Lady Parts is a sketch comedy group conceived and formed in Chicago, IL in the fall of 2009. Focusing on short sketches of absurd and outlandish concept, Lady Parts has built a following both on the web and via their live stage appearances. A dedication to quality, both of content and experience, has helped to set Lady Parts apart from other sketch groups.

2010 Cast

Justin Howard
Justin is originally from Casper Wyoming. He moved to Chicago in 2003 to attend Columbia College Chicago, where he graduated in 2007 with a BA in Film and Video. Justin has been training and preforming at the Annoyance Theater in Chicago since the Spring of 2009. He has appeared in several shows at the Annoyance theatre, most notably Splatter Theater, and The Edge and Back. He is also a member of the Playground Theater’s Incubator improv team Lumberjack Tsunami. Justin is the 2006, 2008, and 2010 Chicago regional U.S. Air Guitar Champion, and has preformed live in New York and San Francisco for each year’s respective final.

Chelsie Jangord
Chelsie is originally from Bonney Lake Washington. She moved to Chicago in 2006 where she attended Columbia College Chicago and graduated in 2009 with a BFA. Chelsie has studied at the Annoyance theater and has had her screen printing work shown at several Chicago galleries. She currently teaches screen printing classes and workshops at Fill in the Blank Gallery.

Aarón Alonso
Aarón is originally from Juarez, Mexico. He attended the University of Texas at El Paso and graduated with a B.A. in Electronic Media. Aarón moved to Chicago in the winter of 2009 to pursue an education in improvisation. A graduate of The Annoyance Theatre Aarón is currently continuing his training at the Chicago’s iO Theatre. While still at Annoyance Aarón was featured in such productions as Skinprov, Splatter Theater, and Edge and back. He also appeared in The New Colony production A Sordid Life. Aarón can be seen at the Playground Theater with the improv troupe Lumberjack Tsunami.

Donna Morley
Donna is originally from Howell New Jersey. She attended the University of The Arts in Philadelphia where she studied acting and voice. In 2007 and 2008 she studied abroad at the Globe Theater in London and at the Commedia del arte in Arezzo Italy. She graduated in 2009 with a BFA in Theater and moved to Chicago IL where she began taking classes and preforming at the Annoyance Theater. Most recently she has been seen in Late Night Tit-Bits at The Annoyance.

Dane Lewandowski
Dane is originally from Decatur IL. He attended Illinois State University and graduated in 2007 with a BS in Theater. While studying there Dane was in several shows including Taking Steps and Romeo and Juliet in the title role. He moved to Chicago shortly after graduation where he has continued to be active in the theater scene appearing in such shows as Tape, Lea. a nightmare, Talk. Kiss. Blackout., and The Benchmark. Dane remains active in the theater scene working as a producer and set designer as well as continuing his acting.

Leslie Baird
Leslie is originally from Madison Alabama and attended the University of Montevallo where she studied for a BFA in Acting/Directing and a BA in French Language before graduating in 2009. She also studied abroad in France living in both Angers and Avignon for several semesters. She has been trained in stage combat, dialects, singing and acting for the camera and as part of her studies at UM she appeared in On The Verge, Dead City and Nobody Here But Us Chickens as well as her directing debut, Reverse Transcription. While in Chicago Leslie attend the Second City. She currently resides in Nashville Tennessee.

Crew

Jeph Porter
Writer/Director/Producer
Acting as producer, writer and director for Dirty Cricket, Jeph has overseen several film projects including a small stint with The Second City. He won the 1993 and 1996 young author award when he was 10 and 13 respectively.

Corey Powers
Director of Photography
The powerhouse behind the look and feel of Lady Parts, Corey Powers brings his astute knowledge of the art of cinematography to Lady Parts. There is more mystery to Powers then fact and more legend than truth but once in the presence of him you will understand the esteem.

A Brief History

Lady Parts was created by Jeph Porter after one previous attempt at web video with the 2008 series The Dirty Cricket Show, also featuring long-time collaborators Justin Howard and Dane Lewandowski. Lady Parts represents a progression in technique and style that was lacking in the previous outing.

After being asked by Howard to “do something creative again” Porter began conceptualizing the idea of a sketch show instead of another episodic venture like The Dirty Cricket Show. The idea being that short skits would alleviate the pressure of producing a linear story line on little to no budget as well as the pressure to maintain a time schedule while still holding day jobs.

After a burst of creative output from which Porter compiled the initial skit ideas, he enlisted the help of several contacts including Howard and Lewandowski as well as Chelsie Jangord and Leslie Baird. Baird was brought on board because of her desire to be involved in a project while living in Chicago for the summer. She would eventually return to Alabama to finish school for most of the fall and winter of 2009 but would return in 2010 to rejoin the group. Also brought into the group was Aaron Alonso a friend of Howard’s that was responsible for introducing him to The Annoyance Theater and improvisation training.

Outside of the cast Porter enlisted the help of friend Corey Powers, also a student at Columbia College and a skilled cinematographer. Having worked on previous projects with Porter and interested in the idea of shooting short sketch comedy, Powers agreed to lend his talent to the group.

Initially, shooting was rocky as Porter struggled to find the right tone and style for Lady Parts and most of the original videos have been relegated to the scrap pile. However with the production of their first live show in September of 2009 Lady Parts began to find that style. With Baird now back in Alabama, Donna Morley was brought into the group to help balance out the ratio of girls to boys. Coming from Philadelphia to study comedy and improv in Chicago, Morley met Howard and Alonso at The Annoyance Theater and formed an improv group with them, Disco Nap. She was asked by Howard to join Lady Parts and since has proved to be an excellent fit.

September 25th, 2009 was the first Lady Parts Live event and it was held at Joone Studios in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Owned by close friends of Porter, Jessica Christopher and Jayme Joyce, it proved an ideal venue for a start-up group. The first show saw an amazing response and proved to the members that they were on the right track. Another show followed on October 16th with equally amazing response and on November 20th Lady Parts presented an original production, The Great Wonder Carol, a Christmas themed full length play with video Christmas card greetings from the cast between acts. After one month off, Lady Parts returned to Joone in January for what would be their last show in the space. It marked the return of Baird to the group and her first live performance with the cast.

On February 15th Lady Parts preformed its first show at Gorilla Tango Theater in Chicago to a sold out crowd. Because Lady Parts was first conceived as a web show, the success of the live show took Porter and the group somewhat by surprise and what was initially designed as promotion for the groups online presence turned into an almost separate production of itself.

However, the online avenue of Lady Parts has been anything but shy. By New Year’s Day 2010 Lady Parts had already registered over 1000 fans on their Facebook fan page. The number of fans continues to grow daily and at the end of January they launched their official homepage ladypartscomedy.com which was designed to give viewers a single concise option for viewing their content.

In March of 2010 Lady Parts won a grant from WebEntertainmentGuide.com to produce their first series. It was a surprising turn of events considering the group had only been in existence just over six months. Preforming throughout the city at The Spot and Gorilla Tango the group filmed their first DVD Live at Gorilla Tango on June 4th 2010. This would prove to be their last show for the foreseeable future as they went on hiatus to prepare for and film their first series.