January 10-14, 2024

Written and Performed by Josh Kornbluth
In collaboration with Aaron Loeb, Casey Stangl, and David Dower
Original Direction by Casey Stangl
Staged for Club Fugazi by David Dower

About the Show

At UCSF's Global Brain Health Institute, Bay Area monologist Josh Kornbluth throws himself headlong into the study of brain disease, on a mission to prove that a nationwide revolution of empathy can reverse our democracy's political dementia. Along the way he finds his true revolutionary journey is toward something much more personal. Can the science of the Empathy Circuit resolve the most challenging relationship of his life before it's too late?

“A winner!” - BroadwayWorld. Kornbluth is a masterful performer setting sail on the sea of empathy in his brilliantly funny new work CITIZEN BRAIN. In a show critics have called “Captivating” and “Astonishing,” he takes audiences on a mission to change the world through empathy.

“Engaging and enlightening” - Berkeleyside

“Humorous and insightful” - SF Gate

Says Broadway World, “This monologist extraordinaire brilliantly weaves personal anecdotes with an unusual fellowship at a brain clinic to bring us a fascinating didactic on using empathy to heal the wounded world,” declaring the show “Kornbluth at his best; smart, witty dialogue with a social conscience.”

“What a show!” What a genius!” - Theatrius

“Josh Kornbluth saves the world” - TheatreDogs

Produced by Club Fugazi Experiences, with Jonathan Reinis Productions and The Marsh, A Breeding Ground for New Performance.

Josh Kornbluth

For over three decades Josh Kornbluth has been performing his autobiographical monologues for theater audiences all over the U.S., and in other countries as well. His show Red Diaper Baby, directed by Josh Mostel, ran Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theater, was selected for the Best American Plays of 1992 collection, was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, and was made into a performance film for the Sundance Channel, directed by Doug Pray. His monologue The Mathematics of Change was also made into a performance film, directed by his brother Jacob Kornbluth. His shows Haiku Tunnel and Love & Taxes have both been adapted into feature films by Josh and brother Jacob: Haiku was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival and was distributed nationally by Sony Pictures Classics; Love & Taxes was distributed nationally by Abramorama and received a 100 percent “Fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Josh has participated several times in both the Sundance Institute’s Theater Lab and Filmmaker Lab. In 2002 he collaborated with Michael Gene Sullivan and the San Francisco Mime Troupe Collective in writing their summer show, Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan. Josh has collaborated with director David Dower on five shows: Ben Franklin: Unplugged, Love & Taxes, Citizen Josh, Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? (originally commissioned by the Contemporary Jewish Museum), and (for the Shotgun Players) Sea of Reeds. Josh has toured India with his monologue Citizen Josh, under the auspices of the U.S. State Department. For two years he hosted an interview program on public TV station KQED, cleverly titled The Josh Kornbluth Show. He was also artist-in-residence at the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco. Josh’s shows have been collected into a book, Red Diaper Baby: Three Comic Monologues, as well as two audiobooks from Audible.com: Red Diaper Baby: Three Comic Monologues and Ben Franklin: Unplugged … and Other Comic Monologues. He has taught a course in autobiographical storytelling at Stanford University. Since January 2017 he has been an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute, an experience that inspired his latest solo show, Citizen Brain, as well as a series of online videos also titled “Citizen Brain.” He has also served a stint as Hellman Visiting Artist at UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center. Josh lives in Berkeley with his wife, Sara, a retired public schoolteacher, their son, Guthrie, a budding filmmaker. You can find him at joshkornbluth.com and via his online newsletter, “But Not Enough About Me.”

CASEY STANGL

Casey Stangl is an award-winning director based in Los Angeles. Recent projects include A Few Good Men at La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts, Steel Magnolias at Everyman Theater in Baltimore, and a workshop of Anna Ziegler’s Antigones for the Foundry Project. Casey does script adaptation and directing of foreign language dubbing for Netflix, Amazon, HBO and Disney. Casey was named 2019 Director of the Year by StageScene Los Angeles. Her work has been seen at theaters across the country including South Coast Repertory, American Conservatory Theater, The Guthrie Theater, Arizona Theater Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Jungle Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Portland Stage and Cleveland Playhouse. From 2015-2022 Casey was Associate Artistic Director for Ojai Playwrights Conference and she has developed new plays at the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Humana Festival, Pacific Playwrights Festival, PlayPenn, and Berkeley Rep’s GroundFloor. Casey proudly serves on the Executive Board of SDC, the national labor union for stage directors and choreographers.