Abby Geni
Abby Geni (pronounced JEE-nee) is the author of The Wildlands, The Lightkeepers, The Last Animal, and a forthcoming short story collection, The Body Farm, which will be published in the spring of 2024. Her books have been translated into seven languages and have won the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the Chicago Review of Books Awards, among other honors. Her short stories have won first place in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open and the Chautauqua Contest and have been published in numerous journals, including The Missouri Review, Epoch, Ninth Letter, and New Stories from the Midwest. Geni is a faculty member at StoryStudio Chicago and frequently serves as Visiting Associate Professor of Fiction at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Scott Westerman
Scott Westerman is the founding Artistic Director of Go To Productions, a 501©3 nonprofit which develops projects that explore the nexus between live theatre and film. He created and directed the web series Hamlet & Ophelia which won Best Picture at the New York Film Awards, Best Web Series at the LA Film Awards, and Best Mobile Series at the 2022 New Media Film Festival. Scott has directed stage productions for The Artistic Home, ChiArts, City Lit Theatre, Chimera Theatre Company, Citadel Theatre, Beyond This Point, Barter Theatre, Stage Left Theatre, The Smithsonian Institution, American Theatre Company (Bridge), National High School Institute (Cherubs), and Reverie Theatre Company. Scott is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, an ensemble member with The Artistic Home, represented by Gray Talent Group, and a teaching artist with Lookingglass Theatre, Writers Theatre, and The Theatre School at DePaul University. He has an MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy. As an actor, Scott has worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lookingglass, Northlight, The Shakespeare Theatre Company and Ford’s Theatre in DC, Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, the Warehouse Theatre in South Carolina, and the Barter Theatre in Virginia to name a few. On Camera credits include Machine Gun Preacher, Prison Break, and Heist 88 which will premiere in 2023.
The board. We’re very serious.
Larry Geni
Larry Geni is an educator and founder of Geni Consulting, an educational consulting firm. In his more than 25 years as a high school science teacher, he developed a unique approach to education that teaches students to take ownership of the learning process and creates a classroom culture grounded in the personal growth and academic success for every student.
After retiring from the classroom in 2010, Larry has dedicated himself to disseminating this approach as widely as possible. He has worked as an educational consultant supporting teachers, running workshops, and giving presentations at national education conferences, school in-service sessions and other groups of teachers.
He has also written two books on the subject, both of which are available on his website,www.geniconsulting.org. The first, Agency: A Teacher's Guide to Self-directed Learning, serves as a guide for teachers on implementing the philosophy and strategies Larry developed in his own classroom. The second, This Changes Everything, describes his experiences with his students and with the teachers he has worked with as a consultant.
In addition to his educational work, Larry is a visual artist, specializing in oil on canvas landscapes, drawings, photography and theatrical set design. You can view his artistic work at www.larrygeni.com.