SHOW DESCRIPTION: Yes, we know, we know; everyone is freaking out about the rapidly advancing encroachment of al things AI. Much gnashing of teeth about the potential peril to humankind that AI poses. Hell, even our do-nothing Congress is looking to find a way to regulate this space! But, what about the kinder, gentler applications of AI—-your very own virutal therapist programmed to help you navigate your torubling symptoms of anxiety and to ease your generalized angst? How can that be anything but helpful to humankind, where nothing can go wrong, can go wrong, can go wrong…

 

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES: Susan Evans & Marleen Smith are both mental health professionals who have performed on stage together (often at The Marsh) for many years, often referred to at The Dynamic Duo. Their work includes: Health Care Follies
Modern Grandparenting, 100 is the New 80, The Jet Blues, Cam-pains. And while they have watched many Tony Awards ceremonies, sadly, they have yet to be nominated.

BEN TUCKERS’
Sentimental Journey

 

 

 

November 6 & 20

STEPHEN DAVID DYM’S
In The Elvis Mirror

SHOW DESCRIPTION: In The Elvis Mirror is an autobiographical fantasy about a young boy growing up in the Bronx in the 1950s & 60s while sharing a room and an unusually close relationship with his teenaged sister.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: Stephen David Dym is an actor, poet, and playwright. He has worked in theater, film, and television. Four years ago, Stephen began recording 20 minute improvisational talks to a small group of colleagues in an acting/writing workshop. Transcripts of these talks became a first draft of a memoir about growing up in a working-class neighborhood in the Bronx. In the Elvis Mirror is one of those stories and Stephen is delighted to present it to you.

HOWARD JR. JENNINGS’
Black Men

SHOW DESCRIPTION: I too sing America. I am a Black man! BLACK MEN  attempts to share some moments of the life of black men. The good, bad, and ugly. Let’s uplift and reflect a better AMERICA. There are 3 different characters: Chief Master Sargent Howard Jennings of the United States Air Force “a proud American…..Lenny Green a working class worker who has made mistakes in life and BELAFONTE, representing the consensus of black…..Let’s make America Greater. 

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: Howard Jennings Jr is writing under the byline Howie BELAFONTE Obama. Some of the combinations of nicknames he has gain in the streets of Oakland and his political activities in Northern California. Writing and developing BLACK MEN for the last years and performing it at the MARSH these last two seasons has been extremely fulfilling and a bucket list achievement. If was inspired by the creative work of Damon Haley and the inspiring words of Lionel Ross and Master Chief Jim Dorn of the United States Navy….he has been bless with many mentors and role models First his Father Chief Master Sargent Howard Jennings of the United States Air Force..Former Alameda County Supervisor John George and the great Jim Brown. As one of the only 2 black cub scouts in Northern California in 1968 he was picked to be an extra in the movie “Tick Tick Tick ” starring Jim Brown started a love affair with the arts. He attended Phoenix Community and had the lead role in its production ” Give Em Hell Harry in the spring of 1979. He also attended Solano Community College and San Francisco State University where he was in the drama and broadcast communications departments. He has spent decades of being involved in many artistic events. The political, social activists and entrepreneur has been a silent force in the bay for decades.

HALIM MADI’S
Invasions

SHOW DESCRIPTION: The word “Invasions” is a combination of the latin words “in” and “vadere” ie. “walk in”. Identitary, Collective or Intimate, Invasions are events that walk into our lives uninvited. They force a conversation we often hadn’t asked for. 

This theatrical poetry performance weaves the theme of “Invasions” through the experiences of 6 characters: A modern day knowledge worker whose emotions spill over at the workplace, a reporter covering the invasion of the South of Lebanon, an Astrophysicist from UCSB whose show is about to get cancelled, a French model whose body won’t do what it’s told, an Arab linguist who’s discovered a mysterious metamorphosis within the Arabic language.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: Halim Madi is a queer Lebanese poet with work published in Quiet Lightening, The Racket and Lunate. The author of “Flight of the Jaguar”, “In the Name of Scandal” and “Deep & Fast”, they write about queerness, plants that make you see colors and the immigrant experience. He currently lives in San Francisco. You can find more of his work on www.halimmadi.com.

---

November 13 & 27

JERRY METZKER’S
Where I Come From in America

SHOW DESCRIPTION: This is the second half of the story of Fergus Malone, a victim of the Great Famine in Ireland. I performed the first half at MNM in fall 2022. That piece chronicled Fergus’s journey as a farmer/day laborer from being evicted, along with his family, from his home, wandering hungry and destitute across the Irish countryside until finally he is able to take one of the “coffin ships” from Ireland to New York City. This new piece begins with Fergus’s arrival as a refugee in New York and his steady determination to stabilize himself in an unwelcome and often hostile environment.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: Jerry Metzker is a playwright, director, dramaturg, solo performer and theater creator. As a solo performer, he has workshopped several pieces at the Marsh, including Guardian Angel, Nephilim, Mercy Buckets (SF Fringe Festival) and Where I Come From, the journey that Fergus Maloney takes from famine-stricken Ireland to New York City in 1847. He is the director of John Fisher’s long-running solo play A History of World War II, which played at the Marsh-SF, Marsh Berkeley, the United Solo Festival (New York) and Hollywood, running more than eight months. He has directed several other solo plays written and performed by John Fisher. His solo play, Oh Fuck, You’re Old was produced by LGBT Writes! at The Marsh Café. Jerry is also a musician and a static trapeze artist.

HERBERT MINTZ II’S
My Uncle Sam, My Military Family, and Me

SHOW DESCRIPTION: My piece, “My Uncle Sam, My Military Family and Me,” is a series of interconnected nonlinear memories that lay bare the personal and institutional arrangement between my Uncle Sam, my military family and me.  My piece is a coming out of the footlocker monologue from the point of view of an aging military dependent who is willing to share traumatic moments from the regulated subculture of his childhood and youth.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: I studied avant-garde film, video, photography and performance in the late 1970s and early 1980s in New York City.  I performed original works in New York City, Madison, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota while trying to secure a sustainable income.  Slowly, I moved away from those artistic efforts and worked in community media, corporate media and for the Public Broadcasting System.  At this time, I have the motivation and resources to write and to perform original personal artistic pieces as well as a desire to share those artistic pieces with a larger community.  

WYND KAUFMYN’S
The Betrayal That is Not Divorce

SHOW DESCRIPTION: Would you let your friends determine the financial settlement for your divorce? Wynd Kaufmyn tells her story of doing just that! She also explores the collateral damage of divorce and shares her journey of getting to the other side.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: A Jewish girl from Detroit named Wendy Kaufman moved to the Bay Area in 1979 for graduate work at Cal. Since then, she became (in this order) a Christian, an engineer, a mother, a professor, a wife, a non-violent activist, Kaufmyn, a human rights defender in Palestine, a divorcee, Wynd, a neophyte solo-performer, an unarmed civilian protector in Western Sahara, retiree. Wynd Kaufmyn continues to evolve.

---

December 4 & 18

THERESA DONAHOE’S
All the Great New Things to Come

SHOW DESCRIPTION: A solo show about being a fourth generation San Francisco Bay Area native.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: Theresa Donahoe is an actor who mainly performed theater in her youth. Deciding to take a break from theater, she started working in movies (such as SCREAM and RENT) while working in television and movie casting for many years as well. After a 17-year hiatus, she returned to the stage and decided to merge her love for writing with her love for acting. Once she discovered the art form of solo performance, she created and debuted her first full length solo show, “Late Bloomer” at the 2017 Rogue Fringe Festival in Fresno, and her second solo show “Born Again in Berkeley” at the 2022 Rogue Fringe Festival.  “All the Great New Things to Come” is her latest work-in-progress solo show.

LISA SUMMERS’
The Wild Ponies of Middle Lion

SHOW DESCRIPTION: In the months following my father’s death in 2020, I revisited the wild places in California my father used to take us to in the early 1970s when we moved to San Francisco from a Navy base in Pensacola.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: I am a SF Bay Area poet, writer, and the co-founder of the Sonoma Writers Workshop, which produces a popular (and the only) series of poetry readings at Bump Wine Cellars on the historic Sonoma Plaza. I write for local and national publications on topics ranging from immortal microbes to love in the Metaverse.

ODILE LAVAULT’S
Irresistible Attraction

SHOW DESCRIPTION: Through a selection of musical vignettes, the audience is transported across 30 years of an accordion player and raconteuse life. (WARNING: There is an accordion on stage.)

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: A native Parisian, Odile has been performing accordion music in Europe and The Bay Area for over 40 years. She is co-founder of the legendary Parisian café music combo, Baguette Quartette. She has been featured in many theater projects including Calshakes, Dell’Arte, Exit Theater and Steven Pelton.