EXIT Theatre to Present David Kleinberg's STORY OF SEX ADDICTION, 10/4-26
If you thought sex addiction was confined to politicians with overactive Twitter accounts, think again. Sex addiction afflicts doctors, lawyers, priests, and even - yes - journalists.
David Kleinberg is the former editor of the San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday Datebook and a stand-up comic. He brings his ground-breaking autobiographical solo show, The Voice: One Man's Journey into Sex Addiction and Recovery, to EXIT Theatre every Friday and Saturday in October.
Kleinberg's years'-long journey from internet porn to recovery began the night his wife walked in on him sitting at his computer, playing a highly charged version of...er, uh...solitaire.
"I'd like to think that this piece is not about addiction and shame but about courage, hope and recovery," Kleinberg says. "It shows that a person - and that person's significant other - can go on a journey together to get to a much better place."
And Kleinberg knows that he is far from alone with this problem.
"With high-speed internet in every home, sex addiction has become a major issue in this country, yet no one wants to talk about it. It's the taboo addiction,"
Besides being a hit at StageWerx in San Francisco, The Voice connected with audiences at last year's Boulder Fringe Festival where the show was one of only seven out of all 50 shows to earn an encore performance.
"That really moved me," Kleinberg said, "because this is a tough subject. People are afraid of what they're going to see, but the truth is that this is a safe journey - entertaining, riveting, moving. People have told me, 'I saw your play two weeks ago, and I'm still thinking about it'."
And there are also a lot of laughs along the way, mainly supplied by David's alter-ego, partner-in-mischief penis character.
"It may be one of the rare times from Shakespeare to Mamet that a penis character has commanded any stage," Kleinberg says.
"That character is extremely evil, but also very funny. In fact, he's the first character on stage to make sure the audience knows that he is the absolute star of show. He becomes very cantankerous when things begin to change."
A native of San Francisco, Kleinberg was the editor of the Sunday Datebook for 14 years during a 34-year career as editor/writer at The Chronicle. Always a fan of comedy, he decided to go before a microphone shortly after leaving the paper.
One night Kleinberg says he was sitting around with bunch of comics after a show, and they started talking about solo theater work. Kleinberg recalled, "Someone says to me, 'Why don't you do a piece on your life?' I thought, 'Hmmm, I've had a pretty interesting life; why not'?"
What began as a 15-minute segment of a 90-minute autobiographical show soon became the show itself at The Marsh in San Francisco, under the guidance of veteran director Mark Kenward.
Audiences come away amazed at Kleinberg's courage in tackling such a taboo subject.
To purchase tickets: http://www.theexit.org.
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