Do ya feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? Jimmy Radosta sure doesn’t! After a sold-out staged reading at the 2010 Fertile Ground Festival, his acclaimed one-man show Triskaidekaphilia (Just My Luck) returns as a fully updated production for three nights only at Curious Comedy Theater. Using a strange brew of true-life stories mixed with twisted renditions of classic karaoke hits, Radosta recounts his rocky relationship with misfortune: growing up gay in the small (minded) town of Salem; escapist fantasies fueled by an avid devotion to pop culture; and an ongoing quest to turn life’s lemons into lemon drops. (The show’s title derives from “triskaidekaphobia,” the superstitious fear of the number 13.) A longtime journalist for the local queer press, Radosta blends the dry wit of David Sedaris with the political humor of Jon Stewart and the cheeky musical stylings of “Weird Al” Yankovic.
“Hilarious!”
—Roey Thorpe, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon
“Engaging!”
—Erik Gauger, NotesFromTheRoad.com
“Witty and poignant. By far the best one-man show about Jimmy Radosta I’ve ever seen.”
—Egan Danehy, Mortified Portland
(Not recommended for the easily offended. Portrait by Gwenn Seemel.)
Jimmy Radosta is an award-winning journalist who has written for The Portland Mercury, Statesman Journal and The Skanner. In 2000 he started editing Just Out, the Pacific Northwest’s largest queer newsmagazine, and in 2004 he debuted “Jim’s Closet,” a popular column featuring interviews with celebrities such as Yoko Ono, Lily Tomlin, Bea Arthur, Melissa Etheridge and Gus Van Sant. In 2005 the National Endowment for the Arts named Radosta as an “Arts Journalism Institute for Dance Fellow,” dispatching him to the American Dance Festival at Duke University to train with retired New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff. He also facilitates Face2Face: An Ongoing Series of Community Dialogues at Q Center. After making several well-received appearances at Mortified in Portland, Hollywood and San Francisco, Radosta makes his stage debut with Triskaidekaphilia (Just My Luck). An Oregon native, he lives in Northeast Portland with his boyfriend, Andrew Hogan.
When: Thursdays, January 13, 20 and 27, 2011. Doors at 7:30 p.m., show at 8.
Price: $13 at the door.
$10 in advance. $10 at the door with a Fertile Ground “DIG IT!” Button.
For more information about where to find a button, please click here!
Free with a Festival Pass for Fertile Ground 2011: A City-Wide Festival of New Work.
To email me, please contact: jimmyradosta@yahoo.com
