Tait Smith

*This episode was recorded on Election Day, 2020*
Intro: Gina bastardizes a beautiful e.e. cummings poem
Let Me Run This By You: Lack of acceptance, Japanese death philosophy, Unsolved Mysteries, tsunamis, personal responsibility, aggressively fearful flag waving, wearing your fear like a cloak of armor, more on NXVIM, channeling a lil' psychopathy, emotional felonies.
Interview: We talk to Tait Smith! Feldenkrais, feeling in over your head at TTS, Le Mars Iowa the Ice Cream Capital of the World, high school sweethearts, seeing Morgan Freeman and Q-Tip at the Michigan Avenue Bennigans, Brighton Beach Memoirs, crying in your dorm room, expanding your mind in college, smoking and wearing fedoras and pagers, the appearance of confidence, expectations of the college experience (football games and cutting class) as compared to the realities of conservatory life (classes all day and rehearsals or performances at night), viewing fellow alums as war buddies, clicking in Improv class, the fabled Apartment 3, waiting for your re-acceptance letter in the summer, work study, Lincoln Park Foods, Ed Debevic's, Lollapalooza 1994, the unreleased film "Stricken" starring Tait, Jamie Kennedy, Sean Gunn, and Judy Greer. Auditioning sucks. Finding a stage wherever you are and redefining performance and storytelling, life lessons from TTS, differing philosophies about rehearsal, wild improv moments with Peyton Myrick,  the subjective nature of art and the imposed judgment of it that happens in drama school, Epsom Downs, the politics of the cut system, big laughs and good times with Alex Skuby, artists looking for acceptance and validation, Charlie's Ale House in Chicago, having Thai food for the first time with Eric Slater leading the way, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to do yoga and Movement to Music, making enough money to say thanks to Mom and Dad, Antigone, the Adding Machine, Detective Story with Lou Contey, Merchant of Venice, Sisterly Feelings, and LSD.