: Documentary Filmmaker 1:21:54 Bryn's first Vine https://vine.co/v/hlBxVYhhIbt

Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

02:30 - The story of how our guest's first name became Corson 05:00 - The movie "Ladybird" felt very familiar. 08:00 - University of Chicago's pre-orientation program and how it helped Croson transition from rural small town to a big crazy city. 10:31 - The value of seeing shows you don't like. 13:50 - Corson's plan for college and how that quickly changed during her freshman year. 18:15 - Sophomore year. 19:26 - Music directing "Urinetown" in her 3rd year. 25:04 - Having the best Halloween costumes b/c your mom is, amongst many things, a costume designer. 30:13 - Picking up the guitar after a long absence to break through some songwriter's block. 31:42 - Junior year vs senior year 34:35 - Composing the music for an adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" 36:50 - A "pipe dream thesis project" to adapt "A Wrinkle in Time" as a musical. 40:16 - First job out of college: Assistant musical director on Victory Garden's production of "Fun Home." 45:04 - Working on "Josephine the Mouse Singer" at Rhino Fest.

Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

A trip back to Nov 25, 2013 with a bit of audio magic to make it all a wee bit more listenable.

Orignial notes:

Until 3:15 Bryn's mic is misplaced and his voice is quiet - sorry.

Robot Voice is discussed and observed.

Laura Scruggs is generally a delight but also plays the piano while singing a potential theme song. (Future note: Eventually our permanent theme song)

In the social medial section, Bryn discusses a tweet he almost made about a movie that has delighted him.

At the time of the podcast we were not on iTunes, which we mention. We are now.

Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

Laura and Jake discuss the previous year (2017) and their hopes for 2018.

Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

Happy New Year, loyal listeners. On this Jan 1st 2018, we take a trip back to our very first episode released Nov 17, 2013. Full disclosure: I poured myself a stiff drink before the start of the show and the start was delayed. I made the mistake of continuing to drink while waiting what turned out to be enough time to get me slurring my words and meandering in conversation.

Even though I remastered the sound, it is pretty bad. We recorded this first episode using Apple FaceTime, Quicktime player, and the built in MacBook microphone on Chicago side. Bryn was in New York City receiving the call on his iPhone 4. I think he was wearing the headphones that come with an iPhone of the time. Later we would record both sides of the conversation, use decent microphones, and mix the tracks together in the edit.

We discuss how there was currently no way to see "Children Without Parents," which Bryn had just finished shooting. It is now on Amazon and free with Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Children-Without-Parents-Bryn-Packard/dp/B076N285VJ/

Original show notes:

The players are introduced: Bryn Packard: Aspiring Actor recently moved to New York from Chicago Jake Scruggs: Bryn's left behind friend, podcaster, and chief interrogator. Laura Scruggs: Innocent bystander and musical producer.

Why Bryn is not famous yet is discussed.

Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz

00:45 - Presenting: Dolores Diaz, Wendy Schmidt, Lisa Scott and Laura Scruggs, playwrights of Three Cat's Holiday Radio Show. All female playwrights, actors and even stage manager. http://threecatproductions.com/201718-three-cat-season/the-holiday-radio-show 02:05 - Main concept of each short play. 09:32 - When was A Kidnapped Santa Claus written? Originally published in December of 1904. 10:44 - Favorite part of each play. 14:25 - This is done as if it was a radio show in the 40's, a live recording at a USO. 15:06 - Favorite foley and sound effects. 17:10 - Highlights and challenges of experience. 23:01 - The letters. 26:44 - Favorite parts of working with Jason and Three Cat Productions. http://threecatproductions.com 32:55 - Three Cat is devoted to the development of new artists. http://threecatproductions.com 34:05 - The cabaret! http://threecatproductions.com/upcoming-season/cabaret-on-the-lake 34:46 - Promotions! Lisa Scott's "The Inner World of Christmas Trees:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ5qKkS4knI 37:26 - Jason Paul Smith has been on the podcast twice: http://areyoufamousyet.libsyn.com/a-home-to-fail-or-jason-paul-smiths-unexpected-gift-to-artists-episode-58 http://areyoufamousyet.libsyn.com/jason-paul-smith-in-a-beulah-box-episode-100 38:00 - Dolores has a reading at the New Works Festival at Three Cat! Sat., Feb. 3rd at 12 noon "Man of the People" 40:26 - Laura has a play for the first time in the New Works Festival at Three Cat! "The Magic of Ladie M." Jan. 20th at 3 pm 43:01 - More about the New Works Festival 43:46 - Wendy has a reading in NYC at La Mama on Jan. 18th - a reading of her new play http://lamama.org 45:13 - Wendy started writing hew new play on the La Mama retreat. http://lamama.org/programs/la-mama-umbria/international-playwright-retreat/ 46:26 - Lisa has a storytelling performance at The Fillet of Solo in Jan., with Serving the Sentence! Friday, Jan. 12th at 8:30 pm http://www.lifelinetheatre.com/performances/17-18/filletofsolo2018.shtml https://www.facebook.com/servingthesentencechicago/ 47:48 - Laura is on the brink of finishing her Uncle Fun documentary. https://www.facebook.com/unclefunchicago/ 48:40 - Do Not Submit http://www.donotsubmitchicago.com 50:19 - Why people should come and see our Holiday Radio Show! http://threecatproductions.com/201718-three-cat-season/the-holiday-radio-show We are listed in the Chicago Tribune as one of the top holiday shows to see in Chicago: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-ott-holiday-shows-guide-1124-story.html and all of the beautiful music and cider and cookies! All ages and something for everyone! And veterans are free!

Intro Music: "Are You Famous, Yet?" - Laura Scruggs. Outro Music: "AYFY 1" - Christopher Kriz