Best In Shorts! An evening of short solo performance

3/3, 3/16 and 3/23 7:30 PM

"Above Normal Range" by Rebecca M. Davis (3/3)
A woman with an unusual vocal attribute interviews for a specialized dating service.

"Blue's Not Black" by David Schmader (3/16 and 3/23)
David Schmader's solo play about the women in his life.

"Clown Car" by Emmet Montgomery (3/3)

"Daddy is Plastic" by Elspeth Walker (3/3)
A short performance piece about a girl who goes to London to meet a dad she hasn't seen in eleven years and finds that her knight-on-white-horse vision is actually self-centered, fat, self-destructive and ugly.

"De: Colores: Flying with Color" by Ben Gonio (3/16 and 3/23)
A boy, his father and a family's arrival to a new land. A timeless and familiar story that replays countless times in a young Filipino immigrant's journey.

"Little Boy In Flames" by Guiseppe Ribaudo (3/16)
Growing up gay in a straight world. Guiseppe tackles Nature vs. Nurture with songs and stories.

"My Little Loves" by Rebecca M. Davis (3/16)
Internationally known opera star Bitsy Malouf shares stories and songs of her multi-decade career, life and loves.

"No Game" by Noah Benezra (3/16 and 3/23)
"Dudely" comedy about hip hop, getting arrested and losing virginity in the Bush Era.

"A One Man Miss Saigon" by Manuel R. Cawaling (3/3 and 3/16)
Cawaling tells the tragic story of war torn lovers like it's never been told before...with just one person and under ten minutes.

"Rapid Slippage Along a Fault" by Keira McDonald (3/3 and 3/23)
In the first minute of the first year of the 21st century a girl falls...in love. First comes the earthquake and then comes the declaration of war.

"The Riverboat Runs Aground: Based on a True Story" by Wesley K. Andrews (3/3 and 3/16)
An excerpt from his original work, Chapter III: The Fairbanks High School Constitutional Crisis is a story of careless endangerment and rebellion in the context of a post-Columbine school system.

"Shall I compare Waxie to a Summer's Day" by Waxie Moon (3/23)

"Sick" by Elizabeth Kenney (3/3 and 3/16)

"What You are Unaware of is This" by Tina Kunz Rowley (3/16 and 3/23)

Back to Top

Pipa By Tamara Ober

3/4, 3/5 and 3/6, 7:30 PM

Pipa, a richly layered dance work integrating dynamic movement, a beautiful musical sound score, video and spoken text, tells the story of an accident-prone girl who is unable to take the direct route to anywhere. She wanders the broken lines of a map between worlds of the the appearing and disappearing, never ceasing to risk it all.

Tamara Ober has been a member of Zenon Dance Company since 2002 where she has worked with over 30 national and international, emerging and world-renowned choreographers, touring to New York, St. Petersburg and Budapest.

Back to Top

Frontier: Valley of the Shadow by Ki Gottberg

3/5 & 3/13 7:30 PM

In a whirl of immigrant family history past and future, Ki Gottberg swirls transformatiely through all the characters in her own humorously intimate story about spiritual hunger, physical appetite and the quest for faith.

Ki Gottberg is a Seattle native. New City Theater has been her recurrent artistic home since 1983; her plays Hunger, Stript and Big Boss or the Inner Life of Everything all began life there, and she has appeared in numerous New City productions. She is a recipient of numerous awards and grants for playwriting including a $25,000 NEA/TCG Playwriting Fellowship with New City Theater. Ki is now a professor at Seattle University in Fine Arts, where she teaches acting, playwriting and directs student productions.

Back to Top

3/6, 3/10 & 3/31 7:30 PM

Uncertainty and instability at a personal and societal level. The spontaneous following of questionable impulses, the impossibility of connection, the mistrust of authority and the presence of chaos and random violence in our lives. Paul dives into these themes and takes his audience on a ride that is part punk rebellion and part narrative rollercoaster.

Paul is a director, actor, writer and teacher of acting and stage movement. In Seattle, he has worked with Annex Theatre, New Century Theatre, On the Boards, and the Degenerate Art Ensemble.

Back to Top

The Price is Not Right by Carrie McIntyre

3/6 & 3/22 7:30 PM

An enquiring neice interviews her aunt for a history project and learns family secrets.

Back to Top

Traveling Panties by Mike Harris

3/6, 3/10, 3/18 & 3/22 7:30 PM

An angry cross dresser tells tales of I-90, thongs and beyond!

Michael Harris recently graduated from Cornish College of the Arts with a B.F.A. in Acting. He recently performed in Wrecks by Neil LaBute put on by the Community Theater.

Back to Top

Samson by Billie Wildrick

3/8 & 3/13 7:30 PM

It ends with rubble. A great pile of destruction obscured by the unbreathable dust of collapse, moving like dry fog. It is over before the dust settles. We all know the end of Samson's story. But whose choices got him there? Why did the strongest man in the world lay his head in a woman's lap and allow her to begin the end of his life? Underscored by guitar and accoustic drum, and illuminated by a melodic vocal through-iine, Samson's is a story of longing to tear through the pages of a life already written with humanity both given and denied by a then-silent god.

Billie Wildrick is a local singer/actor who has been described by the press as an engaging, sassy, charming, luminous, and wildly talented performer. Billie was nominated for a Gregary Award for Best Actress in 2009 for her work in Sunday in the Park with George at The 5th Avenue Theatre.

Back to Top

Demonstrate the Place of My Abode by Lisa Koch

3/9, 3/12, 3/17, 3/30 & 4/4 7:30 PM

Stories of a funny father, the music he inspired, and a quirky look at life and death.

An irreverent Seattle singer/actor/comedian, Lisa Koch has released four solo recordings, is one-half of loony sketch-comedy duo, Dos Fallopia (Ham for the Holidays), and is an alumnus of cult quartet Venus Envy. She performs at folk and comedy festivals all over the world, and has shared the stage with Steve Martin, Dave Brubeck, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Kate Clinton, and Janis Ian. She is the composer of a recent Off-Broadway musical about Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas (27, Rue de Fleuras), published by Samuel French. She performs regularly on Olivia Cruises, has been on LOGO, and her latest CD, Tall Cool Drink contains the internet hit, "I'm a Middle-Aged Woman." www.heylisa.com

Back to Top

Cooking With Peggy Platt by Peggy Platt

3/9 & 3/29 7:30 PM

Cooking! With Peggy Platt!

Peggy Platt is a former winner of the Seattle International Comedy Competition, the only woman to date to do so. Peggy has been voted "Seattle's Best Comic" nine times in the annual Seattle Weekly "Best of Seattle" Poll.

Back to Top

Kitty In the City by Jeff Frieders

3/12, 3/18, 3/20, 3/22 & 3/31 7:30 PM

A Story about Ronney Bridestar, owner and operator of "Kitty in the City Beauty Bar and Day Spa for Feline Friends by Ronney Bridestar." This full length piece chronicles Ronney's journey toward success as he struggles to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Jeff Frieders is thrilled to be making his SPF debut. Kitty in the City was originally produced as a senior thesis at Cornish College of the Arts. It was most recently work-shopped in Wisconsin during an internship with Milwaukee Repertory Theater and is preparing to tour the Canadian fringe circuit. Recent credits include Gus in The River Why (Book-It Repertory) and Ferdinand in The Tempest (Seattle Shakespeare).

Back to Top

SUBPRIME! by Norman Bell

3/10 & 3/11 7:30 PM

A fun, fast-paced roller coaster tour through the turbo-charged world of the subprime mortgage industry - a world of fst-talking loan officers, opportunistic condo flippers and hopeful first-time homeowners, all looking for their piece of the American Dream.

Norman Bell is a solo performer and playwright. His original performances include SUBPRIME!, Mango, Little Hand and Think. Norman has also performed in theatre, TV and film.

Back to Top

Returning The Bones by Gin Hammond

3/11, 3/19 & 3/20 7:30 PM

How do you choose between your country, your people and yourself? This is the question Returning The Bones asks. It is based on the true story of the African American doctor, Carolyn Beatrice Montier, now 84. After being invited to finish her medical degree in Europe shortly after WWII, Bebe has to choose between staying in the South (and continuing to risk her life in the fight for Civil Rights), or escaping to Paris to live a life she's always dreamed of. Returning The Bones is a solo show with 26 characters and multiple dialects performed by Helen Hayes Award-winner, Gin Hammond. Classic storytelling combined with a fluid style that will bring you on a journey of many miles, perspectives and epiphanies.

Gin Hammond received her MFA from the A.R.T. at Harvard University/Moscow Art Theatre. She has performed nationally at theatres such as The Guthrie, Arena Stage, The Longwharf Theatre, Seattle's ACT, The Pasadena Playhouse, The Berkshire Theatre Festival and The Studio Theatre n Washington D.C., here she won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for her performance of The Syringa Tree.

Back to Top

Your Own Personal Alcatraz by Suzanne Morrison

3/12, 3/18 7:30 PM

Stories from growing up on an island in the Northwest and of adolescent fascination with Ted Bundy (who just happened to be a good family friend).

Suzanne Morriison is the author of Yoga Bitch, a memoir that will be published by Broadway Books in 2011. Based on her long-running one-woman show of the same title, Yoga Bitch has been called "Ambitious, ballsy and hilarious" by Seattle Weekly and "New Age Nirvana" by Time Out London. Your Own Personal Alcatraz is made possible in part due to the generous support of 4Culture and Artist Trust. A blogger for the Hufington Post Books Section, you can also find Suzanne at her own blog, suzannemorrison.blogspot.com, where she writes about absolutely everything she's reading, writing, and rehearsing.

Back to Top

Monologue Slam hosted by Kevin Kent

3/13, 3/27 10:00 PM, Tickets $10

Danger and Delight on two Saturday nights! Come witness the carnage of SPF's (improvised) Monologue Slam.

Or join in... Use those improvisational skills that your Papa told you would someday get you into trouble. (Let this be the day.). Sign up at 10:30 to "compete" for fabulous prizes - including pocket lint and tickets to Theatre Off Jackson and Teatro Zinzanni.

Here's how the competition works:

• 10:30 - 10:45: signups
• Round One Timed Monologues - 30 seconds each
• Round Two Timed Monologues - 1 min. (audience provides suggestions)
• Judging (by a bevy of Seattle celebrities)
• Round Three Lightning Round

Hosted by Jennifer Jasper (the genius behind Maggie) & Kevin Kent (of Teatro Zinzanni fame). Appearing as Babette, A Ladies Maid and Mistress Fou Fou

Back to Top

Jake's Gift by Julia Van Stralen

3/25, 3/26 & 3/27 7:30 PM

Jake's Gift is a suprisingly funny drama about a WWII veteren's reluctant return to Normandy, France, for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. While there he meets Isabelle, a precocious 10-year-old from the local village, whose inquisitive nature and charm challenge the old soldier to confront some long ignored ghosts, most notably, the wartime death of his eldest brother, Chester, a once promising young musician.

Julia Van Stralenwas born into a very active theatre family in Birmingham, England, and moved to Canada when she was three years old. She grew up in Montreal, and received an education degree from McGill University before heading out west in 1993 to pursue acting ans writing. In 1995 she started doing just that with Victoria's Theatre SKAM, and has since worked with many other theatre companies across Canada. Since 2007, Julia has toured Jake's Gift to rave reviews at theatres and festivals across Canada.

Back to Top

Gunpowder by J. Macdonald

3/25, 3/26 & 3/27 7:30 PM

From the creator who brought you Fall Fair, Boat Load and Giant Invisible Robot, the most destructive solo performance piece in history.

J. Maconald has performed at TOJ for each of the three previous Solo Performance Festivals. He writes largely uninformed plays, performs with the reprehensible alt sketch group Fully Insured, and occasioully pulls out the skull mask for the family-friendly Adventures Of The Boneyard Man.

Back to Top

Worse Places by Erin Jorgensen

3/30 & 3/31 7:30 PM

Music, singing and text combine in a hypnotic voyage incorporating amplified and acoustic marimba, original music, Bach, a Disney tear-jerker, and stories of childhood visions and accidental evil.

Erin Jorgensen is a musician with a day job. She dropped out of college, where she studied classical percussion and composition, to focus on playing marimba. She plays music ranging from Johnny Thunders to J.S. Bach. You can find her playing in bars, at weddings, in museums and theaters, among other places. She lives in Seattle and works at On the Boards. For more info and upcoming events, visit erinjorgensen.com.

Back to Top

Middle by Jennifer Jasper

4/1, 4/2 & 4/3 7:30 PM

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grown up in a house with five girls and a mother with a propensity for falling down, a father who doesn't really like children, and a grandfather whose hobby is making dildos? Well, this is Jennifer Jasper's life. She has a unique and hilarious way of telling these stories. Performed improvisationally, she takes you on a journey from growing up as the middle child in a middle class family to the middle of her own mid-life.

Jennifer Jasper has been performing and directing in Seattle for almost 20 years and has performed nationally. She was a co-founder of King's Elephant Theatre and Pulp Vixens. Most recently she can be seen hosting burlesque and performing it as well as the scotch-swilling "Maggie." In 2009 she directed Keefee's House of Cards and Teensploitation for Printer's Devil Theatre of which she is a member.

Back to Top

Ben DeLaCreme's Piece de Resistance! (the piece she should have resisted) now in IMAX 3D!

4/1, 4/2 & 4/3 7:30 PM

At last Seattle's terminally delightful star of stage and street shares the secrets that have tricked dozens of audience members into enjoying her company. Join DeLaCreme as she peels back the outer layers of makeup and artifice to reveal the makeup and artifice within.

Ben DeLaCreme has appeared in theaters and nightclubs from coast to coast ever since the fateful day in 2002 when she realized that normally unsavory behavior is better received the more makeup one wears. Hailed by The Sranger as "the reason live performance was invented," DeLaCreme combines her background in the performing and visual arts with a love of spectacle, glamour and Saturday morning cartoons to create a thick sludge of sparkly entertainment certain to stick to your ribs.

Back to Top

The Total Package by Ernie Von Schmaltz (Anna Allen)

4/1, 4/2 & 4/3 7:30 PM

Take a ride on the mustache express with this hilarious gender-bending guide to masculinity! Ernie Von Schmaltz leads this 30-minute excerpted show demonstrating the finer points of being a man. Using dance, song, film, humor and flow charts, you will experience a transformative seminar like no other.

Ernie Von Schmaltz is a ladies man. Ahead of the curve (in fact so far, he's coming around from behind again). Ernie is a true renaissance dude. Known as The Man, The Myth, The Mustache, Ernie is a dancing, emceeing sex machine that's been pushing the edge of Seattle's burlesque scene since 2005.

The character behind the character is Anna Allen. Anna grew up in a small northern California town enjoying theatre, dance and costumed expression. In college, she minored intheatre arts and took every physical movement and acting class she could get her hands on. After relocating to Seattle in 1996, Anna sought out fringe theatre and was a founding member of a Seattle comedy improv group (Comedy Court). Post improv, she found burlesque at the Academy of Burlesque and began developing her personae. She also helped found Seattle's award winning comedy burlesque power trio The Von Foxies in mid 2004.

Back to Top

FULL FESTIVAL PASS

Only $99 at Brown Paper Tickets

All the performances you can handle! Seating is guaranteed until 30 minutes before each show. A $410 value. Treat yourself to a great month of theatre. Also makes a fantastic gift.

Back to Top