Minnesotans to the rescue

by Phillip Andrew Bennett Low | 7/31/09 • M: Hey, have you met Sigal?
ME: Um, wait a minute — got off the wait list at the last minute, no publicity, no pre-show buzz, just rolled into town?
M: That’s her.
ME: And you want me to…
M: Yeah. (to her) phil’s a blogger for the TCDP, and he owes me a few favors. (to me) You cool with this?
ME: Yeah, I got it.
M: Cool. (leaves)
SIGAL: Hi!
ME: Okay. Explain to me why I should care about your show in ten words or less.
SIGAL: Um…
ME: That’s one word.
SIGAL: Shit.
ME: That’s two words.

(dead silence)

So, aside from my being a total jackass, she proved to be charming, appealing, and playful, both in her preview and in person. Moreover, she just came all the way from San Francisco. I’m sure we can make it all the way to Franklin Avenue for her.

The title of her show is Sure to Cure, Dr. Amelia’s Medicine Show. Medicine shows? I love medicine shows! They’re like vaudeville and capitalism, two of my favorite things. Moreover, from her show description:

Old-time snake-oil huckster meets new-age self help guru–all in one doctor!

Ooh, satirey! Not that I have the faintest idea which direction she’s going with that — but as someone who has been extremely critical of the new-age and self-help movements, the parallel to medicine-show hucksterism is fascinating to me.

And as someone who’s done his share of touring, I empathize heartily with her current situation. Not just an opportunity to see a clever, funny show, but to be ambassadors of goodwill. Check her out, and let’s show ’em what Minnesotans are made of.

(Er, passive-aggression? Liberal guilt?)

No, you ninnies: alcohol-induced hospitality. Let’s not let either Sigal Shoham or Arthur Guinness down.

Phillip Andrew Bennett Low (maximumverbosityonline@gmail.com) is a playwright and poet, storyteller and mime, theater critic and libertarian activist, who lurks ominously in the desert wilds of St. Louis Park, feasting upon the hygienically-prepared flesh of the once-living. His main claim to fame is probably as co-founder of the Rockstar Storytellers, and as founder/producer of Maximum Verbosity, a garage-band-like theater troupe that is in a state of constantly re-defining itself.