Adam Strauss Brings THE MUSHROOM CURE Back to The Marsh

Comedian and solo performer Adam Strauss continues at The Marsh San Francisco with a revised and extended run of his newest show Something Is Wrong with Adam Strauss. Also, while in the Bay Area, he will perform his renowned show, The Mushroom Cure,inspired by a scientific study showing that hallucinogenic mushrooms may cure obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The true tale of Strauss’ hilarious, harrowing, and heartrending attempts to treat his debilitating OCD with psychedelics led to the sequel, Something Is Wrong with Adam Strauss, a new comedy about love, loss, OCD, and how the only thing more painful than change is staying the same. In his newer show Adam’s OCD has become manageable... but something else is clearly amiss. Something Is Wrong with Adam Strauss performed by Adam Strauss and produced by Carl Ford, will be presented 7:30pm Saturdays, May 4 and June 8, 2024, and The Mushroom Cure will be presented on May 18 and June 15, 2024, at The Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale, $50 and $100 reserved) or more information, the public may visit themarsh.org. 

The Mushroom Cure, written and performed by Adam Strauss and developed with and directed by Jonathan Libman, made its West Coast premiere in April 2017 at The Marsh San Francisco where it received critical acclaim, resulting in an extended 11-week run and return engagements at The Marsh in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. Talkin’ Broadway praised The Mushroom Cure as “a miracle of a show and a must-see,” and called Strauss “a one-person tour de force.” Theatrius declared it “a hilarious ride through OCD” and “a fabulous, perceptive trip,” while author/journalist Michael Pollan hailed the show as “brilliant, hilarious, and moving.” SF Theater Blog applauded Strauss’ performance, calling him “one extremely talented comedian.” The show was originally performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it garnered widespread acclaim, with critics calling the show “hugely intelligent and incredibly engaging,” (The Scotsman) “outstanding,” (Edinburgh Festivals Magazine) and “a revelation” (Broadway Baby).  

Strauss’ humorous tale was also featured in the New York International Fringe Festival, winning the Fringe’s Overall Excellence Award for Solo Performance. It made its Off-Broadway premiere at New York’s Cherry Lane Theatre, where it enjoyed a sold-out, extended run. The New York Times praised the solo show, noting it “mines a great deal of laughter from disabling pain” and Time Out New York named it a Critics Pick calling it “Riveting. A true-life tour de force.” The Mushroom Cure was remounted in December 2017 at Off-Broadway’s Theatre 80 St. Marks, where it ran continuously for over a year before closing in January 2019, followed by a successful run in Chicago, where the Chicago Tribune called it “arrestingly honest and howlingly funny.” 

ABOUT THE CAST AND CREATIVES 
Based in New York City, Adam Strauss (Playwright/Performer) has won the Leffe Craft Your Character Storytelling Competition, the New York Fringe Festival’s Overall Excellence Award for Solo Performance, and The Eddy Award for Best Solo Show in San Francisco. Strauss is also a stand-up comedian, appearing regularly at comedy clubs throughout the country. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Brown University. 

 
Carl Ford (Producer, Something Is Wrong with Adam Strauss) is a writer, director, producer and acting coach/teacher. Ford’s directing film credits include Generation X, a short form video documentary about the 1996 Million Man March, and The Price of Admission, a short form documentary distributed by Bravo. His short films A New York Minute, Maybe, Barnone, and Echoes in Blue have all done the festival circuit and have won awards at LA Shorts Fest, African Diaspora Film Festival, Roxbury Film Festival, Bronx Film Festival, NYIFFVM, and several others. 

Jonathan Libman (Director/Co-Developer, The Mushroom Cure) is a writer/director born and raised in New York. As a member of the Actor’s Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit led by Lyle Kessler, he specializes in new work that includes directing Chazz Palminteri (A Bronx Tale), NEA recipient David Libman, and Dramatist Guild Fellow Nicole Pandolfo, among others. Libman studied under Off-Broadway director David Cromer (Our Town) and won a scholarship to write and direct at Tony Spiridakis’ Manhattan Film Institute. His full-length plays include Accidents Waiting to Happen (RattleStick Theater Jam, Kitchen Dog Theater Finalist) and Please Leave the Light On (Bay Area Playwright’s Semi-Finalist). Libman is currently developing work with the original cast members of Broadway’s hit musical Hamilton and LAByrinth Theater Company. Upcoming directing projects include Rose Colored Glass by Susan Bigelow and Janice Goldberg and Kill the Buddha by Eli Walker (Drunk Yoga). Libman is a union member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. 

ABOUT THE MARSH 

The Marsh is known as “a breeding ground for new performance.” Launched in 1989 by Founder and Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman, it annually hosts more than 500 performances across the company’s two venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. A leading outlet for solo performers, The Marsh’s specialty has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “solo performances that celebrate the power of storytelling at its simplest and purest.” The East Bay Timesnamed The Marsh one of the Bay Area’s best intimate theaters, calling it “one of the most thriving solo theaters in the nation. The live theatrical energy is simply irresistible.” In April 2020, The Marsh launched its digital platform MarshStream and hosted more than 700 live streams which provided 300 performers and its youth class participants a platform to continue discovering, developing, and producing art during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. Today, The Marsh presents both in-person live performances and content on its MarshStream, continuing to expand its reach to audiences onsite and around the world. The Marsh believes in the power of people’s storytelling and has several classes for the public to create their own works as well as through its developing work performance series: Monday Night Marsh, Tell It on Tuesday, and Marsh Risings. The theater company also collaborates with over 25 San Francisco public schools providing a year-round youth program serving students at its theater and in the classrooms. 

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