Rogue Festival 2016: Nice Is Not What We Do

Feb 29, 2016 | 2016 Articles, Arts & Entertainment

by Kathleen Denny

The 2016 Rogue Festival is almost here. KRL has been featuring several Festival performer preview articles over the last couple of weeks, and have a few more to go between now and opening day. A couple of weeks ago, we also published an article about the Festival itself. We will also be reviewing many of the shows once the Festival begins later this week, and we may even do some more video interviews. Check out our Rogue Performer event page for more information as it becomes available, and you can also check out the Rogue 2016 website.

We all have heard it a million times: Never speak ill of the dead. But how about the truth? Which truth? And honestly, has anyone ever seen a Functional Family?

Oakland storyteller Kathleen Denny returns to the Rogue with Nice Is Not What We Do. In her dark and funny solo show, twenty characters unwrap a family funeral. Step up for dueling eulogies!

Kathleen Denny

When Kathleen’s sister asks her to give a eulogy for their father, she adds, “Something nice!” So Kathleen has a problem. Maybe Dad charmed the whole wide world, but at home he would pick a fight over what went first on a bowl of cereal: The sugar? or the milk? He was a trial lawyer, and Kathleen was his designated sparring partner. On the other hand, he did tell her stories… As characters speak their minds, some come right out and tell what others might decide to leave unsaid. It begins to sound as though everybody knew a different man, and that every child grew up in a different family.

From Fresno to Winnipeg, from Boulder to Berkeley, audience members recognize situations and themselves.

“Funny, a wee bit poignant and entirely honest. FOUR STARS” Winnipeg Free Press.

“Honey, you nailed it!” said a bereaved man in San Francisco.

“So your family wasn’t the Waltons? Well, neither was mine!” said one daughter (and mother) in Boulder.

A self-confessed Bay Area funeral director grinned and said, “Absolutely perfect.”

Kathleen Denny developed her stories with thanks to The Marsh in San Francisco and Berkeley, through workshops, the Monday Night Marsh series, and Tell It On Tuesday. Director Mark Kenward helped her craft stories into a stage-worthy cafe solo show, and Rogue 2014 was her first fringe festival. Since then, “Nice Is Not What We Do” has grown up. After fringe tours throughout the West, it’s a pleasure to come back to the Rogue.

Nice Is Not What We Do sold out at the 2015 San Francisco Fringe. Get advance tickets at:
roguefestival.ticketleap.com/niceisnotwhatwedo/

Mature themes. Parental guidance advised.

Nice Is Not What We Do performs at the Fresno Soap Company, 1470 N. Van Ness Ave., Fresno, Ca

Performance Dates & Times:
Saturday, March 5 at 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 5 at 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday March 12 at 6:30