SOLO @ OFF-MARKET
City Soulo
Opens January 17 - 31
Sundays @ 7pm - $20
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/95164 or 800-838-3006.
Off-Market Theaters is proud to kick off its Solo @ Off-Market 2010 line-up with an all new featuring a culturally diverse collection of the finest solo artists in the Bay Area performing excerpts from their own full length shows in City Soulo, Sunday evenings at 7:00pm, January 17 – 31, at the Off-Market Theaters, 965 Mission St. Tickets are $20 at the door and online at www.brownpapertickets.com. (PLEASE NOTE: City Soulo is weekly, but line-up of performers will change each month)
THAO P. NGUYEN
In "I Am So Gay" Thao is gay-er than a rainbow-farting unicorn. Somehow, her parents haven't noticed. Well, it's finally time for her to tell them.
Thao P. Nguyen has been writing and performing solo shows since 2007. Recently, she performed "I Am So Hot" (an excerpt of her full-length show "Fortunate Daughter") as the closing act at the Museum of African Diaspora stage at the San Francisco's 2009 Theater Festival.
VANESSA KHALEEL
In “The Rooster”, it’s time for Vanessa to have a baby. Everybody thinks so. The problem is, she is totally freaked out about the idea of having a baby. Why? Because there are breastfeeding four year olds, no-good men, eight-hundred dollar strollers, nipples that look like monkey fingers, and finally, most frighteningly, there’s The Rooster!
Vanessa Lee Segale Khaleel was raised in the Bay Area and has performed at venues all over the Bay Area, including The Shelton Theater, Menlo College, and CounterPULSE.
NICOLE MAXALI
“Identification, Please” is about Nicole Maxali’s search for self and a greater power as she stumbles through drugs, sex, shoes & Jesus!
In 2005, Nicole Maxali quit her job for ABC7 and began her journey as a working artist. Wanting to perform more of her own writing and under tutelage of acclaimed comic/actor W. Kamau Bell, Nicole Maxali wrote and performed her very first one woman show: “Identification Please” in 2008. Her solo performance was produced by Bindlestiff Studio and featured at The Thick House in April 2009, CounterPULSE, Stagewerx Theater and at most recently at the 2009 Kearney Street Workshop’s festival, APATURE.
ZAHRA NOORBAKHSH
"Hijab and Hammerpants" is a look in the life of an eleven year-old Muslim in middle school, Zahra attempts to be as invisible as possible, discovering that she will be seen in either way: as a fundamentalist Muslim, or an out of touch fan of one of the greatest rappers of all time, MC Hammer.
Zahra Noorbakhsh is a solo-performer and stand-up comedian, who’s performed with Maz Jobrani from the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, and Shazia Mirza from Last Comic Standing. Her one-woman show "Hijab and Hammerpants," recently debuted at the SF Theater Festival, under the direction of W. Kamau Bell (SF Weekly's performer of the year, 2008).
Eat, Pray, Laugh!
Alicia Dattner
Opens January 20 - February 24
Wednesdays @ 8pm - $20
Eat, Pray, Laugh!, directed by Katie Rubin, chronicles Alicia's three-month solo trip across India in search of spiritual salvation – as fate would have it, the trip looks nothing like she imagined. From seductive French yoga teachers to scary Indian toilets, Alicia dishes on everything including the Italian fashion exporter with a Krishna fetish and mosquitoes the size of small ponies, to Chabad Jews on the Ganges and ultimately, the true meaning of mustaches and masala chai.
After a knockout world premiere run at this year’s SF Fringe, Alicia took Eat, Pray, Laugh! on the road and across the pond. Stops included London, England, as well as Mumbai and Tiruvanamalai, India, where she incorporated a spirited round of Kirtan chanting with the audience into the performance. The revamped show, which now includes an opening act by Katie Rubin performing excerpts from her own upcoming solo show, will also be complete with chai (delicious tea), kirtan (Indian call and response singing), and prasad (an offering of sweets) at each performance. Eat, Pray, Laugh! is part of the kick-off to Solo @ Off-Market in 2010.
PAST SHOWS
Bohemian Cowboy
Raymond King Shurtz
9/11, 9/12, 9/18 @ 8pm & 9/19 @ 9:30pm - $15
In November of 2005, Raymond Dean Shurtz walked into the desert in Clark County, Nevada, The Valley of Fire, and simply disappeared.
For two years, Nevada detectives, Nevada Search and Rescue, psychics, private detectives, and family and friends, searched for his body. Mr. Shurtz has never been found.
A honky-tonk singer, a cowboy, a carpenter, and a traveler of mythic proportions, the senior Mr. Shurtz left an array of mysteries as a "disappearing specialist".
In an attempt to unravel these mysteries, his son writes and performs the legacy his father left him, using the same characteristics as his father, the original "disappearing specialist" and "bohemian cowboy".
LA Weekly – Pick of the Week
“Under the sensitive direction of Kurt Brungardt, Shurtz’s drama functions as both intensely personal family legacy and surreal picaresque." - LA Times
Bohemian Cowboy:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79535 or 800-838-3006.
Not a Genuine Black Man
Brian Copeland
Opens 9/18 – Fridays @ 8pm &
Saturdays @ 5pm - $30
In 1972, the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing Called San Leandro, California ‘a racist bastion of white supremacy’. It was named one of the most racist suburbs in America. CBS News and Newsweek covered the story. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights conducted hearings.
And then, we moved to town.”
So writes Brian Copeland in his first solo show, Not a Genuine Black Man, revealing a little-known chapter of Bay Area history. In a monologue that's both funny and poignant, Brian explores how surroundings make us who we are.
Brian's memoir based on the show is now available nationwide. It received high critical acclaim from, among others, Publisher's Weekly, People, Ebony and The Boston Globe while reader reviewers on Amazon.com are calling it "The best book I've ever read." It has recently been chosen as the 2009 selection for Silicon Valley Reads, a library sponsored program which encourages all Silicon Valley residents to read one book at the same time and engage in community wide discussions on its relevance.
“A beautiful mix of wry humor and heartbreak, indignation and inspiration, a singular story of extreme isolation that speaks to anyone who's ever felt out of place.” --San Francisco Chronicle
Not A Genuine Black Man:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/66063 or 800-838-3006
I Heart Hamas
Jennifer Jajeh
Opening 9/17 Thursdays & Saturdays @ 8pm – $20-30
With the current ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the threat of global terrorism, and the never‐ending negotiations and hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by all of the bad international news. That’s exactly how Jennifer Jajeh feels. And to make matters worse, Jennifer is Palestinian. Well, Palestinian American. Or more precisely: a single, Catholic, first generation, Palestinian American woman who chooses to return to her parents’ hometown of Ramallah at the start of the Second Intifada.
In her tragicomic solo theatre show, I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I’m Afraid to Tell You, Jennifer Jajeh is just trying to get back home, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. The guy sitting next to her in the taxi is smoking cigarettes, but won’t roll the window down because he doesn’t want to let the tear gas in. The 70 year old grandmother on her other side wants to know why her Arabic is so bad, why she doesn’t wax her arms, and why at the age of 28 she is not yet married. It’s 100 degrees outside, and she’s been in this taxi for 2 hours. Yet all she can focus on are the soldiers on the one side of the road shooting rubber bullets ‐‐ through traffic ‐‐ at the kids hurling stones and curses. Wait, why did she want to come to Palestine?
Sick and tired of the unsolicited discussions, debates and disagreements about her identity and her opinions about the Palestinian‐Israeli conflict, Jennifer tries to figure it out for herself. Join her on American and Palestinian soil on auditions, bad dates, and across military checkpoints as she navigates the thorny terrain around Palestinian identity. Weaving together humor, pop culture references and live theatre, Jajeh explores how she becomes Palestinian‐ized, then politicized and eventually radicalized in a fresh, often funny, searingly honest way.
I Heart Hamas:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/78327 or 800-838-3006
Walking on the Moon
Kosho
Sundays 9/20 through 10/11 @ 7:30pm - $10
Inspired by the economic events of the last year, "Walking on the Moon" explores the themes of Life, Death, the Economy and Shopping. It was recently performed at The Marsh as part of their Monday Night+ Series. In addition to the narrator, the piece features an Air Force officer, nursing home residents, an escort, a hedge fund manager, Karl Marx, Paris Hilton and Maria Bartiromo. Directed by Joya Cory.
Kosho is a filmmaker and performer living in SF (www.koshoart.com). Recent projects include the mocumentary "Andy Warhol goes to Burning Man", "Japanese Pop meets the Playa" and the NASA documentary "Inner-View - Yuri's Night" (available on youtube.) Kosho has taken improvisational theater with Joya Cory and scene study at ACT.
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79656 or 800-838-3006
Insides OUT!
Katie Rubin
9/20 & 9/27 @ 6pm - $10
Insides OUT! is the emotionally charged and hilarious story of one young person’s journey from her high school and college years through her introduction to the working world. Abuse of alcohol, drugs, food, and sex, mark a journey into and ultimately out of self-loathing. The performance seeks to depict the lifelong struggle for integration of the many aspects of the self, and the continued voyage towards peace of mind.
The psychoanalyst Carl Jung suggests that the human psyche comprises many different archetypal characters. In this powerful performance, Ms. Rubin uses stand up comedy, poetry, song, improvisation, and monologue to tell the story of the conflict among seven particular archetypes in her psyche: The Inner Child (Baby Katie), The Hostage (Big Katie), The Romantic (Sylvia), The Judge (The Perfect Monster), The Trickster (Hank), The Artist (Poet), and The Wise Woman.
Katie Rubin is a graduate of Amherst College with a BA in Theater and Dance. She has studied acting at The Wynn Handman Studios at Carnegie Hall, and The Viewpoints and Suzuki Actor Training Techniques with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company in LA. She has studied classical, jazz, and musical theater vocal techniques for 15 years. Currently, Ms. Rubin received her MFA in Acting at UC Davis where she not only studies, but teaches basic Acting classes. Katie began her career as a comedic writer/performer at Amherst College with her first original piece, PartyBoobyTrap. She went on to create Avoiding Less Blue which was produced through Fringe Festival 2000 in New York City . Insides Out is her third original piece, and Ms. Rubin’s first One Woman Show.
Insides OUT!:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79540 or 800-838-3006
Ty Cobb – “The Greatest Player That Ever Played The Game”
Norm Coleman
9/27 & 10/4 at 4:30pm - $10
Spend an hour with TY COBB – “The Greatest Player That Ever Played The Game.” That is the name of the one-man show created, written and performed by long time resident of Half Moon Bay, Norm Coleman.
Who is Norm Coleman? Coleman has thrilled audiences in Lakeland, Florida, winter home of the Detroit Tigers who brought him there in March to entertain Tiger fans. He has also performed for the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston, Georgia and the President Gerald R. Ford
Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan in a show sponsored by the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY called “Born to Play Ball.”
In addition, he has performed his show that one critic said, “What Hal Holbrook was to Mark Twain, Coleman is to Ty Cobb.” Frank Winston, Pacifica Tribune. He has performed over 175 times in the Bay area.
One does not have to be a baseball fan to appreciate the show that has been called, “entertaining, humorous, historical and informative.”
“The story is well told, fascinating and enlightening. I can’t recommend Norm enough. He brings a refreshing take on stage work. A good story and storyteller is all you need.” George Mauro, Artistic Director, Pacifica Spindrift Players, Pacifica, CA.
Ty Cobb:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79547 or 800-838-3006
Several Solos
Al Gonzales, Mike Spiegelman, and Ira Brightman
9/27 @ 2pm -$7
Professional comedian Ira Brightman is launching a solo showcase, comprised of several advanced performers. It will build to become a continuing series of such solo theater shows.
The first show is Sunday, September 27, 2-3:30 pm at Off-Market Theaters, 965 Mission St, San Francisco. Tickets are $7.
In the initial showcase on September 27, three professional comedians will do theatrical solo performances. Al Gonzales (Cobb’s, Big City Improv) will present “Man Made Disaster” – a third generation latino tries to keep his roots grounded as he grows up in a black and white world. Mike Spiegelman (Punchline, SF Fringefest), will perform “Salad Jokes Live.” Cucumbers, lettuce, no salad is spared. Also offered are guaranteed losing lottery strategies. Ira Brightman (Hotel Pleasanton, The Marsh Theater) will do the life-extension portion of his show, “God, Hitler, and Life-Extension.” Included are a talking fetus and a way to end death.
"Kudos to Big Al Gonzales..." - Goldstar
About Mike Spiegelman -- “Impeccable timing and goofy self-deprecation.” – SF Weekly
Several Solos:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79545 or 800-838-3006
