THE WRONG KIND OF PESSIMISSM Tackles Big Questions Of Progress, Faith, And More At The Marsh SF

This April, The Marsh San Francisco brings Paul Sussman's The Wrong Kind of Pessimism to The Marsh Discovery Series, a showcase for works under development. Humans have traded up their caves, tripled their life spans, written Ulysses, and gone to the moon. And along the way, melted the ice caps, oppressed the crap out of each other, and elected you-know-who. Are humans getting anywhere? From the first gentrification (sorry, Neanderthals) to the secrets of the genome, Sussman takes on (and smacks down) the big questions of progress, faith, and where it all ends in The Wrong Kind of Pessimism.

Directed by Kenny Yun, The Wrong Kind of Pessimism will be presented April 27 -May 18, 2019 with performances at 5:00pm Saturdays at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. For tickets ($25-$35 sliding scale Thursdays and Fridays; $30-$35 sliding scale Saturdays; $55 and $100 reserved) or more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh Box office at 415-282-3055 (open Monday through Friday, 1pm-4pm).

Paul Sussman (Writer/Performer) has written and performed a series of solo pieces through the eyes of road-ragers, insects, Anabaptists, cannibals, and others who persist in the search for meaning amidst the puzzling evidence. He developed his approach to melodrama and farce through years of work in financial management with Bay Area non-profit organizations. The Wrong Kind of Pessimism is Sussman's first hour-length show.

Charlie Varon (Developer) is an artist-in residence at The Marsh who has been writing and performing for over 30 years. As a playwright and performer, Varon collaborated with David Ford to create award-winning shows that have had long runs at The Marsh and toured the country. His most notable works include Rush Limbaugh in Night School (1994), The People's Violin (2000), Rabbi Sam (2009), and the current Great American Sh*t Show, an evening of monologues that Varon and Brian Copeland are currently performing at The Marsh.

Kenny Yun (Director) has performed stand-up comedy and acted in classic and modern plays. He also directed Michael Meehan's San Francisco Fringe Show, Hey Monster, Hands off My City, which was eventually adapted into a film. Yun holds an English Literature degree from UC Berkeley, and studied arts at ACT (Studio), Berkeley Rep, and the Clown Conservatory. Currently, he is an assistant teacher and director for Charlie Varon's solo performance workshop at The Marsh.

Each year, in addition to main season runs, The Marsh presents several limited runs to showcase a wide range of exciting new work emerging from The Marsh community. The Marsh Discovery Series includes shows by emerging up-and-coming talent, established Marsh all-star performers experimenting with a unique story or concept, as well as people from all walks of life who have developed powerful stories at The Marsh. Shows produced as part of this series are not "workshop runs," rather, they represent the culmination of a dedicated and lengthy creative process, and offer the audience an opportunity to discover some of the most exciting, new, and unique work The Marsh has to offer.

The Marsh is known as "a breeding ground for new performance." It was launched in 1989 by Founder and Artistic Director Stephanie Weisman, and now annually hosts more than 600 performances of 175 shows 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 Times named The Marsh one of 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."

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