Marga Gomez’s
new work in progress
LONG ISLAND ICED LATINA

Plus

Samantha Chanse's
(20-minute excerpt)
LYDIA’S FUNERAL VIDEO

Wednesday, May 28 at 8pm
Thursday, May 29 at 8pm
Saturday, May 31 at 5pm & 8pm

Upstairs Studio Theater



Marga Gomez’s
new work in progress
LONG ISLAND ICED LATINA


"Hysterical! Feisty! Adore her!"
Eve Ensler- ’Vagina Monologues’

"Amazing..a Lesbian Lenny Bruce"
Robin Williams

"A Latina Lily Tomlin"
Herbert Siguenza-Culture Clash

"A Lesbian Larry The Cable Guy." Barry Walters -
Village Voice

"One to watch ...a jolt of theatrical electricity."
New York Times

"Hilarious" LA Times

"Gomez beguiles" Time Out NY

Drama Desk nominee and GLAAD Award Winning solo performer Marga Gomez’s work in progress is an intoxicating comedic memoir of her awkward adolescence in Massapequa, Long Island. Gomez mixes equal parts cultural confusion, chronic virginity, mother-daughter instability  and a splash of polyester fashion to paint a sardonic picture of her uprooted life as the new brown girl in a white high school. “Long Island Iced Latina” is being developed for a June 9th presentation in New York at Joe’s Pub.


Samantha Chanse
LYDIA’S FUNERAL VIDEO
(20-minute excerpt)

“Combining bits of video, impromptu stand-up, and panicky introspection, Lydia's Funeral Video follows the plight of a young woman and her sass-talking embryo as they negotiate the politics of a newly invoked 28-day abortion countdown. Spiked with surreal celebrity trash-culture references, sardonic moral relativity, and Chanse's biting wit, LFV celebrates irreverent political incorrectness and the societal gray areas in all of us.” Connie Hwong, Flavorpill

“Asian American Theater and Bindlestiff alumni Samantha Chanse depicts a not so distant future when abortions are legal only within twenty-eight days of conception. Apocalypse-obsessed Lydia Clark-Lin is  doggedly pursuing a career in monetary units when a mysterious being claiming to be an hours-old embryo invades her dreams, announces that Lydia is both pregnant and dying, and commands her to create a video to be screened at her funeral before terminating the pregnancy. Lydia seems to be losing her job and her mind, a deadline fast approaches, the end of the world beckons, and hecklers loom on the San Francisco horizon. A sold-out full production of “Lydia’s Funeral Video” premiered at the Dark Room theater and was directed by Wilma Bonet. This piece is performed live.

Ann Randolph’s
SQUEEZE BOX

May 17 - June 29, 2008
Saturday at 5pm
Sunday at 7pm
Marsh Main Stage


"When I first saw [Squeeze Box], I was deeply moved. Ann Randolph's amazing work, both as a writer and fellow performer, touched my heart and my mind so profoundly that I felt it belonged on the New York stage." — Anne Bancroft

"She goes in and out of these characters. She's a bit of a genius. I've been around, and I haven't seen so much talent in one person since I married Anne Bancroft. I've got to say that these are two great Anns, and I am glad that they hooked up together." — Mel Brooks

"Rubber faced Randolph is wickedly hysterical." — Los Angeles Times

"Randolph allows us to see ourselves in and among people who seem utterly removed from our urban existence." — LA Weekly

With pathos and humor, Randolph skillfully weaves together stories about working in a women's homeless shelter and the pursuit of true love. Her painfully funny portraits of the shelter's residents, and hilarious account of her hiking trip with Harold the accordionist, man of her dreams, are beautifully drawn in this poignant tale about finding dignity and grace in unusual places.

Sherry Glaser’s
THE BrEaST OF SHERRY GLASER

May 2 - June 14, 2008
Thursday thru Saturday at 8pm
Marsh Main Stage
(No show on May 31)


“A free-spirited activist, playwright and performer, Glaser is on a mission to use her activism and her art -- and even her naked torso if need be -- to draw attention onstage and off to how our society has lost its way on the road to equality, dignity and true decency. ‘Our breasts say more than words,’ says Glaser, a writer who knows that words alone can be easily disregarded, but bodies are harder to ignore.” Jessica Werner, SF Chronicle

“The progressive movement has found their comedic muse and she rocks!" Paul Hawken, Activist and Author

“Breast” features a trio of outrageous characters who all challenge the status quo in different ways. Miguel De Cervantes (last seen at The Marsh in 2006 in Glaser’s critically acclaimed run of  OH MY GODDESS!) opens the evening with a call for a shift in the male archetype and paradigm. He is followed by Mother Superior, an evangelical, spiritual leader who has questions for the Lord and a mandate for a mighty prayer. This section includes audience participation. Finally, SAM SLAM (Super Lesbian Activist Mother) brings the power of “Breasts Not Bombs” (Glaser is co-founder of the notorious anti-war group) to sublime life in a passionate plea to SAVE THE WORLD immediately.

Sherry Glaser is the author and star of Off-Broadway's longest running one-woman show “Family Secrets.”

For Glaser, this show is the culmination of over twenty years of theatrical comedy and peace activism. She calls her work “Peace Activist Revolution Theater” or "PART" (as in do your "PART"), and will combine her performances with several ‘peace actions’ around San Francisco. Audience donations will also be sent to the Baghdad Shelter, an Iraqi orphanage.

STRANGE TRAVEL SUGGESTIONS is a series of improvised monologues inspired by the vagaries of wanderlust. “I want this show to evoke the thrill of a journey,” says Greenwald. “The unexpected encounters and diversions that make world travel so wild and illuminating.” To achieve this, he asks audience members step onto the stage and spin a huge, colorful Wheel of Fortune. Round and 'round it spins, and where it stops, the story begins.  Greenwald never knows which tales he is going to tell in the course of an evening—and the audience embarks on this expedition with him, from one spin to the next, as partner and traveling companion.

Greenwald draws from 30 years of travels for his stories. He has visited six continents, working as a writer, artist, performer and photographer. He is the author of five best-selling travel books, including “Shopping for Buddhas,” “The Size of the World” and “Scratching the Surface: Impressions of Planet Earth from Hollywood to Shiraz.”

STRANGE TRAVEL SUGGESTIONS has enjoyed three previous sold out runs at The Marsh since its 2003 premiere.

Liza Reynal’s AMERICAN JOE is a funny  and frightening story about the effect one life en-route to battle has had on the lives around him. Last November, Liza’s nineteen year old brother enlisted in the US Army.  From boot camp to imminent deployment, AMERICAN JOE traces the back-and-forth connection and  rejection between brother and sister, soldier and pacifist, warrior  and writer. Joe is heading to Afghanistan in America's war on terror and Liza is coming to the Marsh to tell her side of the story.