Erin Donovan

Award-winning comedian, blogger Erin Donovan returns to the Camden Opera House
Posted:
Wednesday, May 7, 2014 - 3:45pm
Event Location:
Camden Opera House
Event Date:
Saturday, May 17, 2014 - 7:30pm
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Erin Donovan

Local comedian, columnist and blogger Erin Donovan is scheduled to perform at the Camden Opera House in a benefit for the Kiwanis Club on Saturday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m.

The creator of the “I'm Gonna Kill Him” blog, video series, and comedy show, Donovan also entertains her readers through a weekly humor column for The Bangor Daily News – you would just never know it to read the online comments.

She is regularly featured on internet sites like Huffington Post, Baristanet, Mamapedia, Scary Mommy, and The Mouthy Housewives, and has developed all new material for this show.

Her blog was nominated by Nickelodeon for Best New Blog in 2010, and she was named by BlogHer as a 2012 Voice of the Year and won its People's Choice award in humor. She is nominated for the same award in a different category this year.

She is presently at work on a comedic memoir called Maui & Me: How One Dog Ruined My Marriage and all of My Underwear.

Before turning to a career in writing, Donovan worked in media and public relations for Alloy Entertainment, a youth-focused media agency in New York City. She will tell you that this means she invented the show Gossip Girl, but really she was much more influential in the Pokemon mall tour across America. - Pen Bay Pilot

She Said, a company created by Champaign residents Kerry Rossow, Jill Youse and Casey Wakefield, will present “That’s What She Said: 7 Women Who Will Blow You Away,” on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

The show will feature a panel of female speakers, including two of She Said’s founders, who are ages 20 to 85. The speakers will share their experiences of how they’ve come to accept their identity, which follows She Said’s mission of empowering women.

They will share their stories in seven minutes, covering topics important to women, including body image.

“So many young girls try to look a certain way or act a certain way, and, even as women, you just want to blend in and you don’t want to stand out,” Wakefield said. “But whenever we’re at our best, it’s whenever we’re truly who we are.”

To ensure the show and company stayed true to this message, the process of selecting speakers took much thought and care, Youse said.

“There are tons of people we could’ve picked to be our speakers,” Youse said. “But we wanted people whose stories we haven’t heard. Because if you put the spotlight on someone, you see a different side of them you normally don’t get to see.”

Ranging from writer and comedian Erin Donovan — winner of People’s Choice Award in Humor in 2012 — to former University student Peyton Stewart, who now attends the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the set of speakers reflect stories from the “whole spectrum of being a woman,” Rossow said.

“There is a lot to benefit from hearing stories,” Rossow said. “It should be like a mirror – you should see something that is reflective of your own life. Yet it should also be like a window, where you see women that are not like you and (hear) stories that you would’ve never thought you’d hear before.”

In presenting a variety of personalities, thoughts, stories and life experiences, the goal to is to bring value to spoken word and to present a “common thread of connection from woman to woman,” Rossow said.

“From woman to woman, sister to sister, or mom to mom … women can find a connection with each other. You just got to find it,” she said.

The message of women empowerment continues even after the performance. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to local women’s charities. - The Daily Illini