To POST YOUR COMMENT about the show, click “COMMENTS” under these comments

“The performance blew me away. As it was unfolding, I was sitting there marveling at the perfect night, caught up in the magnificent writing, acting and the overall brilliant execution, and it dawned on me; wow, this is it, captured only as a witness, a live consumption. There in lies the magic. Brian Osborne is a true force. Find it. See it. It’s a real gift.”-Billie, Los Angeles

“Brian moves from comedic to tragic with such ease that sometimes you’re still laughing as he plays the sad note. It’s a gift to pull on both emotions as well as he does.” -Steve S., nyc

“Ridiculous and deep, hilarious and moving, and beautifully performed” -Stephanie, Los Angeles

“An INCREDIBLE (hilarious, bizarre, human) show that is guaranteed to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before” -Geoff Sobelle, Philadelphia

“It was definitely a hallucinatory experience with Brian Osborne last night. It was provocative in some very real ways, hilariously uncomfortable and super energetic. Brian was extraordinarily believable in his story-telling and gracefully charismatic as an evangelist.  I would definitely recommend putting yourself there tonight, but just hold on to your seat! Literally.” -Gregg Curtis, Los Angeles 

“I loved the show, which was brilliant on so many fronts. The whole experience in that intimate space was almost transcendent — and maybe that’s the whole point. Like an age-old tale by firelight: with yarns spun by one wild-eyed and absurdly likable man of God.”  -Regis St.Louis, The Lonely Planet

“Brian is that rare artist that takes you on a journey of the senses in the most surprising ways. At once hilarious and touching this show brings you to places most unexpected. It’s environmental theater at its best! -Stacey, Los Angeles

“There is no more compelling a performance, in so tight a package, as this.” -Al Pacile, nyc

“If this is what church was like, I would go to church.”-Annie Enneking, Minneapolis

“What a fucking awesome piece of theater.  The writing is gorgeous, the variety of storytelling methods is unpredictable yet coherent, the sense of humor is hip without being hipster…something unique, diverse and authentic.  Rare.” -James Sugg, OBIE winning actor/sound designer

“Brian Osborne is smart, funny and FEARLESS. One show left - GO!!!-Craig T. Williams, New York

“Funny, raucous, outdoors and FREE CHILI. What more could you ask for? A great night” -Jlincahoots, Los Angeles

“Thanks for The Word. Inspiring. Great fun!” -David Youse, Los Angeles

“Totally unusual in a totally wonderful way. You leave somewhat spellbound by its simultaneous humor and poignancy.”-Daniella, Kickstarter, New York

“A tour de force!” -Keely Garfield, choreographer/dancer, new york

“Something extremely special. Truly unforgettable. Profound. Brilliantly performed.” -Adriano Shaplin, the riot group

“I loved the show…was moved, reminded, amused, filled and satisfied.” -James Ijames, philadelphia

“Thank you, so much, for that communal, joyful, funny-as-shit, nasty, smart, smart, smart, experience. AWESOME.” -Karen Getz, philadelphia

“It will surprise you how easily you slip into earnestly revisiting and deeply confronting your spirituality as you will be too busy laughing with curious interest and wild delight. Really.” -Mark Kennedy, Philadelphia

“Great show. So unique and interesting” -Rose, TV Guide

“It was hysterical, heartbreaking, surprising, and altogether satisfying. And even better, it was inspiring. My guts were shaken by this performance. Wicked awesome.” -Catherine Palfenier, philadelphia

One Night Only

Tuesday Oct 11 @8pm

AT: Salon Salon, 2704 W. Girad Ave

LIMITED SEATING

RSVP to brianjosborne@gmail.com for a seat

A tent. A preacher. A sermon extolling the glories of voyeurism and the perils of playing with gasoline. The Word is the Truth, with sex, drugs, and chili.

The WORD: A House Party for Jesus is a non-stop, mile-a-minute solo theatre piece created and performed by Brian Osborne and directed by co-conspirator Whit MacLaughlin of New Paradise Laboratories. In THE WORD, performer Osborne creates a silver-tongued, jive-talking magic man—a spiritual alchemist—who transforms human frailty into a mind-bending and hilarious meditation on one man’s place in a topsy-turvy universe.

THE WORD is a back-yard, house party for Jesus. A stand-up comedy routine with an eloquent, soul-searching heart. A profane reflection on cosmic themes. A stream-of-consciousness rant set to rave-up dance music.

THE WORD has been playing in backyards, empty warehouses, vacant lots, shitholes, and sites of ill-repute throughout the east coast. The Los Angeles encampment follows extended runs in Philadelphia and New York and precedes engagements in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, and Austin, TX. 

THE WORD is not fiction. Osborne believes every word he speaks. He dispenses total truth, without artifice or guile.

+presented in conjunction with New Paradise Laboratories

BRIAN OSBORNE (Performer/Writer) is a devised theater artist, actor, playwright, director and carpenter. His most recent work, THE WORD: A HOUSE PARTY FOR JESUS, an serio-comic sermon extolling the virtues of voyeurism and perils of playing with gasoline, was created with co-conspirator and director Whit MacLaughlin of New Paradise Laboratories. THE WORD and has been performed in New York (Soho Playhouse) Los Angeles and in Philadelphia (2011 NET Festival) with forthcoming productions in Pittsburgh (The Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Oct 2011), Austin (2012 Fusebox Festival), Chicago and Minneapolis (Open Eye Theater).  His 16-person klezmer circus musical, DELICIOUS VAUDEVILLE, was produced in New York by David Binder Productions. He recently collaborated on and performed in the world premiere of Thaddeus Phillips/Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental’s WHaLE OPTICS at the 2011 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. He has collaborated on new works with Pig Iron Theater Company, performed in the skate-park adaptation of Oedipus at Colonus, OEDIPUS AT FDR, Co-Directed Kate Watson Wallace’s STORE, and wrote text for and performed in WIND-UP at Princeton’s Atelier with collaborators David Brick, Dan Rothenberg and Mimi Lien. He is a founding member of New York’s Cliplight Theater, for which he has appeared in 6 original productions. OFF BROADWAY he appeared in the arial smash hit DE LA GUARDA and opened the show at The Rio Hotel in Las Vegas for a 1-year run for audiences of 1000 a night. Recent Film & TV credits include SOPHOMORE (forthcoming), LAW & ORDER: SVU, DRIVERS WANTED, THREADBARE, SURE SHOT, and a film adaptation of Harold Pinter’s APPLICANT. He studied Theater at Marquette University, has trained as an actor with Alfred Molina, Ada Brown Mather (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), and studied improvisation with The Second City. He is a 2011/2012 Live Arts Brewery Fellow: a philadelphia-based laboratory for supporting the research and development of new cross-genre live performance works.

WHIT MACLAUGHLIN (Direction & Additional Text) is the OBIE and Barrymore Award-winning Artistic Director of New Paradise Laboratories. He has conceived, directed, and designed 14 original performance works with the company since its inception in 1996. Prior to his founding of NPL, he was a charter member, for 17 years, of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. He has acted in, directed, or written hundreds of theatre productions, many invented from the ground up using the techniques of collaborative theatre creation. He is a recipient of a NEA/Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Artistic Advancement Grant, a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship Award in 2003 and in 2005, and a 2002 Pew Charitable Trust Fellowship in Performance Art. www.newparadiselaboratories.org

ROBERT KAPLOWITZ (Music & Sound Design) is the Tony Award-Winning designer of Bill T. Jones’ Fela(Broadway, the National in London, EKO Center in Lagos). Also John Beluso’s The Poor Itch,Lemon Anderson’s County Of Kings, and Neil LaBute’s Wrecksplus a handful of others at the Public; David Adjmi’s Stunning (LCT3); Kia Corthron’sLight, Raise the Roof (NYTW); Abbey Spallin’s Pumpgirl (MTC), Chloe Moss’s This Wide Night (Naked Angels); and Adam Bock’s The Thugs (SoHo Rep) and A Small Fire(Playwrights Horizons). He has also designed for 2nd Stage, LAByrinth, MCC, Primary Stages, The Vineyard, the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Sundance, PlayPenn, and others.  Designs for the upcoming season include the Broadway production of Fat Pig, as well as work with the Arden and Act II in Philadelphia.  He received an OBIE for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design.