An additional weekend of shows has been added from May 30-June 1.
Following sold-out shows in LA, and at Brooklyn’s Union Hall last October, Michael J. Feldman brings his latest solo show, No, But I’m Definitely In A Better Place Than I’ve Been In A Long Time to the Brick May 23-26 and now, an additional weekend of shows May 30-June 1.
The show is a solo comedic play about the utter absurdity and blatant selfishness of trying to do anything creative in a world that is falling apart. As Feldman recounts, he started working on the show during the pandemic when he was in desperate need of some sort of creative outlet and was writing a lot about his experience with anxiety. In an effort to find a cuddly pandemic dog, Michael and his husband Michael ended up with a 75 lb German Shepherd with generalized anxiety disorder. Feldman knew immediately that he wanted the show to be from her perspective.
As Covid and the final months of the Trump Presidency raged on, Michael felt “for lack of a better word: dumb” to be writing and rehearsing as a dog. “People are dying, everyone’s scared and anxious and depressed… and here I am barking on the floor and eating dog treats. It all just felt so incredibly ridiculous and stupid.” This overwhelming feeling was his cue that the show needed to pivot to capture THAT sentiment: the unknowable need to create and perform paired with anxiety about the reasons and motives to create when everything in the world seems to be going so dark.
The show follows this arc in a self-reflective yet satirical tone: in the first section, you meet Michael, an anxiety-ridden writer/performer who is having an existential crisis – how to express himself and create meaning when the world is literally coming to an end (thanks to an atmospheric phenomenon which has effectively blocked out the sun). He decides the best use of his time is to put up a one-man show about his dog, an anxiety-ridden German Shepherd, who he physically embodies in the second half of the play. The audience then gets to watch the solo show within the solo show, as Michael desperately tries to plow ahead with the performance as all hell is breaking loose outside and inside the theater. It’s about following your dreams, truly at ALL costs.
Tickets HERE.
Photo Credit: Jeff Lorch
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