Filing into the “Lounge” at First Lutheran Church (a small room adjacent to the nursery) for Show Up, you’ll meet Peter Michael Marino, hawking campaign buttons to promote the show. After a few minutes of miscellaneous banter with the audience, he confesses that he has no idea what he’s doing. He talks about how solo shows are often confessional but insists that what he’s doing is “not about me.” He claims what he’s up to is not memorized; in fact, he has a typed script in hand that he refers to as if he’s uncertain what to do next. He cites Woody Allen’s mantra that “80 percent of success is showing up,” and he has shown up. He surmises that perhaps he should quit while he’s ahead.
Marino’s sly introduction about having no idea what’s to come is the trope of this highly entertaining performance. Don’t be fooled: Marino knows exactly what he’s doing. (In fact, he’s a veteran performer who sometimes teaches sketch comedy at a New York university.) He and those in attendance have fun, because it’s very much about audience participation as Marino assembles a laugh-out-loud solo performance. Remember “Mad Libs” in which a participant fills in blanks that result in a disjointed but amusing story? Marino has advanced this approach to a high art.
On the wall he has posted seven large PostIt™ sheets labeled: TODAY, FAMILY, CHANGE, ADDICTION, CHILDHOOD, JOB and LOVE LIFE. He seeks suggestions for an item, event or experience to record on each one. Along the way he wanders through vignettes of his life (including creating a musical about the 1985 movie Desperately Seeking Susan; his show flopped in London and he decided to memorialize it with a solo show, “Desperately Seeking the Exit” — this might sound fabricated, but it’s true) and other amusing observations based on people’s suggestions. His performance feels tremendously random for about half of his one-hour performance.
Then he shifts gears — having recruited a stage manager to randomly rearrange furniture, another person to select music snatches from an iPad, and a third to hand him random items from a prop box — and brilliantly knits everything together. He uses the posted suggestions plus more blanks to be filled in on the fly — a city name, a character name — and the result is a hilarious solo narrative. Marino wraps it up right on the nose of 60 minutes, to enthusiastic applause, having included every unlikely, often off-color, audience-proposed item.
Show Up is a tour-de-force of improvisation that will be different every time. (He has seven performances during the Cincy Fringe, and it seems likely that people might want to return and see what he does with a different audience.) He’s proud to be “showing up” for each performance despite his supposed discomfort. Help him with his semi-improvised, socially anxious comedy. You’ll have a good time doing so — and there’s a party at the end.
The Cincinnati Fringe Festival runs through June 10. Find showtimes, tickets and more info here.
