SOLOCOM NYC’25: TEMPLETON/KELLY/WATERS/FOSTER/CARBONE

Are you there Dr. Gabor Maté? It’s me, Phone. – RICHARD TEMPLETON

We rely so heavily on technology to solve our problems. Money. Relationships. Existential Crises. What if our technology could talk back? What would they say? With the help of world-renowned trauma-therapist Dr. Gabor Maté we try to get to the root of our — and our technology’s — modern suffering. Also: cat memes.

PUSSY KING – DELANEY KELLY

Kyle gets a lot of pussy. Literally, he has seven cats, all from failed relationships. A meditation on toxic masculinity.

This is a short play with an 8-page script that follows a Twitch streamer-slash-looksmaxxer named Kyle as he guides his brotherhood through getting attention from “FEMALES,” but the stream is quickly derailed when the chat notices his absurd amount of cats, and he tells the story of how he acquired each one. The arc of the story is self-contained and complete, I just want to hear how a live audience responds to it and if the critiques on toxic “manosphere” online circles read well.

Arithmomaniac – ROSS WATERS

Ever since he was 11 years old, Ross has been counting everything he sees and hears, nonstop. Years later he would discover he suffers from arithmomania, a subset of OCD in which the person’s main compulsion revolves around counting. Ross has counted everything from letters in a sentence to objects in a room and even counted to 27,000 in a single day! This show is part neuroscience, part treatment and recovery, part personal anecdotes, and a whole lot of comedy. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll turn your stove on and off eight times. Ross eventually plans to take the hour long version of this show to Edinburgh fringe fest.

The Chronicles of Narc-nia – NATE FOSTER

A magical romp through the seedy underbelly of the Latin American drug trade. The show is basically a mash-up of The Chronicles of Narnia and Narcos.

SuicIDOL – KRISTEN CARBONE

After prompting by her Doctor (and concerns about her own fertility), Kristen stops taking the pills she’d been on for 16 years- and yet despite all her carefully Virgo’d plans, all Hell breaks loose. Following her trials through an accidental psychological breakdown she triggered while she was just trying to take control of her reproductive choices, Kristen has to relearn how to live- if she even wants to. Go on a journey through reproductive health, mental health, and all it’s darkly comedic twists and turns.

This is my first solo show- so I’m getting used to this process and will hopefully have future opportunities to expand it, further develop it, and bring it to other festivals. Trying out something new, rediscovering old muscles, and testing my storytelling skills on a larger format.

SOLOCOM NYC has launched over 400 new solo comedies that have gone on to longer runs, tours and festivals around the world (including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.)

SOLOCOM NYC is a festival of new solo work. All shows presented are 75% 100% new material, and are created specifically for the festival. SOLOCOMs goal is to push artists to create a show that is meaningful, personal and to follow the fear.