Welp, this was supposed to be the FEBRUARY Amy Update, but somehow February has entirely gotten away from me (despite the extra day this year, which should have served as a handy little tail to grab onto), and ergo, this is the Mid-February-Through-Early-April Amy Update. More stuff may arise between now and Early April, at which point I will alert you, but for now, here are the little performance gigs I have coming up...


MPR's "In The Loop" Story Slam!
Hey, it's another Story Slam from "In The Loop", which is on hiatus but which we all hope so much will get picked up by MPR for another awesome season. I will be there with just about every other narrative artist in town, hoping to get a story on the air about "Payback" -- that's this month's theme.
Wednesday, Feb. 20th
7:00-9:30 pm
Bedlam Theatre on the West Bank
1501 S. 6th St., Minneapolis
$10.00


OutRageUs Cabaret!
The second installment of the new, subversive variety show where anything goes, hosted by Patrick Scully and featuring local shake-it-uppers like Charles Schuminski, Joe Chvala, Kohl Miner, Justin Leaf, Kirstin Frantzich and many more. I haven't finished the piece I'm writing yet, so I don't know if I'll suck or not, but the other performers are really wonderful -- there's an awesome Butoh-esque dance piece, two other solo monologues, naked men swinging (yes, swinging!), funny songs...it looks quite promising!
Tuesday, Feb. 26th
9:00 pm
Patrick's Cabaret
3010 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis
$20.00 at the door, $15.00 in advance if you buy tickets from ME! Contact me if you're interested!
Patrickscabaret.org


Radio All-Stars Podcast
My fabulous fellow Rockstar Storyteller Dave Mondy is starting a podcasted radio show — taped live in front of an audience, with a wide variety of acts, performers, sound effects and participants -- like a "Prairie Home Companion" for the post-modern, dorky-hipster-arty-lit crowd. I think. He'll be taping for quite a few Sundays in a row...I'll be doing something on the first installment.
Sunday, March 2nd
8:00 pm (doors open at 7)
Bryant-Lake Bowl
$10.00 day of show/$8.00 in advance
Tickets: 612-825-8949
Or brownpapertickets.com


Rockstar Storytellers present UNDRESSED: Hot Under the Collar (stories of Religion!)
Have you SEEN a Rockstar Storytellers show yet? If you have, I don't have to tell you how incredible this group is, or how proud and INTIMIDATED I am to be in it! If you haven't, you have at least four more chances, on the first Friday of every month at 10 pm. This month's "Undressed" installment is stories of Religion, and features me, Allegra Lingo, , Rik Reppe and Courtney McLean.
Friday, March 7th
10:00 pm (doors open at 9:30)
Bryant-Lake Bowl
$10.00 ($8.00 with a Fringe button)
BLB Box Office: 612-825-8949
Rockstarstorytellers.com


Circumference!!!
For those of you who live closer to Wisconsin than MN (or who have friends who do!), you get a chance to see my newest solo show, "Circumference", at a new little theatre space about an hour from the Twin Cities, in New Richmond! Two nights only! Spread the word, yo!
Friday and Saturday, March 21st and 22nd
8:00 pm
The SPACE, a centre for creativity
156 High Street
New Richmond, Wisconsin 54017
$20.00 (includes wine and appetizers!)
Phone: 715-246-3180


AND, for those of you who live HERE and have not yet seen "Circumference" (or want to see it again — louder, bigger, better, and actually memorized!), I'm doing a wee, four-performance run as a LATE-NIGHT during Interact Center's production of "The Broken Brain Summit"! I don't have ALL the details in place yet — for example, I'm still figuring out what kind of super dealios there will be if you buy tickets for both shows — but here's the preliminary scoop:

Circumference at Old Arizona Studio!
Fridays and Saturdays, April 4th, 5th, 11th and 12th
9:30 pm (this follows The Broken Brain Summit (which I helped write!), performed by Interact Center for the Arts!)
2821 Nicollet Ave Minneapolis, MN 55408
Tickets $12.00/$10.00 with a Broken Brain ticket stub or a Fringe button
(612) 871-0050
www.oldarizona.com
interactcenter.com/performing_arts

Please check out this run of "Circumference" if you're able, as this is sort of its last fix-up before it heads out on TOUR this summer to Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and beyond. :-) Also, I did NOT get into the Minnesota Fringe this summer (107th on the waiting list, baby!), so it's also your last chance to see me do a solo show for at least a little while.

That's all for now! Thanks...take care...stay warm...be kind...rewind...

Hey, everyone, if you haven't already been notified, Rockstar Storytellers tonight at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, 10 pm, doors open at 9:30. $10.00, $8.00 with a Fringe button. This month's show is called "Going Bald Under My Hat: Stories of Things We Hide", and to be honest, I'm writing my piece for it AS WE SPEAK (or, more accurately, I'm doing a rewrite of a piece I wrote a while back), so I can't confirm that I will necessarily be high-quality or well-prepared, but I'm sure Allegra Lingo, Laura Bidgood, Curt Lund, Alison Broeren and Dave Mondy will be, because they are way cooler and more responsible than I. :-)

Also, I JUST discovered completely by accident, while reading City Pages in a seated position in the smallest room in my apartment, that I am mentioned within the "Artists of the Year" article. I'm in Quinton Skinner's listing, Twin Cities Playwrights, right here:

Nick Ryan's Elizabethan thriller Bards was a solid highlight of this summer's Fringe Festival, along with Amy Salloway's gastric-bypass-pondering monologue Circumference. Fringe stalwart Joseph Scrimshaw, for his part, followed up the summertime confection MacBeth's Awesome Scottish Castle Party with the holiday comedy Fat Man Crying (not to mention the ongoing life of his Adventures in Mating).

Who knew? Not I, until this moment. How cool! Thanks, Quinton!

Back to work.
Write, Amy, write.

I am not pleased that it's been ages since I've updated this Myspace page -- I've meant to keep it more current, but you know how it goes. I've meant, too, to be more proactive about publicizing the shows I'm in around town. Here, as the new year approaches, is the low-down on what I'll be doing in the next two months. I HOPE to be writing new stuff for many of these gigs. Mark your calendars! Alert your sentries! Show up! :-)

Saturday, December 29th --
Spirit In The House Fundraising Benefit!
Dean J. Seal, a past director of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, created a new festival of spiritual and faith-based theatre productions in 2007 called Manna Fest. This year the festival continues under a new name, Spirit In The House, and will run in May on multiple stages at Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church. This is a fundraiser for the 2008 festival, complete with food, song, and all kinds of entertainment.
When:
December 29th, 1 pm - 4 pm
Where:
Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church
511 Groveland Ave., Minneapolis, MN
How much:
$25.00 if you're able, or whatever you can contribute
Bring a potluck dish if you'd like
A plethora of performers will be there providing music, stories and other fun.

Friday, January 4th --
Rockstar Storytellers at the Bryant-Lake Bowl!
The second show by the all-new, very-fantastic-if-I-do-say-so-myself Rockstar Storyteller group is "Going Bald Under My Hat: Stories Of Things We Hide, " featuring Laura Bidgood, Allegra Lingo, Curt Lund, Dave Mondy, and me. Hosted by Allison Broeren.
When:
Friday, January 4th, 10 pm
Where:
Bryant-Lake Bowl, Lake St. and Bryant Ave. South, Minneapolis
How much:
$10.00/$8.00 with fringe button
612-825-8949
Www.rockstarstorytellers.com

Saturday, January 26th --
Diva Riot Funny Women Night!
The annual Funny Women cabaret — a Diva Riot staple — returns, this time at Pi Bar, featuring April Kane, Nancy Lyons (hilarious!), me, and more!
When:
Saturday, January 26th, doors open 7:30 pm
Where:
Pi Bar, 2532 25th Ave. South - that's 25th and 25th in Seward. Since it's a bar, you kinda have to be of legal age.
How much:
$5.00, I think.
For more info: 612-309-3911

Tuesday, January 29th --
Out Rage Us!
Patrick Scully is adding a NEW cabaret evening to the offerings at his famous and much-loved space! OutRageUs will happen the fourth Tuesday of each month at 9 pm, and will push the boundaries of sauciness, subversiveness and free speech even further than the typical Patrick's show! Performers will include Marcus Young, Charles Schuminski, Joe Chvala, Leslie Ball, Justin Leaf, Paulino Brener, Ben Kreilkamp, Foxy Tann, and many many more. This inaugural installment is rumored to feature a "welcoming passageway" of naked writhing bodies (not mine). Naked writhing bodies to welcome you! What more could you ask for, people?!
When:
Tuesday, January 29th, 9 pm
Where:
Patrick's Cabaret, 3010 Minnehaha Ave. South, Minneapolis
How much:
$20.00 at the door, $15.00 in advance (advance tickets can be purchased from the artists)
For more information: 612-721-3595, or tickets@patrickscabaret.org

Tuesday, February 12th --
Medusa Head Cabaret at Gardens of Salonica
Joanne Makela and the other Medusa folks present a relaxed cabaret amidst the delicious Greek food at Gardens of Salonica. This month's theme: Tortured Love. I don't know who else, exactly, is torturing love (or loving torture) besides me, but I'm sure it'll be fun!
When:
Tuesday, February 12th, 8:00 pm
Where:
Gardens of Salonica, 19 5th St. NE, Minneapolis
For more info:
612-378-86111

Sunday, February 17th --
Lit 6 Story Stage!
Brought to you by the insanely-popular Electric Arc Radio folks, this is a participatory themed story slam, where some of the performers are pre-signed up, and others are, well, whomever wants to get up onstage! I'm the featured person, but YOU should come and show us what you've got! 3 minutes of story — that's not so hard, right?
When:
Sunday, February 17th, doors open 5 pm, show 6-8 pm
Where:
311 Club
331 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis MN 55413
For more info:
612-331-1746 or www.lit6project.com

That's it for now! Thanks, all, and happy ushering-in of 2008! Wahoo!

As long as I'm sick and at home and it's snowing and I've dragged myself over to the computer, I might as well try to do some performance updates, here. We'll see how far I get before I have to give up and take a nap. :-)

Here are upcoming events in which I'll be doing some kind of storytelling or monologue. They all feature lots of great artists besides me, so even if you're no longer feein' hip to the Neurotic Vocal Stylings of DJ Amy, you'll have many other excellent folks to watch and listen to. :-)

Sun, December 9th --
Rockstar Storytellers at the Bryant-Lake Bowl!
The show is called "UNDRESSED: Liar Liar Pants on Fire", and is stories of betrayal, featuring Rik Reppe, phillip low, Allison Boeren, Courtney MacLean, Allegra Lingo and me.
7 pm at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 West Lake Street Minneapolis, MN
Tickets: $10, $8 with Fringe Button (buy online here, or call 612.825.8949).

Sat, December15th --
Cheap Theatre's storytelling night at the Black Forest Inn!
This month's theme: "The Gift".
7 pm, Black Forest Banquet Room, 26th and Nicollet, Minneapolis
Tickets are something like $12.00...I don't quite remember, but they're available at the door.

January 4th --
Rockstar Storytellers at the Bryant-Lake Bowl!
"UNDRESSED: Bald Under My Hat" is stories of things we hide.
10 pm at the BLB, 810 West Lake Street Minneapolis, MN
Tickets: $10, $8 with Fringe Button (buy online here, or call 612.825.8949).

Sun, January 20th --
Paulino Verde Cabaret!
This is my pal Paulino Brener's benefit to raise money to get his green card so he can continue to teach, dance and act in the US.
3:00-5:30 pm, Patrick's Cabaret, 3010 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis
Tickets: $10.00 suggested donation. Check out www.paulino.info for details!

Sat, January 26th --
The Annual Diva Riot Funny Women Cabaret!
8:00-10:00 pm (doors open 7:30) at Pi Bar, 2532 25th Ave. South, Minneapolis
Tickets: $5.00, I think? Check out www.divariot.com for details!

Tues, January 29th --
Out Rage Us!
Out Rage Us is a brand-new, boundary-shoving variety show every fourth Tuesday of the month at Patrick's Cabaret, intended to be even more political, sassy and just plain wrong than the usual Patrick's event. Performers include Patrick Scully, Justin Leaf, Marcus Young, Paulino Brener, Leslie Ball, Kirsten Franzich, Charles Schuminski, Ben Kreilkamp, Venus DeMars, and more.
9:00-10:30 pm, 3010 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis.
Tickets: not sure -- check out www.patrickscabaret.org for details!

That's it for now -- time to make more tea. Koff. Sniff.

So, people have been asking about what I'm doing for Fringes next year. Here is the long, possibly boring answer to that question.

I filled out the CAFF Touring application this year, and am now nervously awaiting the lottery. I'd wanted to do the CAFF Touring application for several years now, and it feels good to have finally taken the plunge.

The CAFF (Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals) Touring Lottery is like the "early admission" application to the Fringe circuit; instead of applying to each individual Fringe you'd like to participate in, you apply to ALL of them at once on this application. Typically about 30-35 companies apply; five get drawn in the lottery. The agreement is basically that, in exchange for the fantastic convenience of getting into ALL the Fringes you want to tour to in one fell swoop, and thus being able to streamline your Fringe planning, publicity, finances, transportation, etcetera, you are promising to not drop out of any of them. (If you don't drawn in this lottery, you just apply to each Fringe individually, like you normally would.)

ANYhoo, I feel like I'm now at the point in my Fringe learning curve where the CAFF Touring application would benefit me GREATLY — I've built up a reputation as a Fringe touring artist; I have a following in several cities (or, if not a following, at least a history of good reviews and a small degree of name recognition); I've got a brand-new show, "Circumference", ready to go, and I know what Fringes I want to go to -- I picked Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Victoria and Vancouver as my CAFF choices. I'm also going to apply to Cincinnati, probably, and maybe the Berkshires...and I'm applying to Minnesota and Calgary, both of which AREN'T CAFF fringes, and both of which happen at the exact same time, between W'peg and Edmonton, and my philosophy is that whichever one I get into is the one I'll do. I figure that inevitably I won't get into at least one...maybe I'll get into neither...so I should apply for both, especially because there are benefits and drawbacks to each: MN is my home Fringe, but doing it would mean coming back from Canada in between two Canadian Fringes, which is kind of inefficient. Calgary lets me stay in Canada and save travel expenses, but it means I can't keep up my performance record at home.

Anyway, due to the rather ENORMOUS cumulative application fee (you have to write a check for all the application fees of the Fringes you're applying to at once), I now have zero money in my checking account -- like, seriously, ZERO. I once again put out a call for Fringe Festival Sponsors to LOAN me monetary amounts of their choosing to cover the Fringe application fees, which I would then PAY BACK IN FULL once the Fringes had gone by and I had earned that money back again in ticket sales. However, until some people say yes, and then write me checks, I used all my Victoria and Vancouver Fringe earnings from this year to pay the fees...which I suppose is a really unsound financial idea, since it means that I am not actually earning any kind of EXPENDABLE income on the Fringe circuit, but I guess I feel like I'm too deep into it to stop now, and that as long as I have a new show to tour, I should be touring it. I want "Circumference" to get out there -- I think it'll be really fun to do it on the circuit, and such a welcome break from my previous two shows.

I mean, I am very aware that all the people in my life who hear me whine and piss and moan about the poverty I live in, the lack of health insurance I have, the terror I feel about impending homelessness, probably are of the mind that I should give up this little thespian dream of mine and just get a FUCKING ACTUAL FULL-TIME JOB. I understand that -- I really do. Sometimes that's what I think I should do too. But I feel like I wasted 20 years of my life putting off the theatre and writing career I dreamed of because I had to be responsible and work a stable day job. For years and years I shut down my creativity, I forced myself into miserable, brain-dead inertia because I didn't want to live with the financial instability I knew a full-time theatre life would bring with it. I think of how painful it was, doing that — sitting behind a desk and wasting my heart, brain and soul as an administrative assistant — and I just can't make myself do it again, not after feeling what it feels like to tour three solo plays into which I poured every fiber of my being. Believe me, I AM poor. I DON'T have health insurance. I AM completely miserable most days. WRETCHEDLY miserable, and tired, and scared. BUT...I think I would be MORE miserable if I quit trying to put my theatre work out there...if I quit looking high and low for any and all opportunities that would maybe someday lead to me having something awesome happen for me — a show produced off-Broadway, a show picked up by HBO, or material aired on "This American Life"...an extended theatrical run someplace wonderful, a residency at a theatre company or college, a teaching opportunity in some city I love...representation by a booking agent so I could get a whole flurry of gigs, a book contract, a grant, a fellowship, an internship or mentorship with some theatre professional or writer I've admired all my life...I can't give up hoping for these things just yet, even though right now, no, they haven't arrived. But if I stop doing Fringes and presenting the shows I make...all these things have a far smaller chance of arriving.

SO, all of that is the long winding explanation of where I hope to go this summer: Ottawa, Cincinnati, Winnipeg, Minnesota or Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, Vancouver, maybe Great Barrington. :-)

Fingers crossed.

Again, just trying to catch up on the World of Reviews over here. These were the two newspaper reviews I KNOW OF that "Herschel" garnered in Vancouver. There are rumors that I got yet one more review, but I have searched high and low and cannot find it. That's okay. As you can see in the listing of show dates on this page, I also got Pick of the Fringe and get to stay here in the 'Couv and perform the show three more times this week, this time at the Waterfront Theatre, and this time with no cuts -- I get to do the 70-minute show. Yay!

Feeling Fringey: laugh, cry, see sock puppets
The Georgia Straight, Vancouver BC
September 13, 2007

Link is here.

SO KISS ME ALREADY, HERSCHEL GERTZ!
Fifteen-year-old Amy's summer plans (learning drill-squad routines and pining over a male friend) are disrupted when her parents announce that they're sending her to Camp L'Chaim, where "every activity has to do with Judaism, Israel, or both." Worse, every girl there seems to need a boyfriend ("so that you can crochet him a yarmulke"), and Amy doesn't have one. Writer-performer Amy Salloway delivers great comic characterizations, vivid images, and hilarious one-liners ("I thought only Catholics had accidents," she says, on learning that a friend's mother is expecting an unplanned child). Behind the comedy, Salloway poignantly captures the innocence and confusion of first love. At Venue 5, Playwrights Theatre Centre, on September 13 (8:30 p.m.), 14 (11:15 p.m.), and 16 (6:45 p.m.) ? -- Kathleen Oliver


BEST BET from the Vancouver Globe and Mail
WHAT'S ON AT FRINGE
By JENNIFER VAN EVRA
September 12, 2007

Link is here.

Just five days left of the Vancouver International Fringe Festival, and here are this year's best bets.

So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz!
***½
Amy - an awkward, pudgy, Jewish teen - thinks she's about to spend the summer hanging out with her best friend. Instead, her parents inform her that she's bound for Camp L'chaim. "Amy, be a mensch," says her father. "It's not Auschwitz." Written and performed by Minneapolis artist Amy Salloway, Hershel Gertz is a sweet and endearingly funny coming of age story that deftly avoids the overly sentimental trappings of sweet and endearingly funny coming of age stories. Based on Salloway's own camp experience, the writing is sharply witty packed with teen spirit from start to finish. Sept. 13, 14 and 16, various times. $10. Playwrights Theatre, 1398 Cartwright St., 604-981-3764.

Zeeps, I've been lagging behind in getting show reviews up here -- that's what happens when ou tour a combination of three different solo shows to six different Fringe Festivals in one summer. :-)

In a feeble effort to start catching up -- especially since "Circumference" is about to get a remount at the Lowry Lab in St. Paul, here are some quotes from MN Fringe audience reviews this past August:

Here's where the quotes came from...

Average audience review: 4.5 STARS

"This latest offering from Salloway is billed as a work in progress; whole scenes and characters may come and go every night, so it may be important to say I'm reviewing the Sunday the 5th version. It certainly reads as a work in progress- it was unmemorized, and some scenes fell oddly on the ear. That said, it was excellent. It's far more of a journey than her previous works- she progresses towards her goal of a self-acceptable body, using first the crutch of attaining approval for gastric bypass, then of the perceived attraction of a fellow gym-goer. When both crutches are kicked away, she's faced with the choice of total regression, or continuing on her path unaided, and she finds an unsuspected strength within herself. It's heartwarming, and because it's Amy Salloway, I don't have to tell you that it's funny, clever, and disarmingly unselfconscious. Catch it while you can- it's a delight."

"…an incredible blend of heartbreak and humor. Amy, you may not love the body you were born with, but we love you!"


"Circumference is possibly the best play Amy Salloway has put forth to date. As deeply personal as her previous efforts were, Circumference goes one step deeper, something that could possibly pain in the telling, but if it does then it is a healing pain. This is easily one of my favorite shows of the Fringe this year, and well recommended. And with only a few more performances, if you haven't caught it I might suggest reworking the schedule to be there. It really is that good."

"Amy has the remarkable ability to write about personal subjects and pain and somehow make it funny. Her performance of these stories is brave and very very entertaining."


"Salloway is simply an amazing thinker, writer and performer, truly one-of-a-kind. I've loved her previous shows, but she really ups the emotional ante on this one. This is such a heartbreakingly personal hour that you almost feel like you're eavesdropping rather than watching a stage show. This is one brave and honest storyteller. Salloway seamlessly weaves humor and despair without ever going for cheap laughs or maudlin sentimentality. One of those rare Fringe shows that I know I'll be thinking about for a long time."

"A group of girl friends and I go to see Amy Salloway every chance we get, which pretty much means every fringe. She is our local hero! As soon as the show ended and the applause stopped, I turned to my friend and said, "I just hope that her low self esteem is just for the sake of a great gig and not because it is true. But then, she couldn't possibly write this stuff as well as she does if it weren't truly from the heart. And so, from my friends to Amy, you have nothing to be ashamed of, everything to be proud of, and we are so glad that you continue to entertain us. And we don't have to be fat to relate to all that you say."

"I love everything Amy does, and I'm rooting for her all the way, as is every member of her audience. Particularly those of us who were picked last on the kickball team."

"…at ten minutes to seven I took my seat at the back of the almost full theater. The audience was so excited. I could just feel their anticipation. The applause later at the end of the show was so heartfelt…it was precious. I had never seen Amy before in my life so my first impression of her was on center stage. She was magic. I suddenly understood what some of my mentors have been trying to teach me. I was so impressed with Amy that when (an actor) introduced me to her later outside of the theater I was amazed at how small she was off the stage because in my mind she was larger than life."

"Amy Salloway is a profoundly honest and gifted performer and I found her performance to be utterly inspirational. If you're looking for something to give you a redeeming, uplifting feeling, go see this show. It was fantastic."

"…so engaging right from the start. Great job. Great show. See it."

"I mistakenly went to the wrong venue last night - already late. almost ran in the heat to Mixed Blood to catch the last half of this funny, poignant and ultimately very entertaining production. Amy seamlessly slips into characters, internal imagined and real, and the piece (even in the truncated version I saw) has the uncanny ability (forgive the cliche) to make one laugh and cry simultaneously. I've had the good fortune to work with Amy and her talent and imagination extend well beyond her years. Put this one on a must-see."

"…I was drawn in to her world with all its comic and tragic landscapes. Being in the audience for Circumference was a powerful and moving experience."

"Powerful, affecting, very funny…the audience identifies more and more strongly with the performer as the show goes on."

"Once again, our heroine, Amy, attacks life's trials and travails, while connecting to feelings and experiences we have all had. A very funny, and poignant piece."

"I've been watching Amy's work for a while now, and being able to participate in a work-in-progress like this is a special treat. All the key moments are there: the funny, the poignant, the downright sad, and Amy brings us all along and asks us to remember what it's like to not-be-like-everyone-else: and don't we all feel that way at times? With a little more spit and polish, this one will be totally amazing. Right now it's amazing enough."

"Intensely personal, very sad and very funny."

"Amy's wit and self-depreciating humor shines through again....she makes me laugh, remember being a child again (the Presidential fitness award!) and in the end, leaves me feeling like life is still okay."

Review of "Herschel" from Victoria, BC (which is where I am right now)!

And, if you don't want to click on the link, here it is as well.

SO KISS ME ALREADY, HERSCHEL GERTZ!
Where: Venue 3, VCM Wood Hall
When: To Sept. 2
Rating: 4 (out of 5)

Amy Salloway opens her one-woman show as shiny and sweet as her sparkly lip gloss. She's her 15-year-old self -- which bears an uncanny likeness to Hairspray's Tracy Turnblatt -- pogoing around her bedroom to the Go Gos' We Got the Beat. She's got big plans for summer vacation: practise her dance moves so she can make the high school drill team, write a young adult novel about "a child of divorce with ESP" and, most importantly, pine over too-dreamy drama pal Ross Buckman. The trouble is, mom and dad have signed her up for summer camp. "Freakily Jewish" Camp L'Chaim. And the only dancing she'll do is at their "hasidic hoedown," which she grapevines through with stomping feet and petulant frowns.

A drama nerd-gifted kid who thinks she's too fat to ever make the drill team, Amy doesn't usually have much luck fitting in. At camp, it's worse. Her roommates are Barbie-doll pretty with names like Shoshanna. Worse yet, they're "experienced." And no girl at camp can be without a boyfriend. Amy's is Herschel Gertz, a skinny, perpetually congested putz.

Salloway channels her inner teenager, zits and all. She can be innocent and imaginative as easily as she can be shrill and self-absorbed. She's also keenly observant. And in the case of real-life Amy, those powers of observation serve the comedic script well. Salloway's got a knack for detail that goes right down to minutiae like the piece of dried snot that wafts in and out of Herschel's nose. Ultimately, though, she's a poignantly vulnerable character whose story works through her struggle to find acceptance and spirituality.
-- Leah Collins

A review from City Pages!

Circumference
Awkward Moment Productions

Amy Salloway's new monologue is delivered with such craft and assurance, and as a performer she has so much appeal, that it's easy to forget that her subject matter involves such a great deal of hardship and pain. While being considered for gastric-bypass surgery, Salloway recounts the results of a weight-loss program mandated by her insurance—the rush of getting in touch with her body after years of estrangement, the despair after a crush at the gym turned out to be unrequited. Digging into the past, she turns a Presidential Fitness Test into a verbal opera of cruelty. It's no small wonder that from all these experiences she creates a show that both entertains and elicits such strong affection from her audience. Fri 5:30 p.m., Sat 1:00 p.m., Sun 4:00 p.m. Mixed Blood Theatre.
—QUINTON SKINNER

My guess, from the careful wording of this review is that Quinton himself wasn't terribly "into" the show, but wanted to acknowledge the fact that much of the audience did enjoy it. :-) Hey, that's absolutely fine. I appreciate even, more, then, that he chose to write a good review and not a review based solely on personal taste. Thanks, Quinton!

Oh, and I knew it would happen eventually -- the photo accompanying the review is from, yes, you guessed it, "Circumference of a Squirrel".

And then we have the Women's Press, which chose me as their Profile Person for the August issue that's just coming out now.

I honestly don't think I'm worthy of quite this many words, but okay.

It is very, very weird seeing myself profiled like that.
I honestly don't quite know how to respond.
It's not what *I* would ever have written about myself, or how I would have focused or "collected" a story about me. But I am all in favor of any press I can get, and am very grateful the Women's Press wanted to write this piece -- the editor was incredibly sweet to me, and we had a series of really awesome conversations...and the writer (a young intern) was quite patient with my ramblings.

(Note to those readers whom I know will point this out if I don't point it out first -- YES, there are several factual errors in this story. However, I don't think they are earth-shattering or harming to those referenced in any way.)

So, wow.

Oh my god.

For those too lazy or linkophobic to click on the link, here's what it leads to. The Pioneer Press review of Circumference:

MUST SEE SHOWS --

"CIRCUMFERENCE"
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 08/06/2007

How many Fringe performers inspire rousing ovations on their mere entrances to the stage? Amy Salloway earned every decibel Sunday in her overdue return to this festival. "My body and I have never gotten along," says Salloway, whose desperation leads her to seek a "divorce from my body" through gastric bypass surgery. Wearing Converse hi-tops, an oversized black T-shirt and a skirt that looks cut from a tablecloth, Salloway immerses us through the humiliation of her junior high gym class and her fitful efforts to get in shape for the surgery. She's a major-league writer and storyteller - poignant, sensitive and hysterically funny. Jewels of observation and awareness become transformative moments, and no audience can come away untouched by the gift of her experience.
-- Matt Peiken

Presented by Awkward Moment Productions at Mixed Blood Theater; 5:30 p.m. Tuesday; 5:30 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday.

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I am nothing short of amazed. I was about 87% sure I was going to end up in the "avoid like the plague" rating group due to my lack of memorization (so far -- that will change) and my horrible sound cues (which I hope will change), so this was a very pleasant surprise.

I am so relieved, and yet also want to keep making this show better -- fixing cues to the best of my abilities, tweaking transitions and scene content, and memorizing. So that I can ACT the show out, which I think would feel really good, and make a lot of things much clearer (for example, what environment I'm in at what time).

I just can't believe this whole experience, over all. That a creative project that became SO TERRIFYING to me -- and so frought with shame and self-loathing -- could be received with such kindness and warmth.

It is one of those times, this is, when I just can't be cynical towards the human race...I can only be grateful. :-)