Austin’s stellar 2012 cast includes award-winning authors, poets, copywriters and bloggers…who also happen to be mothers, sisters, daughters or aunts. Everyone has a mother story, whether they’re mothers or not. The tales they share will take the audience on an often hilarious, sometimes tender, perhaps tearful, journey through the beauty and beast that is motherhood. (But without the sleep deprivation!)
Please join us on Sunday, April 29, 2012 to hear their incredible stories. Tickets on sale now!
Wendi Aarons – Producer/Director – Before motherhood addled her brain, Wendi was a copywriter and worked in various capacities for Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Pictures. In the past few years, her humor has been seen on many websites and publications and wendiaarons.com was recently named Funniest Blog by Parents Magazine. She is also a founder of TheMouthyHousewives.com. This is her second year producing Listen To Your Mother and she is truly honored to be a part of such an incredible show. She and her patient husband Chris and sweet sons Sam and Jack love Austin and will never move away because of the breakfast tacos.
Catherine Berry is a performer, writer, songwriter, teacher and mother, not necessarily in that order. She teaches Music Together to wee ones at Armstrong Community Music School and also performs in The Dick Monologues at Hyde Park Theater. Recently she wrote and performed in Mi Casa es Su Teatro 2012. Her one woman show, Spin, was a Best of the Fest selection at Frontera Fest 2002 and earned her a B. Iden Payne nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical. Ms. Berry would like to thank Spike Gillespie and all the writers in the Thursday writing workshop for their continued support.
Jill Bingamon is an Austin poet who believes in the positivity of poetry. She is the vice-chairperson of Austin International Poetry Festival, and recently provided the artwork for Forrest Fest’s 2012 website and anthology. Previously, she co-published Art-Core, self-published a poetry chapbook entitled Hand, performed in a one-woman, one-hour live poetry show for cable television, was featured at Mexi-Carte Museum for a Tennessee anthology and produced a comedy-variety cable television show called Angels and Mermaids. She is a guest poet for Forrest Fest 2012, www.forrestfest.org. Jill also once taught Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones how to two-step.
Carla Birnberg is a mother, blogger, freelance writer and novice hula-hooper. After 12 years in Austin she’s declared herself a native and plans to make summer 2012 the one where she stops whining about the heat. You can find her writing, musings (and most likely her heat-lamenting) at MizFitonline.com.
Maria Escamilla is a stay-at-home-mom who loves to eat Skinny Cow ice-cream sandwiches while watching Judge Joe Brown. She uses her journalism degree to write well-crafted nasty letters to city officials and HOA members. Maria blogged as Mommy on the Verge eight years ago, but the stress of bringing the funny everyday to her 15 readers proved too stressful. After years of writing marketing material and grant proposals for non-profits in the Bay Area, she switched careers and got her elementary teaching credential. Maria, her husband Doug and two crazy daughters, Celina and Ella Grace moved to Austin five years ago.
Linda Glass is an executive business coach by day and happily crazed mom by day, night and in between. Her career spans from professional theatre to 11 years with Starbucks, here and London, and now with her own business, Glass Talent Strategies, here in Austin. Linda blogs at glasstalent.wordpress.com. She adores (as any good mom does!) her two sons and patient husband.
Elizabeth McGuire – Producer/Director – is a writer, photographer and mother of three. After years as a communications consultant, she now trains her eye on the people nearest to her heart. Her blog, Peace, Love and Guacamole, captures the small moments that tell the big stories of family life. Recent essays have been featured on BlogHer and in Reader’s Digest. Liz was a member of the inaugural cast of Listen to Your Mother: Austin, where she told a story of sending her son off to kindergarten. When she is not aiming her camera at her own family, she is documenting other people’s stories at ewmcguirephoto.com.
Mary K. Moore has written for Glamour, Self, Newsweek, Texas Monthly and is a regular blogger for The Huffington Post. She is also the author of the parody The Unexpected When You’re Expecting (Sourcebooks.) She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, T.J., and their 7-year-old daughter, Scarlett.
Catherine Avril Morris is a writer, teacher, self-appointed custodian of the English language, wife, and mother of two beloved children. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and daughter, Pearl. Her firstborn child, August John, died at birth on January 12, 2010, the same day the catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti. Catherine blogs about being August’s mama at worstbestthing.wordpress.com.
Mary Jo Pehl is a writer and performer with Cinematic Titanic, the live version of the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, for which she was a writer and actor. Mary Jo has written for Austin Monthly, Salon.com, Austin Chronicle, Minnesota Monthly, and more. Her work is featured in several anthologies, and her recently published book, Employee of The Month and Other Big Deals, is available through Amazon.com. A native of Minnesota, Mary Jo lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband.
Susan Schorn writes the column Bitchslap for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Her first book, Smile at Strangers, will be published by Houghton Mifflin in spring 2013. She and her daughter Lilly train at Sun Dragon Martial Arts in South Austin, her son Dave trains at Austin’s Traditional Martial Arts Academy, and her husband Scott feels very well-protected.
Shanteka Sigers writes advice to her son on her blog, LibraryofMaternalNagging.com, which was named Best ‘Listen To Your Mother’ by the Austin Chronicle in 2011. She is also a Senior Vice President Executive Creative Director for an advertising agency. Several of her short stories have appeared in The Chicago Reader and the Evansville Review. She was on the Dean’s List a few times at Northwestern University. She lives happily in sin in Austin, Texas with her partner Derrick, Lola and Murray (250 pounds of Mastiff goodness) and Amsden, the light of the world.
Carlotta Eike Stankiewicz wrote her first poem, “The Goose,” at the tender age of six. Rave reviews from most of her relatives inspired her to continue writing. She now blogs in iambic pentameter as The Well-Versed Mom with an abundance of subject matter provided by her mostly well-behaved daughters, Kate and Ella. A creative director at GSD&M, Carlotta has created award-winning ad campaigns for clients like Southwest Airlines, John Deere and AARP — achievements that pale in comparison, however, to capturing the 2003 O. Henry Pun-Off World Championship.
Missy Stevens is a freelance copywriter. In her past life she managed the community relations department of a major corporation, where she wore suits and had an expense account. Missy left that life–willingly, she swears–to become a part-time writer and a full-time mother. She’s now living happily ever after with her husband, Mark, and two sons, Harvey and Pete. Missy is abundantly blessed by her family and friends; after all, they provide a steady supply of fodder for her blog, Wonder, Friend.
Leigh Ann Torres is a freelance writer and blogger who has been featured on BlogHer, in Multiplicity Magazine, and other various places around the Internet. (All PG-rated, she promises.) Pre kids she was an art school grad turned banker, turned super mom, turned writer. When she’s not wiping someone else’s behind, she blogs about the good, the bad, and the ridiculous of life with twins plus one at Genie in a Blog. You can also find her as a contributing writer at Free Fun in Austin and making fun of her favorite products at This Blogger Makes Fun of Stuff.
Hope to see you on Sunday, April 29, 2012! Tickets are going quickly!
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