Review: Kelly Kinsella Serves Up Life Lessons (and Cake!) in HOW TO DO A ONE PERSON SHOW, at CoHo Summerfest

It's summertime! That means it's Summerfest time at CoHo -- five weekends of "innovative, inspiring, and irreverent performances by artists with attitude." Each show runs for only one weekend, but if you're quick, there's still time to score a ticket to Kelly Kinsella's one person show, HOW TO DO A ONE PERSON SHOW. And I recommend you do just that.

The title pretty much says it all. This short play is a lesson in how to make a piece of theatre. The setup is that Kinsella has been invited to do a one person show about whatever she wants. The show itself is part lesson/part act of creation (not really -- it's entirely scripted, but it feels like it's all happening in real time), where you learn the fundamentals of creating a one person show, including bits on having a story, keeping it simple, making it personal, and sharing without overindulging.

If you're thinking it sounds a bit too much like "theatre for theatre people," not to worry. Although on the surface it's about how to write a show, it's just as much about how we do anything at all -- create things, communicate with other people, or even just get up every morning and get through the day. It's about facing our insecurities, giving ourselves room to imagine and experiment and make mistakes, and finding our why.

Kinsella is a skilled performer, and if you let her, she'll take you on a hilarious and surprisingly expansive journey through procrastination attempts, panic attacks, moments of self-doubt, relationship ups and downs, medical scares, and much more, culminating in a celebration of just being alive. Also, there's cake.

HOW TO DO A ONE PERSON SHOW runs through June 25, and then there are three more weekends of Summerfest. More tickets and info here.

Photo credit: Split Rock Films