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| Joe Peer starred last night in his one-man show, "Pocho in the House." |
| Photo by Lisa Carlson. |
Ever since I caught Spalding Gray's stunning performance in his one-man show, "Swimming to Cambodia," at Lincoln Center in the mid 1980s, I have been a huge fan of the one-person show. It's a difficult technique to master, I am sure...you are author, actor, and energy base for your audience at all times. Only you really know if you slip up, though, so long as your story is good and you keep your audience in the palm of your hands, taking them up and down with you as you flow through your memoir. The best weavers of these tales have a huge range as actors, an amazing sense of timing and humor (thinking of Lily Tomlin's "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe," which I also saw on Broadway) and have a strong director to provide the objectivity all artists need.
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| Lily Tomlin animation from Lily Tomlin -Biography online. |
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| Joe as Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront," which inspired him to become an actor. Photo by Lisa Carlson. |
Joe Peer's "Pocho in the House" builds on all of these great traditions. It's close to the heart. It's raw. It has shades of gray. It involves the audience in song, private terrors, humor and tragedy. It's simply staged, using photos and light, in the small converted train station in Petaluma that is the Petaluma Center for the Arts. It's got room to expand in many directions. It's universal. Here's to Joe as he takes it to the next level.
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| Last night's appreciative audience in Petaluma. Photo by Lisa Carlson. |
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