First Dance of Its Kind in Oakland

August 20th, 1938, the headline read:

My grandparents are circled in red.

“A scene at the first open air dance ever held in Oakland under the sponsorship of the City Recreation Department. The dance was given at the Jefferson Playground which was converted into a dance pavilion.”

My Bay Area roots go back. So, you can understand why I got upset one day when a bike messenger in San Francisco, who almost knocked me over, called me a TOURIST. I got so angry I decided to write a one-person-show about it. Don’t worry, it’s not all anger. I know how to redirect my fourth generation SF Bay Area rage into laughs.

I will be performing an excerpt of my solo show “All the Great New Things to Come” as part of the Monday Night Marsh Series at the Marsh SF on June 9th & 23rd. There will be three performers total- so come check us out!

Mondays at 7pm
Two Ways to Watch

IN-PERSON
Click for Tickets

In Person at The Marsh Theater in San Francisco
1062 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Doors open at 6:30pm | Show starts at 7pm

STREAMING via ZOOM
Click to Watch

Click here to stream the performance for free
Zoom doors open at 6:50pm | Show starts at 7pm

Also on the bill:

RANSOM NOTE

I just spent way too much time on an email for my next performance coming up on Tuesday 2/25/25 in Berkeley. The font size keeps changing in the app and it looks like I am sending out a ransom note:

I will be doing a 20-minute excerpt alongside three other fabulous storytellers:

Stories

Theresa Donahoe, All the Great New Things to Come (excerpt)
December 2019, my sister and I are enjoying our annual holiday visit in Union Square in San Francisco. All of a sudden, a guy on a bike whizzes past me and practically knocks me over. He yells, “Tourist!”
Me? I am NOT a tourist! TRIGGERED!!

Steve Budd, Oy, What They Said About Love (excerpt) 
Is there such a thing as “the one”?  Steve Budd wonders why other people can tie the knot and he can’t. Oy, does he wonder! So, he asked a bunch of couples what brought them together and what keeps them from pulling apart. Meet a Jewish couple who met on Craigslist, an interfaith pair who met at a Halloween party, and more.

Tylon T-Boogie Sizemore, The High Price of Restitution: My $6000 lesson (excerpt)
You know that time you shouldn’t have been sent to state prison but were, and almost died for it? Tylon will share some of the challenges and triumphs of her time in the prison system, including a near-death experience that changed her life forever. It’s a story about resilience, hope, and a willingness to overcome adversity.

Mark Adams, Unravelling the Construct
Come hop on my bike and experience life on the Playa in real-time. A fun romp through the craziness of Burning Man, complete with a sandstorm, crazy outfits, and a chance to participate in the shenanigans. Not for the squeamish.

February 25th Tickets: $10–$20 general seating sliding scale.

Online ticket sales close 2 hours before each performance,
and additional tickets may be available for purchase at the door.

buy tickets

Saturday, February 8, 2025:

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Day 569 -Tomorrow’s Show!

One of the most difficult parts about doing solo shows is that it can be lonely.

In conventional stage plays there are usually cast members you can bounce energy off of while on stage, back stage, and off stage. There are cast parties and friendships are made, and it can be a pretty great time. If the show does well, you celebrate. If it doesn’t, well, at least you are all in it together. You can share the fame and the blame. Everybody carries the load.,

In conventional stage plays, depending on the budget, there is also a technical crew to help with the lights, sound, and costumes. And you even have a director and possibly your show is at a theater that has a mailing list and helps with promotion. And as an actor, you only have to focus on acting.

But in a one person show- you gotta do almost everything. You wear many hats. You write, perform, do your own makeup, costumes, etc., I even learned how to edit sound cues and upload them for the sound person. And if you want a director, you gotta pay $$ for them. You are your own executive producer.

But out of all those things we have to juggle, the hardest part for me is the promotion. How many times can you send emails, post on social media, and bug your friends to come see your show? And if you are performing out of town, it’s even more of a challenge because, well, why would complete strangers come see you perform?

Today I posted again on Instagram about my show tomorrow night and their sneaky algorithm saw that I don’t get many “likes” or views on my posts -so I get these direct messages asking if I want to “buy followers”. BUY FOLLOWERS. That’s like paying for “fans”. I know P.R. is a business, but geesh.

All that to say…

Come see perform a short excerpt of my solo show “Born Again in Berkeley,” tomorrow night in SF, live and in person, or on Zoom! There are two performers total (20 min each) and I go on first at 7pm, so don’t be late!

Monday Night Marsh

Mondays, October 4th and 18th

SF Marsh Theater – 1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco 

Doors at 6:30pm, Show at 7:00pm 

Sliding Scale starting at $10 for in-person tickets- click here to purchase tickets or you can buy them at the door (credit cards only).

In-Person Peeps: You will have to show ID and proof of vaccination, and wear a mask while inside the building.

Zoom Peeps: You can click on the Zoom box here, on the evening of the performance – virtual doors at 6:30pm, show starts at 7:00pm-show is free of charge.

“Theresa has a secret. In the Bay Area where people are flinging open their closet doors, she’s not sure she’ll be accepted. Help Theresa come out…….as a Christian.”