To help raise funds to get us to San Diego, a live performance of “William (the snowman)” will be held at downtown Tucson’s Club Congress.  The best part (unless it backfires) is that YOU get to decide how much you’d like to pay to attend.

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Catfish Baruni and his Slideshow Fairytales will be performing in the 2015 San Diego International Fringe Festival (July 23rd – August 2nd). To help raise funds to make it to San Diego, an IndieGoGo campaign was created.

And now a live preview performance of "William (the snowman)" is being offered to continue to raise funds. And YOU get to decide how much to pay to see the show at club congress. Enjoy the show? Throw in some shekels. *REALLY* enjoy the show? Throw in even more shekels. (Please do not donate in actual shekels, though)

Part Spalding Gray, part business presentation gone awry, and part PG-13 rated fairytale, "Slideshow Fairytales: William (the snowman)" follows the snowy sojourns of the titular character as he learns lessons about life, love, and friendship in a faraway time when magic was science and science was magic (which was science [which was magic]),

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Have you ever had a dream, the kind from which you don't wake up screaming? It was pretty great, wasn't it? Don't you wish you could go back to that magical dream world and stay there forever? Well, tough luck, pal, you can't incept yourself!...

BUT you can help Catfish's dream come true, and what could be more rewarding than that?

Catfish Baruni is a playwright, solo performer, and vinyl record clock maker. His signature brand of storytelling and his subversive commentary on human nature will be sure to delight and provoke audiences of all types.

The Road to San Diego...

So, in case you didn't know, my Slideshow Fairytales and I have been accepted into the 2015 San Diego International Fringe Festival with the story of "William (the snowman)."  The festival will be taking place July 23rd through August 2nd.  To help me and William get to San Diego, an IndieGoGo campaign has been created. 

Kick in a few shekels and get a cool thing. Kick in a few more shekels and get an even cooler thing. Plus, you'll be helping to make a snowman's dream come true. It would be reckless to *NOT* take part.

If you have no shekels, then won’t you share this with your friends (especially the ones whose pockets are heavy with shekels)?    

2015 San Diego International Fringe Festival (Update)

As was announced on March 18th, I was selected as a Stand-By performer for 2015's San Diego International Fringe Festival.  Since then, "stand-by" has been renamed "waiting list."

Slideshow Fairytales: What is a fairytale?

Did you miss my performance of William (the snowman) from the 2013 Tucson Fringe Festival? Then you may not have heard me ramble on about what fairytales are. Now you can experience that moment in this clip recorded from the show.

To everyone in attendance...

Slideshow Fairytales: William (the snowman)

Fringe is over!  Thanks to all in attendance!

College Times: Tucson Fringe Festival Keeps Getting Bigger

Arizona Daily Star: Don't miss a show at Fringe Fest

For this article, each of the Fringe producers was asked to email back responses to a handful of questions.  Unfortunately, not all of the answers were printed, despite my answers being very good.

[BLOG EXCLUSIVE] Below is the (almost) full text of my response to the reporter [I'm not giving you lot my phone number for any follow-up]:

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Name of play: "William (the snowman)" as part of the "Slideshow Fairytales" series, which isn't so much a play as it is a version of storytime, the kind that people may have experienced in childhood, but with less artistic talent and more four-letter obscenities

Playwright(s): Catfish Baruni

Genre (musical, comedy, drama, bio-play, etc): I had to come up with my own genre to most accurately describe my work: "Bullshiterature." The creation of the genre was inspired by a lack of talent and a Vonnegut quote ("Literature should not disappear up its own asshole, so to speak"), but mostly it was a lack of talent.

What's it about (try to be brief): It's a tale of self-discovery, a journey through the metaphors, allegories, and (something I've taken to calling) "metagories" of life, but with a twist. William is a snowman and he has a problem. By the end of the story the audience will learn William's fate, and whether or not he was ever actually a snowman or if he he even had a problem.

What prompted your writing it: I first began writing the tale of William during a late December, so the time of year was partly responsible, but mostly I was trying to impress a female.

Three good reasons why we should see it (you can be funny, irreverent, serious, whatever you want here):

1. Finally, a frozen [tale] that WON'T make you sick and kill you--show me one person in Tucson who doesn't get excited at snow in town, and I'll show you a crazy person.  
2. The seal is for marksmanship, and the gorilla is for sand racing.  
3. All merkin jokes and merkin-inspired humor have/has been removed.  Mostly.

Running time: Approximately one hour, depending on audience interruptions

Cast: Catfish Baruni

Director: Catfish Baruni, I guess.

Other plays you've written (if you are amazingly prolific, just give me your three most recent titles; If a play has won Tonys or Pulitzers, etc., be sure to mention that. If you see such an award in the future, heck, let us know): "The Starter House," which was the top-drawing show of last year's Tucson Fringe Festival; the short-short "The Length of Love"; as well as the as-yet-unproduced "The Robot's Wife's Sister," "The Best Medicine," and "Love's Bad Name."

Anything else you want me and/or readers to know: I'm really not as bad as I first come across as--I'll (possibly) grow on you!  Maybe.

Tucson Weekly: Feeding the Fringe

Downtown Tucsonan: TUCSON FRINGE FESTIVAL BRINGS UNCENSORED PERFORMANCE, THEATER AND ART TO HOTEL CONGRESS