Zappo Diddio’s
Hippie Kid
In person at The Marsh Berkeley TheaterStage
Written & Performed by Zappo Diddio
Directed by Zappo Diddio
Online ticket sales close 2 hours before each performance,
and additional tickets may be available for purchase at the door.
September 6 – October 12, 2019
Fridays at 8pm | Saturdays at 8:30pm
Ticket Information
Tickets: $20 – $35 General Seating sliding scale | $50 & $100 Reserved Seating
Online ticket sales close 2 hours before each performance,
and additional tickets may be available for purchase at the door.
1 hour & 45 minutes | no intermission | Ages 16+
Please do not bring infants to the show
Show Description
Zappo’s solo performance covers a spectrum of his extraordinary life experiences. From growing up as a kid in a hippie commune to his work with children in schools, hospitals, and orphanages, he peels into the rich fruits of joy and pain. The show ebbs and flows through joys and hilarity of his unique childhood, the unanswered questions relating to abandonment by his father and the profound grief he continues to navigate since his mother’s passing many years ago. Zappo goes into comical antics of growing up around rock & roll festivals and his collection of short stories and quotes from the many kids with whom he has worked.
Through hysterical comedy, storytelling and original songs, Zappo reflects on his path to healing through loving-kindness and service toward young people in crisis. Forgiveness and reconciliation are a recurring theme as he makes efforts to reconnect with his dad and leaning into his paternal Jewish ancestry. Exploring how life’s challenges call us into the healing of mind, body, emotion, and spirit, Zappo stumbles through the gauntlet of recovering health and his once joyful life after 12 years of ongoing negotiation with Lymes disease. Like life itself, this performance leads to deep meaning as it moves along a roller coaster of hilarious, heart-opening storytelling.
Artist Biography
I have devoted the last twenty-five years to doing what I can to spread love and joy into as many hearts and minds as I can reach. Most of this effort has been through tremendous time and energy spent in countless programs offering guidance, enrichment, and emotional healing to children of all backgrounds imaginable.
Growing up in a communal setting around teachers and activists such as Wavy Gravy, Larry Brilliant and Ram Dass has cultivated within me a profound calling to put my good where it could do the most and align myself with a “love all, serve all” philosophy. While spending childhood summers at Camp Winnarainbow, I learned the joys and benefits of living and learning in a diverse artistic community. Because of that, I have developed a passionate commitment to “pay it forward” by sharing the life-changing experience of creative kindness with children and young people in great need.
In 2004 Dr. Patch Adams invited me to join his team at the Gesundheit Institute on a mission of love and laughter with suffering children in hospitals, orphanages and juvenile detention centers throughout the mountains of Peru. Following that first trip, I was hooked on this compassionate work, and I went on to volunteer for several years as a hospital clown with Gesundheit and Bola Roja, our Peruvian host organization.
For several years I have been developing this solo performance, ripe with heartfelt, and comedic stories about my upbringing in the Hog Farm hippie commune, and reflections on my work with children. In my work with all people, I regularly employ the tools of a creative mindset, sense of humor, and kindheartedness.