Old Hat, New Stitches
It feels as though I’m dusting off an old hat…
TRUNK, my first one-man show, has taken on a life of it’s own. From it’s origins in my various journals to it’s tour across the country, it has become something beyond what I ever could have predicted. I first presented the show in December of last year. Since then, I have performed it 10 times, in 8 different cities, and it has slowly evolved and transformed as it has been told and retold.
Now, I am set to perform TRUNK again, November 30th at Bughouse Theatre in Chicago. And though it has only been a few months since last I performed the piece, I yet get this sense that I am pulling out an old hat and beating it against the wall. Moth-holes have formed in it and it just isn’t the same shape I remember it being. This is due, principally, to the fact that TRUNK, though not completely autobiographical, is strongly associated with a specific time in my life — a time in my life that, whether I like it or not, has passed.
A sort of personal reckoning, TRUNK encapsulates my post-college years: a fresh adult artist, searching for meaning. Ranging from tragic to glorious, the audience is witness to all the ups and downs of a young man on a personal quest for glory.
Yet now, I find myself on a completely different quest. New to Chicago, I am putting pieces together to figure out what my life looks like from here. I am in an alien world, and yet I carry on my back this rather dusty load. I know not what work I will find, nor which people will come to be major players in my life. I can’t foresee the great struggles of the future nor the great achievements. All I have is this show, which seems to have reached it’s expiration date. And yet, what better way to introduce myself to this city than to showcase a work that is uniquely me? Dust off this hat I must.
But yet, the moth-holes will not do, and I must reshape it a bit. It needs some touching up. Things have changed, and I can’t simply ignore that. Thus, I have taken the time to modify and re-stitch some of the worn bits, and I am happy to say that I do believe the show is good as new. With a new song on the album, some different journal entries, and new, provoking questions for the audience, TRUNK at The Bughouse Theatre will be a different experience from what has been elsewhere seen.
If you are in the Chicago area, I’d be loath to miss this one-time experience if I were you. Come out and join me November 30th at 7:00 for a newly inspired TRUNK.
It’s an old hat, sure. But it has new stitches.
— 11/3/25, Chicago.
