Monday Night Marsh

Every Monday night The Marsh, located at 1062 Valencia Street, San Franciso, features new, short, solo performances by a wide range of writer/actors. Here you will experience at least three fresh, edgey pieces, and you will never be disappointed. The pieces are in a workshop stage. Performers try out their material in this venue where the small audiences are likely to be made up of other theatre folk. Feedback, therefor, is constructive and encouraging. The actors are certainly not amateurs.



I went to the Marsh last Monday night. July 30. The line-up consisted of Enzo Lombard, a multi-talented world traveler who writes novels, does stand-up, sings in musicals, and directs documentary films. He's been in show biz since the age of 5. Next up was Zoe Shell Sameth, another world traveler, who lived for a time in Sri Lanka. She has won a Truman Scholarship award, was honored and featured as Channel 5's "Homeland Hero" for her work in bringing the arts and continuing education to Bay Area at-risk youth. And finally, Sonya Wozniak, who bills herself as a monologuist, and is a self-proclaimed graduate of "way too many schools."



Admittedly, I was late getting to the Marsh due to just missing a bus at a time of evening where the wait for the next one is a half-hour. So, I saw only the last five or ten minutes of what compact, wirey, and nimble Enzo Lombard presented: "Love Humiliation & Karaoke." But what I did see made me wish I'd gotten there on time! It was poignant and ended with a Karaoke pop ballad. The man can sing! Enzo has a web site (http://www.enzolombard.com/) so I will check it out and make point to see more of his work.



The fifteen or twenty minutes of petite Zoe Shell Sameth's "Taste of Enlightenment" is just a small taste, if you will, of a show she feels will eventually run for two hours. I had seen another part of it at the Spring 2007 Marin Fringe's Solo and One-Act Festival, where Zoe tied for a first place acting award. Zoe takes you along with her during the time she spent in Sri Lanka a couple of decades ago, just prior to that country's ongoing civil war. She calls her experience "topsy-turvy" in a country so foreign to her she felt she lost and found herself again and again as she wandered the "maze of new relationships." Through her acting, she allows us to see the people, smell the various fragrances, taste the food, and hear the cacophony of sounds from both villagers and wildlife. Zoe brings her characters to life with her spot on accents. Confusing to her was her meeting with a wise man who curses like a rapper. Why? She finds out. The revelation helps her to discover herself in, as Blake would write, "a grain of sand." Sameth is not afraid to stop and be still every so often. This allows us to experience the imagery she lets float before us. I look forward to seeing her entire piece one day. She wore an embroidered, gold, Indian cotton, hip-lengh shift and dark pants, my only wish is that she would lose her detracting sport shoes and opt for the more fitting sandals. Zoe has the voice of the very young Elizabeth Taylor and the mature look of Melina Kanakaredes of "CSI NY", including her tumble of rich, dark hair. Zoe's website is http://www.zoeplanet.com/



The final performance by Sonya Wozniak, "One Night in Alameda" was a hoot. Wozniak is a plain-looking, tall, full-bodied woman (NOT "full-figured"), in a pony-tail, dressed in a sleeveless blouse and calf-length, full skirt, who looks like she just dropped her kids off at the playground. Her character is that of a new divorcee who is invited to a solstice potluck/sex party. Once there, she decides to just go for it. And she does - - and tells us about it in the most graphic descriptions of who's doing what to whom and where and how I have ever heard or seen in my years of going to live theatre. Usually, stuff like this is stupid, amateurish, boring, and just not funny. Somehow, the way Wozniak delivers her material makes it inoffensive and fall-out-of- your-chair funny. I think it has to do with her matter-of-factness. Her characterizations of the other party-goers were absolutely right on. She took you somewhere you weren't sure you wanted to go in the first place, and weren't really sure why you were there once you arrived, but found yourself having a blast. Still, you knew when you'd had enough, as her character did, to just go around and say your goodbyes in the accepted Miss Manners manner, to writhing, sweating, naked bodies thrashing about on every available surface. At one point, Sonya literally lets down her hair and instantly transforms herself into this beautiful, super desirable woman. Sonya calls herself a pseudo-intellectual who loves comic books and big talk, which is "the opposite of small talk". Her performance was way big, big, big talk! Keep your eyes and ears open for when Sonya Wozniak next performs. There is no website listed in the program for her. Don't forget her.



The Marsh has nurtured many performers who have had long running shows there and have gone on to other venues: Charlie Varon, Marga Gomez, Ed Holmes, Josh Kornbluth, and more! You can become part of this roster by contacting Patti Meyer, program director, by email: patti@themarsh.org.