Event

SPF #5 ALL FESTIVAL PASS

IN ITS 5TH YEAR, SPF BRINGS HUGE
LOCAL TALENT TO THEATRE OFF JACKSON
SPF #5: FREE THE RADICALS!

APRIL 14 - MAY 7
TOJ hosts 7 original solo pieces for the 5th annual Solo Performance Festival. Talent includes Terri Weagant, Matt Smith, Gerald Ford, Jerick Hoffer, Troy Mink, Yana Kesala and special guest Lauren Weedman..
In its 5th year, SPF is proud to present a slew of outstanding local talent (and one awesome guest from Los Angeles). For half a decade now, SPF has slathered a heavy dollop of solo performance perfection upon eager Seattle audiences and we're excited to bring yet another deluge of SPF goodness to 2011.

Here's what's in store for this year:

SPECIAL GUEST PERFORMER:

LAUREN WEEDMAN
"NO....YOU SHUTUP"
Written by Lauren Weedman
Directed by Jeff Weatherford
(click here to buy individual tickets)
April 14-17, 8pm
Runtime: 90 minutes

BIO
Weedman (adopted herself) said she wanted to deal with the topic of adopting a baby. Her strategy was to travel the country, talking to her gay friends who were struggling to form families, and then write a piece made up of little vignettes of that sojourn. But her travel plans were foiled and because she couldn't rely on the words of others to guide the direction of her writing, she'd left herself little choice but to turn her literary eye inward.
In her unflinchingly funny theater work, Lauren Weedman's incisive observations and painfully dead-on characterizations are woven into laugh-out-loud stories that boomerang back to nail the teller of the tale. Her latest solo performance traces her attempts to exorcise a demon and try to "trust herself" even as she struggles with things beyond her control. As an aging outsider, Weedman seeks comfort in broken families; hanging out with a pair of harassed lesbian moms, widowers and foster parents. Her inner voice may not be audible but her outer voice is certain to spill its guts.
Lauren is nationally known for her work on THE DAILY SHOW, RENO 911, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, and many more television and film productions. For two years, Lauren was also a cast member for the long running local-turned-national comedy show ALMOST LIVE for Comedy Central. In the fall of 2002, The Empty Space Theatre in Seattle premiered her solo work, RASH. Later that year, RASH was recognized by The Seattle Times' Footlight Awards, with nods for both Best New Play and Best Solo Performance.
"The only problem with Lauren Weedman shows is that they're too short. (How often do you hear that complaint about autobiographical solo theater?)" -THE STRANGER, SEATTLE

THE REST OF THE RADICALS:

Matt Smith
"ALL MY CHILDREN"
Written by Matt Smith
Directed by Bret Fetzer
(click here to buy individual tickets)
Playing: April 20, 22, May 3, 5 at 8pm
Runtime: 90 minutes

All My Children began in February of 2010 when Matt was awarded a grant by Hugo House, in Seattle, to write and read a 20-minute piece based on the theme "Visiting Hours" with three other artists for their Literary Series. He was commissioned that night to finish the piece and perform it at Hugo House in May and June to sold out audiences.

BIO
Matt Smith is a Partner on the web based Cookus Interruptus, a Communciation Consultant for organizations, and a world class fundraising auctioneer. He co-facilitates improv/breakthrough retreats with Rebecca Stockley. He is also an ambassador for Hanford Challenge, devoted to the clean up of the Hanford Nuclear Waste Site.
Solo works: All My Children, My Last Year with the Nuns, Helium, Beyond Kindness, My Boat to Bainbridge. (All directed by Bret Fetzer)
Screen credits include: The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, Outsourced, White Face, Sleepless in Seattle, Spiderman, Almost Live.

Terri Weagant
"KARAOKE SUICIDE IS PAINLESS"
Written by Celene Ramadan
Directed by David Gassner
(click here to buy individual tickets)
Playing: April 23 at 8pm; April 19, 21, 29 at 9:15pm
Runtime: 50 minutes

A multimedia karaoke comedy that explores the correlation between air guitar and personal choice.

BIO
Terri Weagant has been a producing actor, director, writer and karaoke whore in Seattle for the last 7 years. She has worked with Book-It Repertory Theatre, Theater Schmeater, CHAC, Empty Space, Balagan Theatre, Centerstage and Hypnagogia Sketch Comedy Group. She created the raunchy monthly cabaret, SCHMORGASBORG, which recently commenced its two year run. In 2009 she was awarded the Theatre Puget Sound Member's Voice Award and is a 2-time Gregory Award Nominee for Outstanding Actress. Her favorite karaoke songs to butcher include Minnie the Moocher, Just a Gigolo and Proud Mary.

Jerick Hoffer
"TURNING PARLOR TRICKS"
Co-Written by Keira McDonald and Jerick Hoffer
Directed by Keira McDonald
(click here to buy individual tickets)
Playing: April 19 at 8pm; April 28, May 6, 7 at 9:15pm
Runtime: 50 minutes

Deirdre A. Irwin is the countries foremost Transsexual Psychic and Medium. She uses her gift to enlighten and give comfort and closure to her audience. Though she was not born with her gifts, she believes her psychic powers were a gift from God on the day of her sexual reassignment surgery, or as she refers to it, the day she opened her Third Eye.

BIO
Jerick Hoffer is a budding Seattle actor seen most recently in RED RANGER CAME CALLING (Book-It) and is currently playing in THREEPENNY OPERA (Intiman). He also performs as the drag characters "Kitty Witless" in The Vaudevillians, and "Jinkx Monsoon" in a crude and comical cabaret chanteuse. This is his first attempt at a one "woman" show.

Yana Kesala
"THE UKRAINIAN DENTIST'S DAUGHTER"
Written and directed by Yana Kesala
(click here to buy individual tickets)
Playing: April 28, 29, at 8pm; April 23, May 4 at 9:15pm
Runtime: 50 minutes

The Ukrainian Dentist's Daughter is a solo show inspired by one woman's personal experience with immigrating to America and shaping her identity in a place very different from the land of her parents. Our city of Seattle is a microcosm of this realityfor many of us it is a chosen destination, the place we have elected to create the lives we want for ourselves.

BIO
Yana Kesala toured "The Snow Queen," "Myth Understandings," and "Gerda's Journey" with theater simple, traveling to Canada and Australia. She graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in 2007 after finishing the One Year Classical Acting Course. In 2006 she graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Drama. She was seen as Lady Macbeth in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2007 and as Rat in the Idaho Shakespeare Festival's Idaho Theatre for
Youth's tour of "The Wind in the Willows."
NOTE: The Ukrainian Dentist's Daughter will also be performed at the Victoria Fringe Festival in British Columbia August 25- September 4, 2011.

Troy Mink
"MeNtAl"
Written by Troy Mink
Directed by Matt Smith
Video and Media by Brian Rachebeaumer
(click here to buy individual tickets)
Playing: April 21, 27, 30, May 6 at 8pm
Runtime: 50 minutes

BIO
Troy Mink has been a professional improviser/performer since 1993. He began his Seattle theater career working/learning with Unexpected Productions & has trained & performed with such greats as Del Close, Susie Schneider, Matt Smith, Randy Dixon & Ryan Stiles to mention a few. He is most known for his many alter egos "Carlotta Philpott" being the most recognizable. He has created & performed in over 12 of his own original productions (including a musical), "The Haint" (on Netflix) receiving the most notoriety.

Gerald Alejandro Ford
"CHICHA
(Or How To Love A Fashionista Chola Bulldyke)"
Written by Gerald Alejandro Ford
Directed by Lonnie Tristan Renteria
(click here to buy individual tickets)
Playing: May 4, 7 at 8pm, April 27, 30 at 9:15pm
Runtime: 50 minutes

Circumstantial evidence and industry jealousy land Chicha, international sensation Chola Bulldyke Fashionista in the slammer. A small kindness alters her view of the world and in the process, self-liberation. Through the use of traditional Latino story-telling and multimedia, the audience experiences cultural intersections both with humor and critical insight. Chicha will make you laugh, cry and think.

BIO
In collaboration with eSe Teatro (a newly formed Latino Theater Collective) Gerald's goal for his SPF appearance is to engage audiences in contemporary questions and unlikely material. Gerald wrote Chicha for an expanded audience. His goal is to show the universal questions of being and self-actualization. Moreover, Chicha embodies cross-cultures narratives. As we engage her character, we relate to her in ways never expected.

Location

Theatre Off Jackson
409 7th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104
United States

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Owner: Theatre Off Jackson

On BPT Since: Feb 21, 2005

Patti West

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