What I liked
Kirsten has a natural ability to balance humor, poignancy and gut-punching loss with aplomb. She is a master of telling the truth and in gritty, specific ways, Kirsten names the elephants in the room, and she can incorporate even latecomers into the dialogue she is so in her element onstage. Kirsten’s characters are so three dimensional that I wanted to be friends with one of the co-facilitators of the dating empowerment group Kirsten attends.
What I didn't like
In this instance, Kirsten has shaped a full meal with all the courses and all the flavors — but you leave full of inspiration and hope, wanting to give back to others, not give up! (or throw up!).
My overall impression
Vangsness’ one person show delivers transfixing vulnerability, neck-and-neck with waggish characters Kirsten snaps deftly in and out of: if you enjoy love, sex and human connection (I think that’s most of us!), you will NOT want to miss Kirsten’s magnetic journey. Kirsten’s particular bent of whimsy, raw honesty, & delicious sensuality, while naming both the thrills and consequences of our beliefs about ourselves as humans, but particularly as women, when it comes to finding a romantic partner, is a necessary and true invitation to become that which we are seeking. And to be real and brave about our own needs and what we provide and how we might not always live all of those values all the time.
Kirsten’s show is uncomfortably real in the VERY BEST WAY where she invites you to go very deep within and examine oneself without condemnation, and with Divinely tender hands — I promise, if you receive Vangsness’ show with an open spirit, you will have the gift of examining (or reexamining) your choices and come to rest in your unchangeable value. Vangsness speaks a language everyone can understand — LA is fortunate to have her shimmer. A GLORIOUS TRIUMPH!
