EDINBURGH 2026: STAND UP IF YOU'RE HERE TONIGHT Q&A
Stand Up If You're Here Tonight runs at Edfringe 5-31 August
BWW catches up with writer John Kolvenbach to chat about bringing Stand Up If You're Here Tonight to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Tell us a bit about Stand Up If You're Here Tonight.
The show is about a guy trying to do the impossible, or the nearly impossible; he wants to achieve a kind of union with the audience, a oneness. To blur the line between the play and the people who are there that night. That's the ambition of the man in the play, but it's also the ambition, (harebrained, maybe) of the play itself. We hope to have this actually happen. We hope for communion.
Where might we have seen your work before?
Playwright John Kolvenbach has had a couple of shows on the West End (On an Average Day and Love Song). He's had shows in the US at Steppenwolf, the Magic Theatre in San Fransisco, and at the Huntington in Boston, among many other places. Productions in Berlin, Tel Aviv, Rio, Zurich, Sydney, Seoul and Rome. Jim Ortlieb has starred on Broadway, on many US tours and remains a Chicago legend for his work in the gritty, storefront world there.
Why bring it to Edinburgh?
We are on a mission with this play. We started it in LA, moved to Chicago, then Paris, then to the Huntington Theatre in Boston. We have always had an eye on Edinburgh, and on the audiences we hope to find there. The adventurous ones, the wild ones, those with a taste for something new.
How involved do the audience get?
Hopefully, very. And please know, that for all of you who despise audience participation, we do too. We promise not to hurt anyone, physically or psychically. We would ask, though, that you bring your openness, your willingness, an open mind and some daring. We'll provide the rest.
What would you like audiences to take away from the show?
We started this show in LA at the end of the pandemic. Many people hadn't been out of their homes in a year. There was a courtyard next to the theatre, and after the show, people stayed, sometimes for hours. We won't have a courtyard in Edinburgh, but we can find a bar. Please stay, we'll have a drink and we'll have a second act, a drink and a conversation.
Stand Up If You're Here Tonight runs at Edfringe 5-31 August
Photo credit: Nile Hawver
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