Katie Folger To Premiere Her One-Woman Show GETTING IN BED WITH THE PIZZA MAN

Indie-Film darling Katie Folger has announced the Los Angeles premiere of her fresh new comedy, Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man. Written and performed by Katie Folger with direction by Matrex Kilgore, the limited three-show engagement will play May 17-18, 2024 at El Portal Theatre, Monroe Forum Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601. Tickets go on sale today Friday, April 12 at katiefolger.com or elportaltheatre.com/gettinginbedwiththepizzman.

Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man is a racy, whimsical one-woman show exploring the perils and thrills of sex and singledom post-pandemic by actress, writer, and comedienne Katie Folger. Originating as a backyard performance with 25 guests, the show saw additional workshops with close friends from being performed in a bedroom to a pizza shop to an art gallery to shooting an immersive living room performance to a highly successful Kickstarter campaign that brought this vision to the stage in Austin 2023.

With ATX known for its grungier arts scene and slacker-esque stories, West Coast audiences will be in for a treat of comedic storytelling that's unabashedly feminine, sexy, glamorous, and provocative — kicking up the sheets for a lil sum'n different that speaks to LA! Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man will make its LA debut at the historic El Portal, a space drawing upon the aesthetic glamor, color, and visual language of TV sets in the 60s, 70s — with the beauty, and theatrics of shows like Laugh In, The Carol Burnett Show, The Sonny & Cher Show, Soul Train – all inspirations for Folger.

Fully produced at the Crashbox Theatre in May of 2023, with two sold out weekends and rave reviews, Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man was named as a Top 10 Theatrical Moment of 2023 by the Austin Chronicle. Followed by an intimate workshop reading in LA in the Fall of 2023, Folger sowed the seeds for the fully produced premiere in May 2024.

Move over Carrie Bradshaw, meet Katie Folger…saddled between the white picket fence vision of older generations and the prevalence of “hook up culture,” fleeting situationships, and debauchery characteristic of dating in the 2020's, Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man asks: What do love and sex now look like? Is unbridled sexual exploration truly liberating? Where is home if you haven't found it with another person? And is there value in both tradition and exploration? 

“Somebody pinch me,” said Folger. “I could not be prouder to debut this work for the first time outside of Texas in LA, which is the hotbed for all things film and comedy—my two greatest professional and creative loves.”

Written by and starring Katie Folger, Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man is directed by Matrex Kilgore. The production team also includes scenic design by Paola Cortés-Manthey, lighting design by Eric Gerzymisch, and costume design by Chrissy Paszalek. Rounding out the team is Producer and technical director Christopher Shea. Sound design by Lacy Strong.

Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man

Friday May 17 at 7:00 pm | Saturday May 18 at 6:00 pm & 9:00 pm

El Portal Theatre, Monroe Forum Theatre| 5269 Lankershim Blvd. | North Hollywood, CA 91601

Tickets: Start at $45 plus applicable fees; $55 Cabaret table seating. Tickets available at katiefolger.com

*There will be a post-show reception in the lobby immediately following the performance on May 17

Katie is a 30-year-old single woman fumbling with dating, sex, and boundaries in a rigidly boundaried pandemic world. On a dagger-tongued jump down a rabbit hole of beginner's sexual empowerment, Katie exits the circumstantially imposed monogamy of a reality where it isn't “exactly responsible to f*ck whomever you wanted when there was a deadly disease decimating significant portions of the population” with a wild(ish) woman's abandon. On her first trip since lockdown to San Francisco, a saucy, kismet run-in with an old crush Lane leads to an “invitation to magic”…and potential for a hedonistic week of love-making. But her highfalutin expectations for transcendent, plague-fee org*sms are humbled by a stinging admission from Lane. Feeling rejected and unsure of herself, Katie finds herself consumed with prospect of love and sex, rebelling against the roles she thinks she's supposed to play—pious girlfriend, perfect wife—with a teen's angst, mostly to no avail. But seemingly lame, dead-end session with a psychic named White Raven gives an unexpected way to that foreshadowed magic, setting Katie on a winding quest of sexual misadventure and discovery—a hippie cuddle-puddle, an illicit encounter with Lane's bestie, a curious collision with a pizza man—that ultimately centers Katie, sans pizza man, in her own delectable narrative.

Ages: This show is for ages 17+

About Katie Folger

Katie Folger is an actress, writer, and comedienne based in Austin, Texas. Her work is geared toward more nuanced representation of women in media, inspired by longtime mentor Robert Redford. An award-winning actress, her bold and memorable performances have garnered her praise from festivals like Sundance, SXSW, and Locarno, among others.

Up next, she can be seen in starring roles in feature films Family Portrait, a sprawling Texas drama which premiered in competition at the Concorso Cineasti del Presenti Sierra at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival directed by Lucy Kerr, and Tooth Shop Fiasco, an absurdist comedy produced by George Rush & Michael Tully. She is best known for her starring role as the villain Meredith in Streamy Award-winning sci-fi series DAY 5, (AMAZON, EL REY, SKY TV). Other TV credits include a recurring role in Robert Rodriguez's series FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (AMAZON, EL REY).

Pre-pandemic, she wrapped a six-month long sketch comedy season at THE MAGNET, her NYC stage debut, and trained in improv under Amy Poehler herself at Upright Citizens Brigade. In Los Angeles, she was one of the first on-camera hires as a satirical news anchor and writer for Phil DiFranco's ROGUE ROCKET in the New Media space. In the feature space, additional credits include Andrew Bujalski's RESULTS which debuted at Sundance, starring roles in Karen Skloss's THE HONOR FARM and Emily Hagins's GROW UP, TONY PHILLIPS which both premiered at SXSW. Her breakout role was in ZERO CHARISMA which won SXSW's Audience Award. She has collaborated with notable Texas film figures Richard Linklater, Bryan Poyser, Bob Byington, Yen Tan, Vicky Boone, Rooster Teeth, and the Austin Film Society.

Alongside her work as an artist, Folger is currently working towards a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with special interest in working with victims of intimate partner violence and in crisis and trauma intervention. 

About Matrex Kilgore

is an award-winning international performer, director, and teaching artist based in Austin, Texas. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin's Department of Theatre and Dance and trained with Oscar winning Actress Marcia Gay Harden, Obie Award winning director Katie Pearl, Keene Prize for Literature and The David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award winner George Brant, and three-time Helen Hayes Award winner Franchelle Stewart Dorn. He is the co-founder of the Center for Imagining and Performing Justice and also works for Texas Commission of the Arts.

Beyond this, he has taught theatre for social change to students ranging in age from elementary to college level. Matrex collaborated internationally with the late award-winning globalist theatre practitioner and scholar Stephen Gerald performing and creating bilingual performances based on classical pieces of theatre including the works of Chekov and Shakespeare. In South Korea, he partnered with Chung Ang University (the prestigious theatrical Korean university) to create bilingual pieces of theatre that represent both American and Korean Culture.

Matrex previously served on the Board of Directors for Ground Floor Theatre and was a company member of The Vortex Repertory Theatre Company, En Route Productions, Spectrum Theatre Company, and Shrew Productions. He has directed five one woman shows. Some credits include: Black Do Crack by Florinda Bryant, TWENTYEIGHT by Tyler English-Beckwith, Cracked by COIVD by Florinda Bryant, “A” (What The Black Girl Found While Searching For God) by Taji Senior, Single Black Female by Lisa B. Thompson., and Devour. by Taji Senior.

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