Solo Fest - Glendale Arts

Following a sold-out inaugural run, Solo Fest is back by popular demand with an expanded lineup featuring more performers and more dates. Glendale Arts, in partnership with Lifechild, presents encore performances from Ernie Silva, Ruthy Otero, and Eternal Mind, alongside new shows from MrFood4Thought, and Shelby Bond.

Solo Fest runs April 21 through May 7 and is a series of dynamic one-person theatrical performances amplifying the unique voice of each featured artist. The festival delivers thought-provoking storytelling through a variety of genres such as poetry, comedy, and hip-hop theatre.

Thursday, April 27 @ 8pm – NOBODY KNOWS MY NAME Written & Performed by Eternal Mind
A juvenile detention facility, words, and the discovery of self. Nobody Knows My Name poetically reveals the pull & push of existing in this world when you think your voice doesn’t matter. Through hard-hitting imagery, rhythm, rhyme, metaphors, and wordplay, Eternal Mind takes us on a journey of revelation.

Friday, April 28 @ 8pm – DUNGEONS & SHAKESPEARE Written & Performed by Shelby Bond
Welcome to a world where you can see the greatest characters from Shakespeare possibly killed by horrific monsters from Dungeons & Dragons. Inspired by the Bard, determined by dice, brought to life on stage. Join in an epic adventure that is different every time as the audiences’ choices and the roll of giant dice decides if the heroes live or die. All the world’s a game…Come be a player!

Saturday, April 29 @ 8pm – HEAVY LIKE THE WEIGHT OF A FLAME Written & Performed by Ernie Silva
A Brooklyn kid from the projects ventures into the life written about in books like Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Based on the hip-hop theatre genre, Heavy Like the Weight of a Flame is the story of a slim-built Puerto Rican man with an afro who plays everything from classical guitar to 17 different characters as he hops on a freight train to travel across the country in search of his voice. This award-winning one-man show is raw, intelligent, hard hitting, emotionally stirring, socially piercing, and compels the audience to think, cry, and laugh out loud.

Friday, May 5 @ 8pm – DANCING WITH MY DEMONS Written & Performed by Ruthy Otero
Dancing with my Demons is a 60-minute multi-character comedy that wrestles with the most loathsome F word: FEAR. Through storytelling, physical comedy, and disco music, the show holds up a mirror to the painfully funny ways we either move through fear, or let it keep us stuck. Writer and actress Ruthy Otero has performed the show around the world, from New York and Los Angeles to a kickboxing ring in Thailand.

Saturday May 6 @ 8pm – PURPLE PEOPLE WHO DANCE BAREFOOT Written by Oshea Luja / Performed by MrFood4Thought
Purple People who Dance Barefoot takes audiences on a journey through the gritty streets, alleyways, and back porches of Watts, California in the 1970s. Set against the backdrop of a vibrant, loving, dangerous neighborhood and its residents, the one-man play explores themes of identity, community, trauma, mental health, and the resilience of the human spirit through personal anecdotes and multiple characters embodied by MrFood4Thought.

Sunday, May 7 @ 8pm – Ernie Silva