Chambers Stevens' IT'S WHO YOU KNOW to Premier at Zoo Town Fringe Festival

Chambers Stevens is a bona fide Hollywood multi-hyphenate - actor-comedian-acting coach-author - who somehow has encapsulated all of that and more in his new one-man show It's Who You Know, premiering at the Missoula Zoo Town Fringe Festival August 21 and 22 at the Crystal Theatre.

"Most of us have had brief brushes with a celebrity," Stevens suggests. "Maybe a star is in town shooting a movie and we whip out our cell phone to take a discreet - or not so discreet photo. Maybe they pop up in odd places we don't expect to see them. But when one lives in Hollywood, the brushes with celebrity are more frequent, and often bring hilarious results."

Stevens, in fact, has a personal file box that's fairly bulging with the anecdotes he's collected over his 40 years both in and out of the business which forms the basis for his latest one-man show that is different at every performance.

Described as being like "sit-down comedy," It's Who You Know will be performed at Missoula's Crystal Theatre on August 21 and 22; tickets are $10 and are available online at www.zootownfringe.org.

Inspiration for the show, says Stevens, came from a close encounter with filmmaker Steven Soderbergh at a screening of the movie director's documentary And Everything is Going Fine, about humorist Spalding Gray. Soderbergh told Stevens about a film, Personal History of American Trash,where Gray pulls scripts of plays he had been in, from a box, and proceeds to tell anecdotes about his experiences in those plays.

"I thought that would be a perfect idea now," Stevens says. "No one would care about plays, but because I live in Los Angeles, it would be cool to talk about celebrity encounters."

One of the top acting coaches in Hollywood, with a wife who is a producer for Disney, Stevens has had more than his share of run-ins with the rich and famous: "I've worked with them, known them - and run into them at the supermarket," he says. "I have stories that are funny, sad, hilarious and even angry."

A native of Music City USA - aka Nashville - Stevens has many stories involving country music stars. "It started when the Mandrell sisters moved in next door when I was 10," he remembers. "Johnny Cash sponsored my Little League baseball team, and Faith Hill was in the first acting class I taught."

In It's Who You Know, Stevens shuffles a deck of 100 cards, each with the name of a celebrity. He pulls out a name and his natural talent for storytelling kicks in. As a result, no two shows are the same.

An Emmy-nominated author and playwright, Stevens has been lauded for his past shows. His previous one-man show, Desperate for Magic, won the Backstage Garland award, with the Los Angeles Time writing "Star shines in 'Desperate for Magic' The dude is worthy! Way!!!" The paper also called him a "kinetic explosion."

ACTING WORKSHOPS: While in Missoula, Stevens will be conducting acting workshops for young actors, ages 6-20 on Wednesday, August 19, and Thursday, August 20 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Crystal Theatre, located at 515 S. Higgins Avenue. The commercial workshop features on-camera techniques to sell a product; and the Disney 101 workshop will focus on auditioning skills in the style of Nickelodeon and Disney. For more information on workshops, www.hollywood101commercial.bpt.me

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