Review: Sara Toby Moore Presents ATOMIC COMIC at Z Space

San Francisco's award-winning, renowned poet clown Sara Toby Moore has created an autobiographical "human cartoon fantasia" about facing troubling times with humor as resilience. Through hyper-physical comedy, quick-witted repartee and sweet, goofy musical numbers, Moore tells the horrible-hilarious story of their recent journey through the death of a parent, a crushing breakup and surviving cancer by finding the humor in all that humanity! As a lifelong writer, actor and circus clown Moore chose to use every skill they'd acquired to embrace & outright celebrate their unbelievable bad luck by careening furiously from their mouthy, inappropriate therapist (played with fabulous raging candor by TV star Sharon Gless) to doing cancer treatments "in character", to endeavoring to rebuild a performing career with their fellow comics during COVID lockdown. Miraculously, Moore was saved from total despair by believing in the Carrie Fisher mantra: Take your broken heart and make it into art.

This 70-minute freewheeling romp is directed by Sean Owens - (Bay Area Critics' Circle Award-winner & Killing My Lobster veteran); choreographed by Rory Davis (illustrious Baloney and Peaches Christ choreographer).
In addition to star and playwright Sara Toby Moore as Toby, other comic performers include: Colin Johnson as Hammy Sammy (Awesome Theatre); Sharon Shao as Daphne (Sleeping Beauty, Chinglish), DeMarcello Funes as Rando (Circus Bella, The Supers), and special filmed appearances by Emmy-winning TV legend Sharon Gless (Cagney & Lacey) as Dr. Claire - Sara Toby Moore's snap-dragon therapist. Local guest performers George Maguire and Maureen McVerry also pop up as Moore and company's horrid talent agents!

Sara Toby Moore (Producer/Playwright/Toby) is an award-winning queer nonbinary San Francisco-based clown, actor, drag artist, director & filmmaker whose 35-year career continues to toggle between queer theatre and physical theatre & circus while actively raising the stakes of new American clowning. As founding Creative Director of Thrillride Mechanics LLC, the world's very first "clown opera company," Moore continues to dedicate their career to what they call "restorative theatre," combining highly physical theatrical storytelling with accompanying workshops and classes that bring different groups of people together as creative explorers. In fact, Moore was recently awarded a $50,000 San Francisco Arts Commission Impact Endowment Grant for the formation of The Atomic Comics, a highly diverse and intergenerational education outreach program that, along with Thrillride Mechanics, is in residence at Z Space!

Thrillride Mechanics with Debra Mosk Productions and Z Space present

The World Premiere of ATOMIC COMIC - A Human Cartoon Fantasia

Written by and Starring Sara Toby Moore

with Special Video Guest Star - Sharon Gless

Directed by Sean Owens

June 30 - July 8, 2023 - 8:00 pm - Limited Engagement - 5 Performances Only!

[Shows - June 30, July 1 (Fri. & Sat.) July 6, 7, 8, 2023 (Thurs., Fri., Sat.)]

WHERE: Z SPACE - 450 Florida St. (at 17th St.) in SF 94110

Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.

Need more San Francisco / Bay Area Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...