by Miryam Gordon - SGN A&E Writer

SOLO PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL #7
THEATER OFF JACKSON
Through March 23

We're in the midst of this year's Solo Performance Festival, a celebration of the one-person show. This year, several prominent female theater performers have been booked to perform their shows - some performances having been seen in prior months, some created for the first time for this festival.

SPF has taken many forms since its inception in 2007, with different foci. Sometimes, the shows have been imported. Sometimes they have been very short, with several performed each night. This time, five women (and one drag woman) are performing serially over several weeks, each of them with a roughly full-length (95-plus minutes) show.

'ASHRAM TO JESUS CAMP'
Bhama Roget started things off with the funny Hippiecrit: I Want to Change the World, I Just Don't Feel Like It. Bhama has graced many of our community's largest theaters with her talents. Here she relates personal stories including how she got her name, and 'her unique worldview that largely resulted from going from Ashram to Jesus Camp by the time she was 8,' as the festival's press release states. She included film footage demonstrating some of her points of view.

Tina Vernon also created original songs to accompany her show, Wanted, about 'how a little girl from West Texas overcomes abandonment, celebrity obsession, and the juvenile justice system to become a woman with her own song to sing.' Tina drew on her personal experiences with West Texas juvie justice and worked with guitarist David Ballis on the songs.

In addition, Tina is partnering with nonprofits as she performs in other cities, to empower women and girls to tell their own stories.

Jennifer Jasper performed her I Can Hear You& But I'm Not Listening, having performed the show a few times over the last year. She reports that the piece does change a bit and is now feeling more solid, as she tells the story of growing up as the middle of five sisters, unable to speak understandably until receiving intensive speech therapy in elementary school. Her performance was wry, sarcastic, funny, and un-self-reverent, as she poked as much fun at herself as at the rest of her family.

PLATT, KOCH COMING UP
This weekend, comedian Peggy Platt will go back to stand-up comedy, performing some routines developed for a new touring show called Roadshow. She'll be joined in a companion piece on the same evening bill by Brian Daniel Peters (aka Mama Tits) titled 2x2: A Duplex of Comedy, which she also contributed material for. Mama Tits will do her 'drag comedy review.' You can get tickets for the March 15-17 SPF performances at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/309336.

Then, next weekend, singer/comedian Lisa Koch reprises her acclaimed 2010 solo show in which she pays tribute to her father, as she tells of his last days and includes singing, a photo montage, and funny stories. Show Me the Way to Go Home also touches on the issue of death with dignity. You can see this show from March 21 to 23. Tickets and information here: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/320369.

For more information on the Solo Performance Festival itself, visit www.facebook.com/SoloPerformanceFest or www.theatreoffjackson.org.

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