Dani Klein Modisett, Writer, Producer, Actor, Teacher

"AFTERBIRTH"

2008-10-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

“Afterbirth,” is a live storytelling show produced and directed by Dani Klein Modisett where well known actors and writers perform original, funny stories about how becoming a parent changed their lives unexpectedly and permanently.

The idea for “Afterbirth” came to her while she was home alone with her infant and needed inspiration from people further along on the parenting road. The show has been playing to sold out audiences for five years in Los Angeles, gaining much attention from the Hollywood community. Two years ago the show opened in NYC with equal excitement. Both the LA Weekly and Backstage West have chosen “Afterbirth” as their Pick of the Week. The NY Post calls it "...the Vagina Monologues for the stroller set.." and recently, NPR dedicated a second feature segment on Day to Day with Madeleine Brand. And now, "Afterbirth..." the book, published by St. Martin's Press is almost here. Thirty seven of the boldest, funniest and most passionate stories about the aftershock of becoming a parent written by some of the most talented comedy writers right at your fingertips.

Dani hosts the live shows, which include 6-8 original stories performed by the writers themselves.

Performers have included: Patricia Heaton, Caroline Rhea, Andrew McCarthy, Eddie Brill, James Braly, Cindy Chupack, Julie Rottenberg, Caroline Aaron, Beverly D'Angelo, Mo Collins, Dana Gould,Kathryn Grody, Dan Bucatinsky, Peter Horton, Moon Zappa, Carnie Wilson, Brooke Adams, Mike O’Malley, Enrico Colantoni, Brett Paesel, Matt Weiner, Rick Cleveland, Kell Cahoon, Eric Weinberg, Mark Hudis, Mike Sikowitz, Daisy Gardner, and more....

> Listen to NPR's interview with Dani Klein

> New York Post

> Los Angeles Times

WATCH ME

2008-10-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

CONTACT DANI

2008-10-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Click here to send Dani an email!

Commercials:
Tina @ Flick Commercials
310-271-9111

Everything else:
Adam Peck @ Synchronicity Management
310-246-1477

PRIVATE CLASSES

2008-10-19T18:12:00.002-07:00

Dani has been coaching comics and actors privately for 10 years. Whether it's an audition scene, preparing for a stand-up show, of if you just prefer studying stand-up one on one, she can help. She also has a private on-going class for working comics.

Click here to send Dani an email!

UCLA

2008-10-19T18:12:00.001-07:00

Dani has also taught Stand-up comedy at UCLA and privately for almost a decade. Many of her students can be seen at the Improv, the Ice House, and the Comedy Union in Los Angeles, and colleges throughout the country.

WHAT I'VE DONE

2008-10-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

Dani Klein – appeared at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 2002. Her solo show, “The Move,” about giving up her single life in New York City to move to Los Angeles and marry, enjoyed a successful run at The Jerome Theater.

Dani is the creator/producer/director of “Afterbirth,” a live storytelling show where well known actors and writers perform original, funny stories about the how becoming a parent changed them unexpectedly and permanently.

As an actress, Dani has made several appearances on “Law & Order” and on Broadway. Durring the summer of 2007 she appeared as Detective Carlson on the new NBC show “Windfall” and as a comedy expert on “Modern Girls’ Guide to Life” for the Style Network. She was be seen November 3rd on "Las Vegas"

Dani has also taught Stand-up comedy at UCLA and privately for almost a decade. Many of her students perform at the Improv, the Ice House, and the Comedy Union in Los Angeles, and colleges throughout the country. Dani is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

"OSCAR, BABY"

2008-10-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

2/24/2007

A rush-hour race to a fertility clinic almost ends in disaster.

By Dani Klein Modisett, DANI KLEIN MODISETT teaches stand-up at UCLA and produces and directs the live show "Afterbirth." She didn't get pregnant Oscar week last year, but is expecting her second child in July.

YOU DON'T APPRECIATE how easily sperm travels through a vagina until you try to drive it across Los Angeles during Oscar week.

My husband, Todd, and I have a 3-year-old named Gabriel, whom I love more than I ever thought I would. I have an addict's mind, so as soon as I had him, I knew I would need another. However, I am "a certain age," so we enlisted some state-of-the-art fertility boosters. There was only one day a month that the insemination procedure might possibly (but probably would not) work. Which is how I end up driving westbound in rush-hour traffic with a cup of warm sperm in a brown paper bag.

My Beverly Hills gynecologist tells me to deliver the specimen for prepping within an hour. It is 7:54 a.m. when I pull out of our driveway in Atwater Village, later than I intended, but if there's one thing I've learned, it's you can't rush a man with a specimen cup in his hand.

Half a mile of Hollywood Boulevard is blocked for the construction of a celebrity bridge so the nominees can cross the street without soiling their gowns. It's a fantastic way to ramp up anticipation of the Oscars because it screws up traffic for a 40-mile radius around the Kodak Theatre. I panic.

"You're smart," Todd tells me over the cellphone. "You just need to figure out how to circumvent the traffic."

"I'm smart? Smart is having your babies at a normal age and not waiting until you've done every other thing with your life twice and then waking up and saying, 'Gee, maybe I should have some babies!' " I hang up, inching past El Capitan. I turn south on La Brea then onto Sunset and call him back.

"Now I'm landlocked in front of the Rock 'n' Roll Ralphs and it's 8:40 a.m. That's not good, Todd."

"Can you take a deep breath, honey?"

I do. As I'm exhaling, I see one of those illuminated traffic signs ahead flashing "ROAD CLOSED FOR EVENT." Someone is installing a 20-foot V-shaped hedge for the Vanity Fair party. Melrose is no better.

At 8:52 a.m., I start to cry.

"I didn't make the Oscars part of my infertility protocol," I sob to Todd on the phone. "It's not going to work. It's hopeless."

9:01 a.m. I flip the steering wheel hard to the left and tear down a side street. Dead end. I make a very angry three-point turn.

The phone rings.

"None of these damned roads go anywhere!" I scream into it.

"OK," the female voice says. My agent.

"Sorry," I say. "I'm working on a character who is totally out of control."

"Can you be at Bundy and Olympic in an hour in something that looks like a chicken suit? Just suggest it, you know maybe a yellow shirt and don't comb your hair…. "

"No. I can't. I can't be a chicken in an hour. I'm going to be on a metal table with my legs spread."

"Is that the character talking?"

9:08 a.m.

When I finally turn onto Burton Way, I feel like Dorothy approaching the Emerald City. Until I see flashing lights and hear helicopters. There is a "police action" just outside my doctor's office.

I park away from the chaos, sprint through the police line directly into the office lab where a nurse is standing, casually stirring sugar into her coffee.

"He gave it to me an hour and 15 minutes ago. Am I too late?"

She puts down her stirrer and retrieves a small sperm-sorting appliance out of an overhead cabinet.

"You're not too late," she says, languorously plugging in the machine. "This will take about an hour."

We are in completely different movies. I'm all action-adventure; she's Bergman.

"But it took me over an hour to get it here. It's OK?" My nerves are frayed from the combination of fertility drugs and Oscar traffic.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, we just tell people that."

Once in the room where the insemination will happen, I don the paper skirt. I've brought some candles too, labeled "Welcome New Life." I put them on the counter next to a tube of K-Y jelly and light them. I turn off the lights and hop up on the examining table. The room looks almost pretty.

"Uh, what's going on here?" Dr. Lin asks, entering after a quick knock.

It's his day off and he's dressed like a J. Crew model. Looking at him from between my legs, in candlelight, with his hooded sweatshirt, for a second I feel as if I'm back in my college dorm.

"I thought I'd give the room a little atmosphere."

Dr. Lin exits as soon as he puts down the syringe. I have to lie on the table for 20 minutes. I notice the People magazine I had been thumbing through and think of all the Oscar nominees anxious about their fate, which makes me think about how anxious I am about mine. Wadding up my paper skirt and pulling on my underwear, I could not be less glamorous. My life is worlds apart from those red carpets and gold statuettes. And yet, wanting something very badly, but having no control over getting it — that is a feeling I understand.

> Download this article

LOS ANGELES TIMES

2008-10-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

12/17/07

Striking writers, loving parents

At the staged-readings show 'Afterbirth,' the burning issue of the season finds its way into the usual family tales.

By Scott Taylor, Special to The Times

As children giggle and jiggle through shopping malls, bending their parents' ears with their holiday wish lists, one cannot avoid Andy Williams' cheery chestnut: "It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

But for Hollywood screenwriters who are parents, this season's feelings are decidedly more mixed.

That was apparent at Saturday night's special "Support the Writers Strike" edition of Dani Klein's "Afterbirth" staged-readings show in Hollywood, where, above the belly laughs and poignant parental yarns, angst and anger hovered like a chilly specter.

"Afterbirth" was launched four years ago when Klein, a writer and actress, desiring a creative and social outlet after choosing children over career, sought input from other parents who have raised their children in Tinseltown.

Every six weeks, she produces an assemblage at the M Bar, where a mixture of actors and writers perform self-penned tales of parenthood before an audience of 80 or so friends, family members and patrons.

For Saturday's show, however, she gave admission discounts to Writers Guild of America members and heavily slanted the performer slate toward writers. And Klein got a jump on the day's news that the WGA was willing to negotiate with individual production companies, announcing to the crowd, "Unlike past shows, where the storytellers perform for free, tonight I'm going to be the first producer to accede to the guild's formula: I'm giving 'em 3 1/2 % of the gross -- that's a whopping eight bucks apiece!" The offer drew laughter and applause.

Not all strike talk

With the mood for the evening set, stories ranged from humorous to heart-rending to reflective. Some included mention of the strike; some did not.

Eric Weinberg, a writer-producer whose credits include "Scrubs" and "Californication," told the audience that as the father of two young boys, his social life with adults was nil, until "Lady Luck smiled down on me a month and a half ago when the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers... [failed] to offer us a contract that lets us share in the profits they earn from the material we've created. I say 'fortunately' because with striking comes picketing, and with picketing comes -- can you believe it? -- adult interaction!"

Mike Rowe, a writer for the animated "Family Guy" and "Futurama," also spoke of his sons: "You wait until your sons are old enough and then you have the greatest father-son bonding moment of all, and that is when you watch 'The Three Stooges' with them for the first time."

Caroline Aaron is an actress with recent guest-starring roles on "Grey's Anatomy" and "Ugly Betty" who was reading at "Afterbirth" for the sixth time. This time, she told about the separation anxiety she was feeling with her 18-year-old son soon heading off to college.

"Here is the conundrum," she said. "If I hadn't raised him to... emerge over these very short 18 years, then I might not be so in love with the man he almost is and I might not be so heartbroken that he's ready to move on. I am going to write a new parenting book entitled, 'How to Emotionally Cripple Your Children to Keep Them Eternally Dependent and at Home.' "

Manager-producer Eric Gold had never performed at "Afterbirth," but this was the second time that he came to watch and listen. These readings "are great because you can see talented writers incubate their creative process in a different way," he said. "It's a joy to see."

When conversation turned to the strike, Gold suggested that a resolution might lie in a change of tactics: "I'd love to see the writers and the DGA [Directors Guild of America] get together, figure out what's a fair compensation and use their leverage together to find a way out of this thing."

Get serious, for a second

The poignancy peak of the evening was provided by Dan Bucatinsky, an actor and an executive producer of Lisa Kudrow's HBO series, "The Comeback," who wove a tale about the anxious path he and his partner had traveled recently regarding a life-threatening operation for their 2-year-old daughter. But true to form for the evening, the saga ended in laughter.

"Eliza was about to have a heart surgery... Cut to a month later. She pulls out of her 'procedure' with flying colors. Recovered in, like, three days. We took a little longer," Bucatinsky said. "I mean, every time she'd smile at us or do something cute -- or, you know, not dead-like -- we'd cry our eyes out with joy."

That victory in hand, he turned his attention, after the show, to the strike: "I find it ironic how hard the studios and networks fight against piracy -- which, in effect, is... not compensating [them] for work that [they own]. What we're fighting is the same... only the piracy is being committed by the studios and networks themselves."

Regarding the economic ramifications of the strike, Bucatinsky said, "I turned all of the lights out at the house when I left today, which I never used to think about before. It's a mind-set."

John Eisendrath, a writer and executive producer of "Alias," hilariously described the trials and tribulations of impregnating his wife: "We lived ovulation cycle to ovulation cycle. Ovulation sex has about as much variation as walking the picket line... "

Kell Cahoon, who has written for "King of the Hill," "Just Shoot Me!" and "The Larry Sanders Show," was another who had never performed at "Afterbirth" but was enjoying his second viewing of the show.

"It seems like the strike -- and talk about it -- is permeating the whole room. Not only from a lot of what the performers are talking about, but, when we arrived tonight, my wife and I ran into someone she used to work with on 'The David Letterman Show.' And our conversation immediately turned into the rumor that Letterman is going to negotiate his own contract with the guild, and what impact that might have on the whole strike."

By the end of the evening, much of the somberness of strike talk had been deflated by laughter and camaraderie.

When asked if he and his family were scaling back financially because of the strike, Cahoon said, "Not yet. We're living a life of denial and delusion. If this thing continues into next year, we'll clamp down."

NEW YORK POST

2008-10-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

4/21/2008

Tales From the Tot Seat
Comedy Spills From Kidding In 'Afterbirth'

By Barbara Hoffman

Those seeking stories about the wonders of childbirth and the joys of parenting might want to skip "Afterbirth," a "Vagina Monologues" for the stroller set.

Performing it are actors and writers reading true (and truly hilarious) pieces: about fussy eaters, pot-smoking in-laws and how, just when your formerly helpless infant has turned into an interesting teen, he's suddenly too busy to talk to you.

All told, there's not a sentimental story in the bunch - which is just the way the comedian who conceived the piece wanted it.

Four years ago, Dani Klein says, she was a 40-year-old, freshly unemployed first-time mom who needed a lift that neither a nursing bra nor "Chicken Soup for a Mother's Soul" could give her.

"I knew I wanted to hear inspirational, funny stories," she recalls, "not the pretty sweet stories."

And she wanted to hear them mostly, she says, from men - "the Mom-oir," as she calls it, having been pretty well mined already. Besides, she says, "Men don't tend to wax on about the beauty of their child."

Since she'd been a comedian in Hollywood for 10 years, she knew whom she wanted to hear from, too - folks such as Peter Horton ("30something"), Matt Weiner ("Mad Men") and "Seinfeld" writer Carol Leifer.

One call led to another, and before she knew it, she had a show - a highly scripted one, with very few props, which played sold-out runs in Los Angeles and has now come to New York for two nights.

"I did have a nursing bra onstage," she recalls. "A comedian named Joanna Stein put it on over her shirt and talked about how difficult it was to nurse." Another woman supplied a poster of herself, hugely pregnant with twins.

"But I don't encourage props," Klein says. "I really believe it's about the spoken word."

Among those supplying the words in New York are "Sex and the City" TV producer Cindy Chupack, on her odyssey to become pregnant; Caroline Aaron (Judge Biotch on "Ugly Betty"), who wonders whether she should have crippled her son emotionally so he wouldn't leave for college; and "Lipstick Jungle" star Andrew McCarthy, a first-time reader (and father of Sam, age 6) who has a run-in with a stroller.

"It felt good to write," McCarthy tells The Post, "but I'm preparing for tomatoes to be thrown."

That in itself might be interesting.

UPCOMING SHOWS!

2008-10-19T17:25:00.001-07:00

April 4
M Bar, Los Angeles

Starring:
Steven Cragg
Rick Cleveland
Rebecca Hughes
Maureen Cassidy
Beth Littleford
Merrin Dungey

May 6 & 7
The Triad, New York

Starring:
James Braly
Eddie Brill
Deborah Copaken Kogan
Emmy Laybourne
Andrew McCarthy
Tom Shillue
Brett Paesel
Johanna Stein
and more.

- - -

ALL LOS ANGELES SHOWS PERFORMED AT:

M Bar
1253 N. Vine St.
Los Angeles, CA 90039

Doors 7:00, Show 8:00
(323) 856 0036

$15 with reservation, $20 at the door.
Guaranteed seat with reservation.

ALL NEW YORK SHOWS PERFORMED AT:

The Triad
158 W. 72nd St.
New York City, NY 10023

Doors 7:00, Show 7:30
Reservations!

$20 at the door with a two drink minimum.
Cash only.