Cranston, RI – How does a man go from being a toxic virgin, a situation so dire in his own mind that he enrolls in sexual surrogate therapy (with his roommate, no less!) to auditioning as a male stripper in the red light district of Tokyo? And just what do balloon animals have to do with it? Come find out as Phil Goldman, former jungle guide, improvisational actor, martial arts instructor and bank spy, shamelessly tells sordid stories of his past, stories he wouldn’t tell friends or family, but seems to be perfectly willing to confess to a roomful of strangers. “I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: Shameless Stories of Surrogates, Stripping, Sex and Balloon Animals” will be staged in the Black Box Theatre at Artists’ Exchange November 13th - 15th.
Phil Goldman, the show’s creator and host, has gained recent recognition as creator and host of “Live Bait: True Stories from Real People,” winner of Rhode Island Monthly’s “Best of RI,” Providence Phoenix’s “Best of 2009” and the Motif Magazine Theatre Award.
“Live Bait” was born out of Goldman’s experience watching “The Moth,” a show created by a NY-based organization bearing the same name, whose concept centers around regular people sharing their most interesting stories with a captive audience drawn in like moths to a light. Goldman saw the show when it came to Boston and thought, “That’s what I should be doing!” Eventually he mustered up the gumption to go for it, creating what is essentially a one man show version, sharing his most intimate and unusual life experiences in the aptly titled “I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This.”
So how can one man carry a whole show based solely on stories from his life? This was never a worry for Goldman, who has welcomed uncertainty and adventure into his life from the moment he left home to attend college. As a NYU undergrad studying film, he took an assigned reading of Kerouac’s “On the Road” literally (no pun intended), dropping out after completing the book to hitchhike around the country. His penchant for theater anchored him for a brief time with ImprovBoston (complemented with a side gig as a bank spy) before the road called, once again, bringing Goldman to San Francisco for another performing opportunity and from there on to Thailand, where he worked first as a jungle guide, and later immersed himself in the study of Tai Chi.
Until family commitments brought him back to his hometown of Warwick, RI, Goldman had acquired an arsenal of strange experiences. It is this raw material of his life, craftily spun with a writer’s touch into jaw-dropping, wide eye-inducing tales, that all are invited to experience.
“I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This” will be performed in the Black Box Theatre at Artists’ Exchange on Friday and Saturday, November 13th and 14th at 8pm, and on Sunday, November 15th at 2pm. Singer-songwriter Jerry Gregoire will open. Tickets are $10 at the door.
Artists’ Exchange is located at 50 Rolfe Square in Cranston. For more information, contact Christina Mealey at 401.490.9475.
(This is not an RIFC Production)