Respondent: Bobby Wesley
Position in Company: Self!
Show Title: Liquid Courage
“It’s too easy to spin a good yarn for laughs and feel-goods, but ultimately I’m hoping to learn something about myself and share it.”
- Why should people see your show?
I love storytelling. It’s a way to share experiences and connect on a human level. But these stories all come from somewhere. There’s a reason they pop up over and over. Why? So Liquid Courage is as much about that process of remembering as it is the stories themselves. How does what you remember make you who you are?
And it’s also fun. You get southern shenanigans, petty vandalism, hipster cocktail nonsense alongside a TEDtalk-lite rundown on memory. What kind of nerd thinks, “gee, I hope they learn something” from his joke- and riff-laden storytelling show? This nerd.
- What about festivals intrigues you? And why the Atlanta Fringe?
Festivals are amazing places to experience other artists and their creative processes. As a longtime attendee of festivals and black box theaters, it’s a joy to sit in the crowd and absorb the performance in front of you, but even moreso to talk afterward with fellow audience members about what we just saw.
I love art that both entertains and makes you think, and there’s so much at festivals that inspires.
- What inspired you to create this?
I grew up in a storytelling family… well, more like the Wesley clan loved to hear themselves talk. So storytellers, yes, but not always the best story listeners.
I hoped to change that. Storytelling without moments of reflection — for the teller and the audience — just becomes cocktail party stories. Entertaining sure. But the stories and performers I love to hear the most are the ones that spark thoughts of my own life or ideas that you carry with you out of the theater.
The core of this show is made up of coming-of-age stories I’ve wrestled with while trying to better understand myself, my father, and who I am.
Along the way, I picked up some insights on how memory works (or more often than not, doesn’t) as well as some rants and riffs that are fun to work out.
I wanted to write a show that was both thoughtful and funny, and one that even if we’re coming from different experiences, you can still take something from and reflect. It’s definitely me on stage, so you’ll certainly walk away seeing how my particular, nerdy brain works!
[Above: Bobby wilding out at the Orlando Fringe.]
- Life has been weird the last few years, to say the least. How has the “real world” affected the art you’re creating?
Oh, boy. I think we’re all still trying to shake a few of those bad habits we developed during lockdown and the seemingly constant stream of chaos. Right?
Liquid Courage is a reflection on who I am today through where I’ve come from. But a lot of my recent work has turned toward absurdist book reports or satirical rants on near-future “breakthroughs”. So, I guess I’m still learning and processing every day, and looking for opportunities to laugh through the challenges.
- What have you learned from working on your show so far?
I’ve learned a lot about myself. Part of personal narrative is, and this is going to sound obvious here, the “personal”. It’s too easy to spin a good yarn for laughs and feel-goods, but ultimately I’m hoping to learn something about myself and share it. My hope is the audience no only relates but that it sparks thoughts and reflections about themselves.
- A mysterious stranger asks to meet you and your cast and crew after loving your show. In your WILDEST DREAMS, who is it? (Bonus points if your mysterious stranger is an Atlanta celeb.)
Mike Birbiglia? I grew up a comedy nerd and as an adult became a storytelling nerd. Birbigs has done so much to grow the artform of storytelling through comedy. The man knows how to draw an arc!
- Fringes are the place to really push the boundaries so we gotta ask: are you inviting your family to this show are “Hey, maybe sit this one out you guys…”
I invite everybody. I’m not a “coarse language and shock value” guy on stage, but that doesn’t mean that my themes aren’t challenging. But I still think of this as an almost-all-ages show. I lived these stories as a pre-teen. I’ve processed it well enough and made it through (thanks, therapy!). Life is beautiful but also challenging. Sometimes you’ll learn some uncomfortable truths about your loved ones or even yourself. I’m honest up there. But I can handle it and I think you can too, fam!
- Will your show change the world?
Probably not, but I think it can change and help one person at a time in their day-to-day. Storytelling is an intimate thing. I’m happiest when I can connect on a human level.
- AI: the death of our art form or just a new tool to create?
Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby.
- We’re making an excellent Fringey Feelings playlist. Describe your show in two or three songs we can add to keep the jams flowing.
“Sultans of Swing” – Dire Straits
“Say it Ain’t So” – Weezer
Sounds amazing, right? Click here to learn more and get your tickets to this show today.
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