This week hosts Koji Steven Sakai and M. Martin Mapoma brought on writer and playwright G. Riley Mills. In this second episode, we put him on the spot and asked him about the best OR worst day of their life. Gary’s best or worst was a great story about dreams and what happens when we get our hopes get up.

Guest

G. Riley Mills is the cofounder of Pinnacle Performance Company and co-author of The Pin Drop Principle (with David Lewis) and has taught effective communication to executives and CEOs across the globe.

As a writer, Mills has twice been awarded the Joseph Jefferson Citation (Chicago's Tony Award) for Best New Work. His first book, Sawdust and Spangles (written with Grammy-nominated musician Ralph Covert) won a 2007 NAPPA Honor Award; their follow-up project A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas was nominated for a 2012 Distinguished Play Award by the American Alliance for Theatre & Education and was profiled in USA Today and on ABC News: Nightline. They were nominated for a 2013 Distinguished Play Award by the AATE for their acclaimed musical, The Hundred Dresses, which premiered off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York City in 2012.

As a professional actor, Mills last appeared at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Television credits include episodes of ER, Early Edition, and Missing Persons. Film credits include lead roles in The Home Coming (World Wide Pictures) and 35 Miles from Normal, which premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Mills recently cofounded a not-for-profit company called The Bookwallah Organization, whose sole mission is to collect storybooks and set up libraries in orphanages around the world (www.bookwallah.org).