🥞A magical show in Ventura✨
Plus: A second show added in Columbus….and: more letter writing for Kamala!
Hellooooo, Strawberries!
First things first: my November 22 show in Columbus SOLD OUT (wowzah!), so we’ve added a SECOND SHOW on November 23 at 12:00 noon. If you didn’t get a ticket for Friday and/or want to see the show AGAIN, we’d love to see you on Saturday!
In other news, the elections are 12 DAYS away. My special lady Kristen aka Pushkin aka The Queen and I hosted another letter-writing party through Vote Forward, encouraging folks in swing states to get to the polls. With our friends, we’ve sent over 300 letters!
Maybe you or your very anxious mom are looking to give up apocalyptic news-watching and/or doomscrolling in exchange for an accessible, impactful way to move the political needle. Vote Forward makes it VERY easy to download/write your letters, so grab a friend, a partner, or a sleepless/frenzied parent and write some letters today!
Whew! I’m still buzzing from last Friday in Ventura: a sold-out show, a standing ovation, and a truly magical experience with the poetry and mental health community, along with my dear, dear friends.
I’ve talked a lot about how this “solo” show has been a triumph of collaboration. (Another MAJOR thanks to my brilliant director, Joanna Simmons.) The other really special, really unexpected thing is how the show continues to bring so many people together.
It was incredible having my friends there, especially “My Tuchus” Ariel Scott-Dicker, who came alllll the way from New York (AGAIN) to see the show. Another highlight: Keira and her daughter Emma, fellow performers whom I met in Edinburgh(!!), came in from Bakersfield to see it again, too!
This was my first performance post-Edinburgh and, as many of you know, Fringe was a super rewarding, and also super challenging experience — when NAMBA invited me to do the Ventura show back in August, I almost turned it down; I was exhausted and sore. I hated my show. I just wanted to be done. And now, thanks to six weeks of recovery time, the lovely folks in Ventura, the support of my friends and family and collaborators (shouts again to Jo and to Matt Lipkins aka Lippy, who did all the music), I’m feeling completely rejuvenated.
I worked so hard to get to Fringe, and I considered it — as the world’s third largest ticketed event (behind only the Olympics and the World Cup!) — to be a culmination of all that prep. But now I see it in a different way: Fringe was actually gauntlet, a training I had to complete to earn hose proverbial 10,000 hours, to hone & perfect my show, and to fortify myself mentally, physically, and emotionally to prepare and perform at a professional level without falling apart in the process. Now, I feel like I’ve earned my stripes, passed the test, and am ready to take on — and embrace! and truly enjoy! — this next chapter of the show and my creative life.
Thank you again to Pushkin, Matt, Emily, Ol’ Bloo, Tuchus, Whitney, and Lo for coming out, and to the bona fide dream team who brought the show to life.
Next up: see you in Columbus on 11/22-23 and then back in LA on 12/15 (details and a ticket link to come)!
With love & thanks & poetry & pancakes,
Ben