Everybody Plays with Aliza Murrieta - Episode 22

Play / pause

0:00

Everybody Plays with Aliza Murrieta – Episode 22

The Recap

Jennifer welcomes actor, comedy writer, improvisation teacher, friend, and fellow writer, Aliza Murrieta. Jennifer met Aliza years ago at Bang Comedy Theatre, an improv studio that Aliza and her husband used to operate. In addition to being a proprietor, Aliza served as a teacher, artistic director, and ran many of the theatrical shows. Wanting a place where everyone could truly feel welcome, Aliza made it a point to give each student the opportunity to participate in the offered improv sessions. Her mantra ‘Everybody Matters’ perfectly encapsulates this sentiment.

In this episode, Aliza and Jennifer recall the story of how they met. Jennifer thanks Aliza profusely for giving her a theatre family at a point in her life where she really needed support. Aliza discusses the stress and difficulties of starting a small business around the same time she got pregnant with her first child. She discusses the complications that ensued from her first pregnancy and her familial history with rough pregnancies. Aliza touches on some of her latest projects, including television development, studio screenwriting, and writing two books: a children’s book and a novel. Finally, fellow writer Jennifer also shares a status update on the books she’s been working on so diligently.

Episode Highlights

00:59 – Jennifer opens the show discussing the tragedies of the California wildfires and recent shooting
02:08 – American Red Cross and My Two Front Teeth charities
03:22 – Jennifer wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving
03:37 – Introducing Aliza
05:05 – How Jennifer and Aliza met
05:51 – Aliza’s background in improvisation (improv) and theatre
08:27 – How a dream led to Aliza moving to Chicago to start her acting career
10:24 – Jennifer remembers discovering the Bang Comedy Theatre
13:03 – One of the founding principles on which Aliza’s theatre company was built
14:41 – The whirlwind experience of starting a new theatre company and simultaneously becoming pregnant
16:28 – Jennifer speaks about Aliza’s children
18:14 – The multiple roles Aliza held within her theatre company
25:34 – Aliza discusses her own struggles with pregnancies
31:57 – The decision to close the theatre company
35:55 – Aliza’s current writing projects
38:14 – The Writers Guild story
41:06 – The two books Aliza is currently working on
42:59 – The status of Jennifer’s book
45:41 – What does Aliza think about when she hears the word MILF?
47:01 – Aliza asks Jennifer about the responses she gets when people first hear the name of her podcast
48:43 – What is something Aliza has changed her mind about recently?
51:13 – How does Aliza define success?