If you’re in the Richmond area on Friday, you should attend Slash Coleman‘s performance of The Last American Gladiator.
When: Friday, December 3, 2010
Time: 6:00 – 8:00
Where: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA)
200 Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23221
Price: Free
Slash comes up to the DC area to perform as well, and you won’t regret spending a couple of hours in his presence. He’s a performance artist—storytelling and singing—and I was marveling at the writing as well as at the acting. It’s all autobiographical, but as a writer, I knew that while all of his stories held kernels of truth, I wondered how much extra Slash was putting in. Then he told the story of his nephew’s bar mitzvah, the pintele yid, and “Rabbi Shmuley,” and I figured out exactly how much was added. Because that’s the part of the story that I know personally, having taught his nephew’s brother during that time. Yep. There’s a lot of extra thrown in.
It’s a marvelous show. It’s all about growing up Jewish in the Capital of the Confederacy. This show utterly deserves to be given in front of an audience in the biggest JCC in the nation. (I wonder how I go about getting that to happen. If I have any influential readers out there in JCC-land, seriously, go see the show. You’ll agree with me.)
Oh, the crowd tonight? I got the feeling that if I’d yelled out “Sarah Palin!” half of them might have fainted. (Don’t worry, I know when not to stir people up.)
I wonder if Elder Daughter knows him, given that she is so well connected to the DC performance arts scene. I’d love to hear some of his stories… embellished or not!