Full name: Joseph Ryan Erbentraut.
Current projects (as of 3/17/11): Media coordinator, SiNNERMAN Theater Ensemble; associate editor, HuffPost Chicago; freelance writing and editing; community organizer/DJ, Subject To Change collaborative
Hometown: Genoa City, Wis. (Otherwise best-known as home of The Young and the Restless and one hell of an annual lawnmower race.)
College attended: University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis.
First theatrical role ever: I can share all six of them: The tin man in an agriculture/4-H-themed re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz, an alien, the “ship drunk” in Anything Goes, Charlie Chaplin/an alleged pedophile in Singin’ in the Rain and the “family drunk” in Every Seventeen Minutes The Crowd Goes Crazy.
Favorite indulgence: Reading celebrity gossip, music and fashion blogs while standing in my underwear in the kitchen. Eating. Anything. And everything.
Most bad-ass moment ever: They’re all badass, every single last one of them.
Favorite book: The Bell Jar.
Scariest thing you’ve ever done: I started to call myself a journalist at one point.
Movie you’d remake so you could play the lead: Misery. As a musical. As Annie Wilkes.
What could you simply not live without: In reality, oxygen, but also in reality, my ever-expanding record collection.
Song you sing when (you think) no one is listening: Lately, “Need You Tonight” by INXS, “Baby Says” by the Kills or anything by Janet Jackson.
A little known secret: Where to even begin? Now you know why my hair is so big. (It isn’t.)
Favorite color: Black.
Worst habit: Googling everything: Any unknown phone numbers that call. You. Me. (Especially me.)
Heroes: Louis Pasteur, Shari Lewis and Donna Lewis. But seriously, there are heroes around us everywhere, every day. I’m constantly inspired by the depth of creative, engaged and hard-working people who call Chicago home.
Contact: joe.erbentraut@gmail.com.
