Join us for our May Story Collider show in Los Angeles featuring five true, personal stories about changing the conversation in science!
Hosted by Audrey Kearns and Joseph Scrimshaw
Doors open at 7:30pm. Show at 8pm.
Stories by:
Beth Pratt Bergstrom is known as the “cougar lady” in Los Angeles, but backyard frogs were her first childhood animal crush, and she used to name them all George. As a lifelong advocate for wildlife, Beth has worked in both Yosemite and Yellowstone, but claims as the California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, “I have the best job in the world—advocating for the state’s remarkable wildlife—and trying to improve the dating lives of LA cougars (of the cat kind).” She leads the #SaveLACougars campaign to build the largest wildlife crossing in the world, and her conservation work has been featured by The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC World Service, CBS This Morning, the Los Angeles Times, and NPR. Her book, When Mountain Lions are Neighbors was published in 2016, she has given a TEDx talk, “How a Lonely Cougar in Los Angeles Inspired the World,” and she is featured in the documentary, “The Cat that Changed America.”
Kim Evey is a stand up comedian, actor, writer and recovering new media producer. She has appeared in shows you would remember from the prehistoric television era (i.e. before HDTV). Back in the stone age of web video she created and starred in "Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show," a Japanese talk show parody for Sony's inaugural round of content on Crackle.com. During the bronze age she produced the award-winning independent web series "The Guild." Then in the iron age she co-founded the YouTube entertainment network Geek & Sundry, executive producing six series for their debut season including the award-winning "Written By A Kid." In hindsight, she realizes she became a producer to give herself an elaborate excuse to procrastinate writing her own material. She currently performs standup in cities beginning with the letter "L” including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Louisville. She looks forward to adding additional letters very soon. IG @kimevey
Erika Hamden is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Arizona. She develops UV detector technology, builds telescopes, and observes galaxies and hydrogen all over the universe. Her last project was a UV telescope that flew on a high altitude balloon. She is currently leading a team working on a proposal for a UV space telescope. When she isn't building or thinking about telescopes, she has a serious yoga practice, is learning to fly a plane, and loves hiking in the desert around Tucson. Before she went to grad school, Erika worked as a chef for a year. She is still really into eating. Erika is interested in sharing stories about how hardware gets built and the very human personalities that are behind scientific discoveries.
Xander Jeanneret is an actor, web personality, and professional roleplayer. He is best known for his appearances on Legendary Digital Networks, which include Geek & Sundry's LA by Night, and Relics & Rarities. You may also recognize Xander from season 2 of TBS' King of the Nerds. He is a part of the nerd parody band, The Library Bards, and has performed at Comic and Pop Culture conventions all over the world. Xander has also worked as a Japanese translator and localization specialist in Los Angeles for the last ten years, after having lived in Nagasaki, Japan.
Joseph Scrimshaw is a comedian, writer, and podcaster/host based in Los Angeles. He’s a writer for the fantasy comedy TV show Tigtone on Adult Swim. Joseph has also written for the movie riffing group, RiffTrax, Screen Junkies, and was a writer/performer on the radio show Wits, where he wrote sketches for Paul F. Tompkins, Dave Foley, Neil Gaiman, and more. Joseph’s plays Adventures in Mating, An Inconvenient Squirrel, and My Monster (written with Bill Corbett) have been performed all over the US as well as the UK, Peru, Bulgaria, and more. As a comedian and actor, Joseph has appeared at SF SketchFest, Chicago Improv Festival, Dragon Con, headlined on Jonathan Coulton’s JoCoCruise, appeared on Wil Wheaton’s TableTop, done children’s theater, Shakespeare, and an internet commercial with the monkey from Friends. His comedy podcast Obsessed has been listed as a Staff Favorite on iTunes. He co-hosts ForceCenter, a popular podcast discussing and celebrating Star Wars. Joseph has also released a book called Comedy of Doom and multiple stand-up albums including 2015’s Rebel Scum and 2013’s Flaw Fest. As a child Joseph wanted to grow up to be like Luke Skywalker and now looks forward to growing up more to be like older Luke Skywalker.