Today in shameless self-promotion:

Hey, how's it going? Oh good. Sorry, it's been a minute. I've been very busy. We're putting on a show. Wait, where are you going? Come back! Don't you want to hear about my community theatre project? I mean, your eyes are kind of glazing over...Huh? What's that? You don't want to hear about it, but you're going to pretend to be interested while mentally planning what you're going to do for dinner tonight? 

Although, c'mon, I think we both know where this is going...

We're not just surfers and a soul-crushing
cost of living, we also have a vibrant arts scene!
But seriously, one-bedrooms are like $2,500/mo.

You know what? I'll take it! So if you live around here--Santa Cruz, California--and like community theatre and/or feigning interest in other people's extracurricular activities (and who doesn't?), you should come see our show. It's called Who Killed Simon Braggart? and it's running for four shows only: October 18th, 19th, 25th and 26th. It's a gritty, queer, comedy, noir murder mystery set during the golden age of Hollywood and get this, it's immersive. What even does that mean? Good question, I'm glad I pretended you asked.

Embarrassingly awesome...

So you know how when say, fans go to the opening night of a new Star Wars movie Jedi wearing robes and brandishing plastic lightsabers? It's like that, only slightly less embarrassing. Here, the premise is you're attending a 1940's film premier, so you'll want to dress appropriately. Fedoras and suits, evening wear with faux fur stoles, that kind of thing. When you enter the theatre you're going to find yourself in a reception party before the movie 

Oh, you looked suddenly interested when I said movie...well, let me walk that back a minute. This isn't a movie, but rather a play set at a movie premier. But that's even better, right? Whoa, whoa, come back, you've made it this far. 

Pictured: a typical play-goer.

In my defense, what's even going 
on in this scene? Like, for real?

Look, I love movies as much as the next person, but theatre is different. And no, not just because of the giddy possibility that someone might botch a line, but because you're engaging with something live and in person instead of passively taking in a written by committee, carefully calculated for maximum corporate synergy, CGI-stuffed, cacophonous, product of a commercial industry. Again, I'm not knocking movies but...well, ok, I am knocking movies, but I mean, I still go to those too.

Anyway, we have a fabulously talented cast, a rockstar crew, and I wrote it, so you'll probably hear me recycle some jokes I've made on this very blog. Only they'll be much funnier coming out of our actors' mouths. It's l'art pour l'art as the French would say. Ok, they probably wouldn't and that is super-pretentious, but why not come get super-pretentious with us?

Again, so sorry. This has been a shameless plug, but if you've been
taken in by my sweaty, self-conscious pitch here's where you can get tickets.