First Person Arts Makes It Personal (Again)

Maria Bamford plays the Fillmore Philly on Sunday, November 12. (Natalie Brasington)

Founded in 2000, First Person Arts festival is all about the storytelling. Sometimes the shows are funny, or eye-opening, or gasp-inducing, but they always call for interesting people getting up on stage and giving it their all. This year’s fest — November 5-18 — has an impressive lineup of known and unknown talents. I already mentioned Margaret Cho yesterday. Here are five more highlights:

Nadya Tolokonnikova @ First Unitarian Church | Monday, November 6
This Russian activist/musician/performance artist knows a little something about performing in a church. She and the other members of Pussy Riot famously donned masks and staged an anti-Putin protest in a Russian Orthodox Church back in 2012 — and went to prison for it. Tolokonnikova will discuss her experiences in a talk called The Price of Protest. (P.S. I embedded an interview at the end of this post.)

Hari Kondabolu @ Punchline | Wednesday, November 8
Fans of his standup (and the late lamented TV show Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell) will tell you, comedian Hari Kondabolu is a hilarious political satirist. Actually, the comedian/podcaster/filmmaker is really just all-around funny, it’s just that the current events stuff really hits the spot right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cHMIZnt6oo

Beyond Expectations: Legendary @ Underground Arts | Monday, November 13
This event fuses storytelling with dance to present a modern interpretation of ball culture featuring Leiomy Maldonado, choreographer Kemar Jewel and the Xcel Dance Crew. The event aims “to engage males of color and their support systems in the LGBTQIA community.”

Maria Bamford @ Fillmore Philly | Sunday, November 12
The comedy of Maria Bamford — beloved standup and star of the hilarious Netflix show Lady Dynamite — is always personal. From her experiences with mental illness to her years in the entertainment business, she’s got plenty of stories. If you’ve never seen her live, well, you gotta.

Witness @ Asian Arts Initiative | Tuesday and Thursday, November 14 and 16
This one-woman show, created and performed by Kyra Baker, sounds spellbinding: “What happens when a child is raised to believe that demons walk among us and Armageddon could happen at any moment? Witness is a coming-of-age story about a young woman’s journey of self-discovery through the lens of her religious indoctrination and emancipation.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEacC_krk-Y