Oakland's East 14th Returns to San Francisco Life on East 14th in Oakland comes back to San Francisco

Don Reed 

Photo by Keith Leman

Oakland's East 14th Street (now International Boulevard) was a crime-ridden major thoroughfare in the 1970s when comedian Don Reed was growing up there.  Reed's enacted tales of depravity humanize the neighborhood experience of becoming a player there and then. In his show East 14th, now reappearing at The Marsh after a successful off-Broadway engagement, he offers true tales of a reluctant player. He energetically portrays differing people he ran across in his teenage years. He shifts effortlessly and distinctively as he tells of living with his father the pimp and of his seeking sex while lacking in balls. He admits he had only nuts. His father tries to help, and his brothers guide and protect him from manipulative thugs and harlots.

With a brief but densely informational set-up about where he lived and what his father was like, Reed follows the timeline of his quest to lose his virginity. His self-assured brother, who does break-dance moves every time he speaks, tries to instruct him on how to be a player, but Don is too nice a guy to shove women around the way his brother does. His brother's illustration of those methods involves a demanding ultimatum on the phone. When Don tries it he winds up with a joint and $2, far different from the terms prompted by his brother.

Don's mother and father were separated; the mother gets very little time on stage. Don moves back into his father's house on East 14th. He closes Act I with a cliffhanger about how his father plotted to get him to lose his virginity. "Y'all ain't gonna believe this shit," he says as the stage blacks out and he exits.

Later, left alone in the house with his father's sly benefactions, Don takes a phone call. It's Merle "from up the street" who wants to suck his dick. He says ok, but when she arrives his torturously slow reaction to her at the door is exquisitely performed. He takes his time with this one, making it obvious that he can't believe his eyes, then allowing himself a response. He describes graphically her missing front teeth -- which becomes one of several running gags -- and he convincingly mimes her jiggling overweight. He thinks she moves too fast. Then when he is confronted with the opportunity to pick up on his brother's girlfriend, he mimes himself as a vulture, scavenging the remains of a painful death, except that his brother is none too pained by it; he just wants to be rid of her, as is evidenced by Don's one-man enactments of a three-person car altercation on the Bay Bridge.

There are many other incidental characters, such as Steakface and Troutmouth with strongly vivid faces -- on Don -- who enrich the texture of his tapestry of life in an ethnic neighborhood where he faces sexual confrontations largely initiated by the woman. His writing is mostly free of black patois, sticking largely to standard English. Reed has a strong track record of stand-up and comedy writing, but his artistry shines in his quick shifts between characters and his skillful verbal and physical introduction to each one. His mime and characterizations, along with clever and striking vocalizations, bring to life his reminiscences of being the son of a pimp growing up among tough guys. His distinctive facial contortions artistically animate the characters he displays.

East 14th true tales of a reluctant player continues through January 16 at The Marsh, 1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco. Tickets ($20 to $50) are available online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/93727 or by phone at 415-641-0235.

Don Reed's re-enactment of his adolescent experiences growing up in an ethnic part of Oakland returns to The Marsh after a successful run in New York. His mime and characterizations, along with clever and striking vocalizations, bring to life his reminiscences of being the son of a pimp growing up among tough guys. His distinctive facial contortions artistically animate the characters he displays.

East 14th true tales of a reluctant player continues through January 16 at The Marsh, 1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco. Tickets ($20 to $50) are available online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/93727 or by phone at 415-641-0235.