CAN'T AFFORD TO By Kate Robards Comes to The Marsh Next Month

Writer/performer Kate Robards (Ain't That Rich, PolySHAMory) returns to The Marsh San Francisco with her newest work, Can't Afford To. She grew up "broke," married "rich," and divorced faster than she could say tax bracket - from Walmart to Neiman's and back again. Having tried the Cinderella in need of saving route, and failed, Robards attempts to find worthiness and salvation in a stupid world through something other than money. Is that even possible in this age of status and consumerism?

Directed by Maureen Monterubio, Can't Afford To will be presented November 12 - 27, 2021 (press opening: November 20) with performances at 7:00pm Fridays and 5:00pm Saturdays at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco.

For tickets ($15-$35 sliding scale; $55 and $100 reserved) or more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh Box office at 415-282-3055 (open Monday through Friday, 1:00pm-4:00pm).

Kate Robards (Actor/Writer) lives in New York City and is an award-winning writer, comic, and actor from Orange, Texas whose work has been called "hilarious and heartbreaking" (The Washington Post), with the San Francisco Chronicle adding that she has "wry wit." Currently, she is a contributing writer for BETCHES and Lady Spike Media. Robards wrote jokes for the 2019 and 2020 Shorty Awards and Bustle Breakers, and has also written jokes for Kathy Griffin, Stacey Abrams, and Busy Phillips. She has performed with Studio Acting Conservatory, The San Francisco Olympians Festival, EXIT Theatre, Shanghai Repertory Theater, Urban Aphrodite International, and Cutting Ball Theater. Her solo play trilogy (Mandarin Orange, Ain't That Rich, PolySHAMory) has racked up awards and performances across both the country and abroad. In 2014, Mandarin Orange premiered at the Capital Fringe, where it was named a "Fringe Festival Highlight" by The Washington Post. With assistance from both Solo Stages at Stage Werx and The Marsh, Ain't That Rich was developed and went on to a seven-week run at The Marsh San Francisco. In 2018, PolySHAMory made its debut at The Marsh as part of its Marsh Rising series returned for a full run in January 2020. A finalist for the 2019 Sundance Episodic Lab, PolySHAMory has been welcomed by critics, who called it "a remarkably cohesive narrative" (The Washington Post) and "a rich portrait of a complex life" (DC Theatre Scene). Robards can be seen in New York City performing standup at The Stand, Broadway Comedy Club, The Grisly Pear, and beyond. She was a Bay Area resident for four years and has an MFA in Writing from the California College of the Arts and has been seen on Vice, Inside Edition, HGTV, Discovery +, College Humor and Netflix (project coming 2022).

Maureen Monterubio (Director) is a New York based writer and director who focuses on developing new work for theatre and film. Her work has been seen at the American Theatre for Actors (Off-Broadway), the Kennedy Center, Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival, United Solo Festival, The Tank, Capital Fringe, Manhattan Theatre Club, The 14th Street Y, Wide Eyed Productions, Peculiar Works Project, and Rorschach Theatre. Monterubio made her Off-Broadway premiere with Across The Park, produced by The Araca Project. Other career highlights include directing Pregnant Pause at Planet Connections, which garnered NYIT nominations for Outstanding Solo Performance and Outstanding Original Short Script; premiering her short film, Emma On The Roof in 2020; and developing and directing a workshop of a new play, Voyagers, based on the NASA mission of the same name as ACT in Seattle, Washington. Outside of theatre and film, Monterubio directs audiobooks for Penguin Random House. She directed Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei narrating Elena Ferrante's novel The Lying Life of Adults; Lucas Hedges narrating Love, Kurt; Tony Award-winning Anaïs Mitchell narrating her audiobook Working On A Song; and Parker Posey narrating her audiobook You're On An Airplane. Monterubio's audiobook work received Earphones awards for Her Daughter's Mother, Wink, and The Lying Life of Adults. She also received an Odyssey honor for We're Not From Here. Monterubio is a member of the writing group Ellipses, FilmmakeHERS, and a proud Tennessee Volunteer. She developed and directed Robards' critically-acclaimed solo show, PolySHAMory, which toured North America - including a run at The Marsh San Francisco.

The Marsh is known as "a breeding ground for new performance." It was launched in 1989 by Founder and Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman, and pre-COVID hosted more than 600 performances of 175 shows across the company's two venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. A leading outlet for solo performers, The Marsh's specialty has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "solo performances that celebrate the power of storytelling at its simplest and purest." The East Bay Times named The Marsh one of Bay Area's best intimate theaters, calling it "one of the most thriving solo theaters in the nation. The live theatrical energy is simply irresistible." Since its launch in April 2020, the theatre's digital platform MarshStream has garnered more than 100,000 viewers. Notable MarshStream moments include the debut of MarshStream International Solo Fest, The Marsh's first- ever digital festival, and the U.S. premiere of The Invisible Line, a new documentary about one of the world's most famous social experiments gone wrong. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic MarshStream has hosted over 500 LIVE streams, providing some 300 performers a platform to continue developing and producing art. The Marsh will continue to offer digital content on MarshStream, as well as in-person performances.

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