It’s Showtime – 4 April Shows

I’m working hard on a new play, The ICEmen Cometh, and I’m performing a 20-minute excerpt four times in April. Three in San Francisco and once in Berkeley.

Here’s the description from The Marsh Website: tickets are available for three of the shows, either in person or from the comfort of your home, no matter where you live. Tickets here: https://themarsh.org/monday-night-marsh-stream/

I had applied to perform at the District Fringe Festival in late August in Washington, DC. I received the rejection email today:

“Thank you so much for submitting your work, THE ICEMEN COMETH, for the 2026 District Fringe Festival. We appreciate that our mission and the ethos behind District Fringe spoke to you. Unfortunately, we were unable to program your project in the line up for the District Fringe Festival this year. We received more than 80 ambitious and impressive applications from independent artists based across the DMV and the nation, and with only 10 full production spots to offer, our reading committee had to make many difficult choices. Please know that your work is important to us and was given careful consideration throughout the process.”

Blah, blah, blah . . . To some extent, I was relieved, as I did wonder whether performing a play that is harshly critical of ICE and the Trump Regime in the belly of the beast was a good idea.

“And so it goes,” were the words that came to mind when I read the rejection email. So, I turned to AI and asked Claude, which character offered this phase in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel(s). I didn’t remember who said it or why they said it so often. But I did remember the refrain.

Here’s Claude's response: “The phrase 'And so it goes' is repeated throughout Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) — but it isn't attributed to a specific character. It's used by the narrator (who is Vonnegut himself, speaking in the first person) as a recurring refrain.

It appears every single time death is mentioned in the novel — whether the death of a person, an animal, or even a champagne — serving as a darkly resigned, almost numbingly ironic acknowledgment of mortality. The repetition is a deliberate literary device that reflects the novel's anti-war, fatalistic tone.”

I was invited to do the hour-long show at The Marsh Theater as part of their Marsh Rising Series. Your show on the one-night Marsh Rising gives the theater's artistic director the opportunity to see the complete play and decide whether you'll be invited to do a run down the line. I picked a Fall Date, October 20, 2026, and I'm excited to have this one-night audition at the theater. I'll remind you as the date gets closer.

The full work is not yet finished, and I do best with a deadline. Don't we all? So now, when people ask, “When can I see your full show?”  I have an answer, in Berkeley on October 20.

More immediately, I’m testing the waters with new material for this play starting Monday, April 13, and then again on April 27 and April 28. The April 19 performance at Sunset Solo is sold out. Just 'sayin! It’s always exciting to have a sold-out show. All four of these performances are group shows with other storytellers and are great opportunities to gather audience feedback that helps shape the material. If you live in the Bay Area and can come, I’d love to see you there.

Keep the faith, the country won’t be as dark a place as we’ve seen these past months.

During the big social and political movements of the 60s Bob Dylan encouraged us to believe “The Times They Are a-Changin” and they are.

And here's the info on the Berkeley Show.