Creative Actors Lab
Join Max and Kelley Grimm as we explore ways to incorporate creativity into your everyday life. Once we give ourselves permission to feel inspired by allowing our imaginations to flourish, we can reignite that childlike joy to create without being self-conscious.
Episodes
77 episodes
A River Between Chaos and Zen - Ep. 18 - A Child's Garden of Verses
Max talks about The Gutenberg Project and Robert Lewis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, and the night that the lights went out in his neighborhood, and being tucked into bed with a white candle. It includes the poems:<...
A River Between Chaos and Zen - Ep. 16 - Oscar Wilde & The Ballad of Reading Gaol
In this episode, Max reads The Ballad of Reading Gaol, which Oscar Wilde wrote while he was in jail for two years for the crime of homosexuality, and it was inspired by Charles Thomas Wooldridge, a trooper in the Royal Horse Guard...
A River Between Chaos and Zen - Ep. 15 - The Origins of Acting
Max discusses a poem he read many years ago, called the Saga of Li-Peng and Xua-Xua, which tells the story of the discovery of acting and theater. Li-Peng and Xua-Xua wait for a child without understanding the changes to her body and h...
A River Between Chaos and Zen - Ep. 14 - The Pencil Trick
Max talks about his first blush with a voice class and how liberating it was. He also talks about his love of Shakespeare and the old radio announcer exercise. He suggests learning some Shakespearean sonnets because they're short and easi...
A River Between Chaos and Zen - Poetry Ep. 13 - I Got the Blues
Max talks about a friend with mental health issues and depression, who would call and spend over 45 minutes talking about his issues, and then he wanted to tell jokes, which was his way of trying to heal himself. He also had a hard time dealing...
A River Between Chaos and Zen - Poetry Episode 12 - Emily Dickinson
In this episode, Max explores Mental Health and Emily Dickinson, her gregarious youth, and she went into seminary, which made her reclusive and did not leave her family's property. Upon her death, she asked her sister to destroy her lette...
A River Between Chaos & Zen - Ep 11 - Lord Byron's Poetry
In this episode, Max researches NeuroticPoets.com , and Lord Byron shows right up and talks about his own mental health struggles and how poetry has helped him cope. Apparently, Lord Byron was...
A River Between Chaos & Zen - Ep 10 - Some Special Children's Stories
Join Max as he looks at the magical imagination of his daughter, Amber Grimm, and her stories, The Moon Follows Boo, in which a little cat named Boo loses his way at night but gets help from the Moon, who guides Boo back home, and we f...
A River Between Chaos & Zen - Ep 8 -The Poetry of a Grandfather
In this episode, Max discusses his blog, also titled A River Between Zen and Chaos, and shares his perspective on poetry. He talks about his British grandfather, Sidney (Sid) Robinson, who was also a writer. Max reads The Pas...
A River Between Chaos & Zen - Poetry - Ep, 7 - Richard III & Hamlet
In this episode, Max explores how growing up with a stutter until he was 15 years old. He got speech therapy and how working in theater helped him develop his voice, especially doing Shakespeare especially Richard III and Ham...
A River Between Chaos & Zen-Where Does Poetry Come From? Pt. 2 - Episode 6
Max discusses a past job with the printing company and an incident that led to him writing the poem Dear Legal Department after a co-worker has a head injury at work and is told to call management instead of 911. Let us know if y...
A River Between Chaos and Zen - Where do Poems Come From? Episode 5
Max talks about growing up and life in Miami before he moved to Atlanta. At a young age, Harry Cruz's Southern Gothic style influenced Max's early writing. He talks about going to a convenience store and talking to a young man, whom he found ou...
A River Between Chaos and Zen - Edgar Allen Poe - Episode 4
Max talks about his first crush, Kaddy, in junior high, and his connection to Edgar Allen Poe, as well as how Poe's work comforted him through some tough times in his youth, including the loss of his grandmother. He explores Poe's lesser-known ...
A River Between Chaos and Zen - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - Episode 3
In this episode, Max talks about his first play in college, Private Wars by James McClure and watching an episode of Stephen Colbert with Anthony Hopkins and they were reading portions of the touching poem by T.S. Eliot entitled Th...
A River Between Chaos & Zen-Ep. 2 -The Proust Questionnaire
In this episode, Max examines The Proust Questionnaire, a list of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust, which is often used by modern interviewers. Max mentions that he and Kelley used this with actors as part of the actors' tr...
Yes, Virginia, There's a Magi & Night before Christmas
Join us as we look at three very different holiday tales, including the editorial. Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus, the O. Henry short story, The Gift of the Magi, and the Christmas poem, Twas the Night Before Christ...
When a Bell Rings - Holiday Rebroadcast
Join us as ghosthunter Jack Bronson gets some divine intervention on Christmas Eve from Em, an angel who needs to help Jack so she can get back into the good graces of her "boss" with the help of Keith, the ghost. We have a wonderf...
A River Between Chaos and Zen - Poetry Episode 1
Join Max as he discusses his poetry, heart spillings, and mind lightning. He explores two of his poems, A Passing of Vision and The Snake. He also looks at The Desiderata, which is an inspirational poem. M...
Ellie in the Closet - audio book
Join Max as he reads Ellie in the Closet, which is the heartwarming story of Ellie, a shy rainbow lizard who longs to be accepted just like any other kid. When her bright scales make her a target for teasing, Ell...
Shapeshifter & Atlanta Fringe
Join Max, Kelley and their daughter Danielle as they discuss the production of Max's one man spoken word album, Shapeshifter. It was a labor of love that almost didn't happen when Max got sick in February, and it was due at the end of ...
Sophia's Carol
Medium Sophia Gardeen must examine her life choices with the help of Charles Dickens, Bob the Atheist ghost, and the spirits of two hip grandmothers on an especially haunted Christmas Eve. Includes the voice talents of:Kelley C...
When a Bell Rings
Join us as ghosthunter Jack Bronson gets some divine intervention on Christmas Eve from Em, an angel who needs to help Jack so she can get back into the good graces of her "boss" with the help of Keith, the ghost. We have a wonderf...
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus!
A special rendition of the classic holiday story and editorial written by New York Sun's Francis P. Church for an editorial on September 21, 1897. The voice talent includes Carlos Tovar, Blerta Xhelili, Estella Love-Rice, and Kelley Cody-...
The Demonis - The Deadliest Family in America - Part 2
Nero and Malaria hatch a plan to deal with Larry Linberg and his photo development store after a shocking discovery. Manson and Esther befriend Saffronia and her brother Nelson after the Mayor's son and daughter bully them. The Demonis al...
The Demonis - The Deadliest Family in America - Part 1
After going on the run after a botched murder, the Demoni family settles into the simple small town of Simpleton, a perfect vision of 1960s suburban utopia–or so it seems! As they learn more about the unsavory characters in town, they know that...
