Monologist Josh Kornbluth to Bring JOSH'S BRAIN IMPROVS to The Marsh

The statistics are daunting when it comes to dementia - one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer's or another type of dementia; every 66 seconds someone in the US develops the disease.

The Marsh San Francisco is collaborating with monologist Josh Kornbluth to present Josh's Brain Improvs.

Kornbluth, who is currently engaged in a year-long residency as a scholar at the Global Health Institute, will perform Josh's Brain Improvs, a show a series of improvisations based on his experiences working at the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Kornbluth who is spending his time with people who have dementia and their caregivers, as well as researchers, nurses, social workers, and others, will share stories from the "Brain Place" (as he refers to it) - shedding a personal light on this national epidemic. Each performance will include a post-show talkback with various brain experts, in which audience members can ask questions from those in the field working to combat this disease.

Josh's Brain Improvs will be presented 7:30pm on the last Wednesday of every other month beginning March 29 at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. For tickets ($10-$25 general admission, $35-$55 reserved), the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh box office at 415-282-3055 (open 1- 4pm, Monday through Friday).

Described as a cross between Woody Allen and Spalding Gray, Josh Kornbluth has been performing autobiographical one-man shows since 1987, many of which were developed at The Marsh. He launched his career as a solo artist with Josh Kornbluth's Daily World, in which he described his childhood as the son of communists in 1960s New York. Other works include Red Diaper Baby (a Drama Desk Award nomination), The Mathematics of Change, Ben Franklin: Unplugged, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe production Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan, among many others. He is currently working on a solo show based on his experiences as an artist-in-residence and volunteer at the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco. For two years he hosted an interview program, "The Josh Kornbluth Show," on KQED TV. His latest feature film, Love & Taxes, is his second in collaboration with his brother Jacob. His first feature film, Haiku Tunnel, is currently on HBO. He has appeared in several other movies including concert films of Red Diaper Baby, and The Mathematics of Change; Lynn Hershman Leeson's Teknolust, and Strange Culture, the latter a documentary about artist and professor Steve Kurtz; and Francis Ford Coppola's Jack, starring Robin Williams. His second audio-book, titled Ben Franklin: Unplugged ... and Other Comic Tales, has been released on Audible.com.

Photo Credit: Tue Nam Ton