“SHOW UP” | Top-notch improvisational comedy chops require that you abandon fear — but what about that general, nagging feeling of reluctance and unease? Writer, director, teacher, and longtime Chelsea resident Peter Michael Marino’s upcoming “semi-written” solo show has the veteran funnyman “coming out as a performer with social anxiety.” Marino is keeping things loose by creating scenes based on the lives of audience members, and recruiting some of them to (no pressure!) run the lights and guide the show’s direction. The result, he hopes, will examine his own social anxiety while giving you heightened sensitivity to its manifestation in everyday life. “Don’t think people make the decision to be a hermit or be the awkward person at the party,” Marino noted, adding, “There are people I see on a regular basis who I’ve never actually said ‘Hello’ to, and they’ve never said that to me. And I think, why does that guy hate me? Then you find out he has social anxiety, and you learn they’re not an asshole!”
Wed., Oct 12, 8pm at the PIT Loft (154 W. 29 St., btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.). For tickets ($10), visit thepit-nyc.com. Also visit petermmarino.com.
PEN PARENTIS LITERARY SALONS | Raising kids can drive you to drink, that’s for sure — but can their constant presence inspire you to new creative heights? Find out by totally ditching them for one night every month, for the rest of 2016, at the fall slate of Pen Parentis Literary Salon events. There, you will rub shoulders with other overseers of the juice box set, and lift your spirits by raising a glass. Open to all but programmed with working and aspiring authors in mind, the evening begins with an informal networking session, followed by readings, then a panel discussion from three writers who also happen to be parents. The Oct. 11 theme, “Never Give Up: Writers on Tenacity,” features Oregon-based novelist Jamie Duclos-Yourdon, and local writers Courtney Zoffness (serial comma advocate, former managing editor of The Earth Times) and Aidan Donnelley Rowley (occasional Twitter delinquent, author of “The Ramblers”). “Election Day Madness” is the well-timed focus of Nov. 8, and they close out the year on Dec. 13 with a “Holiday Author Mingle.” Pen Parentis stalwart members M. M. De Voe and Christina Chiu are your panel moderators on most given nights.
Free. Tues., Oct. 11, 7–9:30pm, at Andaz Wall Street (75 Wall St., entrance at Water St., second floor). RSVP to this 21+ event (wine provided by the venue) is encouraged, via penparentis.org/calendar.
—BY SCOTT STIFFLER
