Josh Kornbluth, whose monologue style was shaped by his mentor and monologue pioneer Spalding Gray, will perform his first commissioned piece, Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? from March 4-20 on Stage West at the Herberger Theatre.
Presented by Actors Theatre, the show is among a season's worth of provocative and thought-provoking plays highlighting the company's 25th anniversary season.
Kornbluth was commissioned to create Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? by the Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco as a response to that venue's exhibition of Warhol's life and work through his silk-screen portraits of 10 (actually 12) famous Jews: Albert Einstein, Sarah Bernhardt, Franz Kafka, Louis Brandeis, Martin Buber, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, the Marx Brothers, Golda Meir and Gertrude Stein.
Warhol's original exhibition toured the country in 1980 and was met with critical derision. The New York Times critic called the show vulgar, exploitative and tawdry. When the exhibition was remounted in 2010, the response was much more positive.
Labeled as San Francisco's most-well known monologist, Kornbluth has made a career of chronicling his life in often provocative solo shows that extend from his childhood in New York at the knee of his communist father to his life in Berkeley with wife Sara and son, Guthrie.
In Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews?, Kornbluth, who has performed in the Valley at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, examines the impact of the images on himself and the art world by taking on each of Warhol's subject one by one - and Warhol, too -- in his own inimitable monologue style that also frames his personal look at his own Jewish identity.
Single-ticket prices range from $24.50 to $44.50 with discounts for seniors, students and groups.
For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit www.actorstheatrephx.org or call The Herberger Theater Center Box Office at (602) 252-8497.
Annie Baker's 2010 OBIE-Award winner for Best New American Play, Circle Mirror Transformation, will close out the season from April 22 through May 8. Called "absorbing, unblinking and sharply funny" by the New York Times, the Arizona Premiere of one of this season's most-talked about new off-Broadway plays offers a potent reminder of the impact we have on each other's lives.
Call (602) 253-6701, Ext. 108 or visit www.actorstheatrephx.org for more information.
