The 7th Annual One-Man Show World Championships

“Hilarious from the grandiose melodramatic lights up.

Four contestants compete in a heated tournament of transcendental soul ripping solo acts. These personal intimate journeys that no one particularly would ever want to know about become the fodder for self-recognition in a parody of extraordinary proportions.

Trent “The Soul Mirror” Isaacs and 6-time reigning champion returns for what he is sure to be another crushing victory. But in a shocking turn of events he is suddenly upstaged by an unlikely, last-minute wildcard Western Region finalist Gary. As each candidate 2 girls and 2 guys go for all-fired shock, penetrating realism and unmitigated self-indulgence in the quest for storytelling gold, Gary whose real life is so staggeringly stupefying and immersed in sexual depravity “without his consent”, that he pulls ahead sending Trent into a breathtaking tantrum. Calling out every detail of Gary’s story to get the judges to disqualify Gary from the event is the coup de gras of wh

Interestingly, poking fun at the stereotypical over-sharing one-person show seems to be a recurring motif in Fringe shows. Even within one-person shows.

But while other productions are content to use solo shows as a one-liner, The 7th Annual One-Man Show World Championships focuses solely on the excesses in the genre, to hilarious effect.

Jim Hanna’s sharply satirical script reveals the dreams and desires of the four regional One-Man Show Finalists as they compete for the coveted title of One-Man Show Champion in Omaha.

Trent “The Soul Mirror” Isaacs (Darin Toonder) is the assured returning champ, facing off against three determined contestants. And it’s a sure bet that both angst and egos will fly.

Caitlin Rucker directs with a sure command of Hanna’s comedic style. As returning champ Isaacs, Toonder gives a wonderfully studied performance featuring omnipresent fog effects and a deliriously affected speech pattern. Watch also how his bratty inner child is released when it l

The 7th Annual One-Man Show World Championships: Jim Hanna’s spirited take-down of solo shows is the perfect antidote to any Fringe binge of this notoriously self-absorbed genre. In 7th Annual, four regional finalists must compete to be named the best in the “tourney of the journeys.” The show highlights all the earmarks of a bad solo show and makes them requirements for entering the competition: Shows face disqualification if they do not contain a spiritual and geographical journey and struggles with sex, amongst other increasingly specific and amusing cliches that I will not spoil here.

The show opens with a bang – as 6 time returning champ and self-described “Soul Mirror” Trent Isaacs (Darin Toonder) delivers a monologue that is as colorful as it is indulgent. In another life, Trent might have been a successful self-help guru/cult leader if he were not so damaged and unhinged. Fortunately for us, he is. For the sake of his art, Trent revisits old wounds – and perhaps creates

“I had no intention of seeing The 7th Annual One-Man Show World Championships, mostly for the reason that I didn’t know it existed. Fringe is vast, and I’ll cop to not plunging through the Comedy section of the catalog since I’m usually on the look out for the weird stuff. Luckily Caitlin Rucker, a fixture of Fringe, was outside the Theatre Asylum space as I was standing in line for IamI and she invited me to the show.

If you’ve been to Fringe over the past few years you’ve probably run into Rucker. Sometimes it seems like she’s the board op or stage manager for every show. In the case of The 7th Annual One-Man Show World Championships she’s directing, working with writer/performer Jim Hanna. Hanna is another Fringe fixture, having been a highlight in the large productions that the Orgamsico Theatre Company usually produces. (Don’t worry, we’ll get outside baseball in the next paragraph.) The point is that even with all these factors going for it I didn’t know about the show until an

“Local stage vet Jim Hanna (writer) and Fringe Fest traveler Caitlin Rucker (director) have united to issue forth a scathing but deliciously comical send-up of the one-person show genre—embedded with a plethora of achingly familiar clichés, also inventing a slew of new ones. Guised as the ultimate monologue smackdown, the action is overseen by drippingly fawning emcee Danny Westbrook, pitting Narcissus-incarnate six-time world champ Trent “The Soul Mirror” Isaacs (Darin Toonder) against regional champs: Barbie-as-degenerate Ally Capri (Tamara Lynn Davis), ragingly vegan Shelby Atkinson (Sarah Chaney) and nice-guy neophyte Gary Tweeden (Hanna).

Scripter Hanna leaves nothing to chance as emcee Danny reminds contestants of the rules, mandating that each performance must include revelations of religious darkness, sexual perversity, physical abuse, drug addiction, etc, as well as the presence of a kindly elderly African American mentor. Helmer Rucker (who also stage manages, designs light

EVERY EXCESS, EVERY INDULGENCE, EVERY CLICHE…AND THE TAKE DOWN THEY SO RICHLY DESERVE.

The RAH Theater Company in conjunction with producing partner, The Production Company, announces the World Premiere of Jim Hanna’s original comedy, “The 7th Annual One-Man Show World Championships” on June 9 at The Hollywood Fringe Festival. A biting yet affectionate satire of the solo show phenomenon set against the backdrop of the World Championships in Omaha, watch as four regional champs clash in this year’s “Tourney of the Journeys.” Every excess, every indulgence, every cliche gets the hilarious take down it’s earned. The show is directed by Fringe veteran Caitlin Rucker.

Trent “The Soul Mirror” Isaacs is the 6-time reigning, defending world champion, returning to crush and humiliate the competition at this year’s One-Man Show World Championships with his epic piece, “Stumbling Toward Valhalla.” All of the other regional champs are playing for 2nd place: Ally, the over-earnest and far to