How do you stay grounded when things feel uncertain? In this episode, Jude speaks with Joel Veenstra, Department of Drama Chair at UC Irvine, about how improv helps us navigate tension, embrace discomfort, and let go of needing to control outcomes. Together, they explore how building tolerance for uncertainty can deepen presence, collaboration, and connection in all walks of life.

*Connect with Joel - LinkedIn, UC Irvine, Global Improvisation Initiative, BOOK: Working Together in Theatre: Collaboration and Leadership by Robert Cohen and Joel Veenstra

This podcast is brought to you by Lifestage. Lifestage designs and facilitates experiential workshops, classes, and presentations for professional and personal development. For more information, visit lifestage.me.

*Connect with Jude - Substack, Instagram, LinkedIn

How do you stay emotionally grounded in high stress moments? In this episode, Jude speaks with Justin Drogos and Jonathan Webb from Northwestern University. Together, they explore how improv builds emotional regulation, teaching clinicians not just what they feel, but how to express it with the right intensity in complex, real-world situations.

*Connect with Jonathan - LinkedIn, The Laughing Academy House Team, Cutthroat Improv (FB) / Cutthroat Improv (IG)

*Connect with Justin - LinkedIn

• Northwestern Physical Therapy & Human Movement Sciences - Instagram, Facebook, website

This podcast is brought to you by Lifestage. Lifestage designs and facilitates experiential workshops, classes, and presentations for professional and personal development. For more information, visit lifestage.me.

*Connect with Jude - Substack, Instagram, LinkedIn

How do stories help us process change? In this episode, Jude speaks with Kenn Adams, creator of the Story Spine, about how stories can reveal deeper truths about ourselves. Together, they explore how storytelling and improv aren't just tools for communication, but ways to reflect, connect, and move forward.

*Connect with Kenn - Synergy Theater, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. Upcoming shows:

1. Improvised Noir: Unscripted Theater, So Funny it's a Crime! At Feinstein's at the Nikko in San Francisco
2. Improvised Clue: An Unscripted Murder Mystery based on the Cult-Classic Film! At the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek

Study about morbid curosity: Pandemic practice: Horror fans and morbidly curious individuals are more psychologically resilient during the COVID 10 pandemic, Personality and Individual Differences, January 2021

This podcast is brought to you by Lifestage. Lifestage designs and facilitates experiential workshops, classes, and presentations for professional and personal development. For more information, visit lifestage.me.

*Connect with Jude - Substack, Instagram, LinkedIn