“Like the best of his subjects, which include Stephen Colbert, Bill Murray and Tina Fey, Wasson has perfect timing.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
 
Finalist for the 2017 George Freedley Memorial Award
 
In this richly reported, scene-driven narrative, Sam Wasson charts the meteoric rise of improv from its unlikely beginnings in McCarthy-era Chicago. We witness the chance meeting...

Ed and his friends accidentally sign up for a playwriting contest, a dangerous activity for someone who possesses the Silver Center, and what they write is pretty strange, but when it comes to actually performing the play, Ed's magic coin lends new meaning to the words "stage fright."

In Acton, Oregon, sisters Alex, Stevie, and Joey take turns telling about their lives, including their long line of actor ancestors, creative family dinners, toe marshmallows, swearing in Shakespeare, and the Sisters Club.

The door to magic is closed, but it's not locked. And now Joshua Jay, one of the world's most accomplished magicians, not only opens that door but brings us inside to reveal the artistry and obsessiveness, esoteric history, and long-whispered-about traditions of a subject shrouded in mystery. And he goes one step further: Joshua Jay brings us right into the mind of a magician-how they develop their other worldly skills, conjure up illusions,...

"A British actress discovers the dark side of Hollywood when she is the only witness to the sudden disappearance of a woman she meets at an audition. Once a year, actors from across the globe descend on the smog and sunshine of Los Angeles for pilot season. Every cable network and studio looking to fill the rosters of their new shows enticing a fresh batch of young hopefuls, anxious, desperate and willing to do whatever it takes to make it. Careers...