CRUSHING To Make Its West Coast Premiere In San Francisco

Direct from a sold-out run in New York City in 2023, CRUSHING—the acclaimed live monologue show exploring transformative moments in love—is coming to San Francisco. Helmed by a Bay Area-based creative team, the show features nine writers diverse in lived experience and narrative disciplines. 

Crushing will make its West Coast premiere on Thursday, February 27 and Friday, February 28 at the Bayfront Theater in San Francisco's Fort Mason. Tickets are available now at crushing.show/tix. 

“San Francisco has a history of this rich cultural scene built by scrappy artists, and I'm thrilled to bring this show home and be a part of it,” says co-director, producer, and San Francisco native Carly Steyer. Steyer is a writer/director across film and theater, and serves as Creative Director for a nonprofit focused on Gen Z civic engagement.

“Live, true storytelling unlocks a unique level of empathy through its intimate format,” adds co-director and producer Megan Calfas. Calfas, who lives in San Francisco,  is on staff at the Stanford Storytelling Project at Stanford University and debuted an original play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024.

The lineup for CRUSHING includes:

• Rozzi – San Francisco-raised recording artist previously opened for Maroon 5 on tour; recently collaborated with Billie Eilish
• Sam Sax – Oakland-based poet and novelist; longlisted for the National Book Award; two-time Bay Area Grand Slam winner
• Karan Menon – Los Angeles-based comedian and TikTok personality with more than 300,000 followers; featured in NYT, TIME, CNN, NowThis, and more
• Garrett Schlichte – San Francisco-based writer and chef; a star of “America's Test Kitchen: The Next Generation” with writing featured in NYT, Jezebel and more
• Myles-Alexys Jones – 14-year-old East Bay high school freshman and aspiring playwright
• Keith Brown – Richmond, CA-raised educator and artist
• Nora Gomperts – Berkeley-based line dancer, writer, and soon-to-be therapist
• Drew Semler – New York-based playwright and screenwriter (NYU Tisch MFA)
• Shameeka Wilson-Brown – Vallejo-based, first-gen PhD candidate

Crushing is co-produced by Stanford alum and Nairobi-based journalist Natachi Onwuamaegbu, who starred in the 2023 debut. “For all its universality, romantic love can still feel profoundly isolating. We hope our show is an antidote to that,” says Onwuamaebgu. 

In addition to the 80-minute performance, the evening will feature a bespoke art installation in collaboration with Pajnucci Vue and William Jou, and drinks by Mission favorite Bar Part Time.

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