Joshua Walters Performance

Joshua WaltersI am happy to let you know about an upcoming performance from Joshua Walters.

Several years ago, Josh was a facilitator for the Depressive and Bipolar Support Association of San Francisco (DBSASF) Young Adults Group.

Josh was one of a handful of finalists in a TED Talks search for new talent with his talk “On Being Just Crazy Enough” which has had over a million views.

Here is information about the performance:

Performance Title: UNPLUG!
Location: La Peña Cultural Center

Address: 3105 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley, CA (very close to Ashby BART Station)
Date: Saturday, November 22, 2014
Time: 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
Cost: $10 (early bird special before 11/15) 
Description


With the rate of technological advance, the world is becoming a faster, a more connected, and a more chaotic place. We are at a pinnacle moment in human history in which we can know everything and have our voices felt everywhere, but at what cost? What if everyone in the world stopped using technology for one day? To feel the effect on our minds, emotions, and connection to the divine: UNPLUG!

Layering improv, music, and comedy, the Unplug! experience will transport the audience to different time periods over the course of three acts which explores the spectrum of technology throughout human history, and is accompanied by a live music ensemble. The first act starts in a time of alienation where the digital is all that is known. Next, the second act explores the turning point of the industrial age, when tools become tactics. Conclusively, the third act depicts a time before screens and electricity, where every night is filled with story and song.

At the core of the play, Unplug! expresses the message of creating and preserving time for family and connection with the community. In the spirit unplugging, the audience will be asked to mask their cell phone usage with an individual unplug bag. The phones will be used for one last Instagram picture, and everyone will then ditch the technology for the rest of the night.

Curious Bay Area residents will have a chance to get their questions answered about Unplug! in a twitter Q&A with Joshua Walters. Anyone who has a question should tweet to @joshuawalters, and use the hashtag, #unplug. Participants can tune in on Wednesday, Nov 5 @ 7pm to find out if their questions have been answered.

About Joshua Walters:

Joshua Walters of Madhouse Rhythm, (((JawVox))), and soon to be UnPlug, is a performer who explores language, creativity, beatboxing and madness. His solo shows are a mash-up of comedy, intimate reflection and unpredictable antics. He is a regular contributor to Snap Judgment a weekly storytelling radio show on NPR with TV broadcasts on PBS. Walters was one of three speakers selected from a pool of 600 applicants to perform a TED Talk, titled On Being Crazy Enough, exploring the Bipolar Spectrum.

Walters’ work is both YouTube sensation (1.2M+ views), and critical success (“a warped reflection of our very real foibles, in the funniest possible way.”-San Francisco Chronicle). For his latest solo work, “UnPlug!”, Walters collaborates with 2011 Alpert Award winner Marc Bamuthi Joseph to launch into the chaotic nirvana of a global day without technology. Part stand-up, part hip hop aria, the piece moves from brave new future to shamanic past with velocity, humor, and intelligent funk. His eclectic combination of performance disciplines and activity as an educator in mental health has given Walters a national platform and audience. Walters is a National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) State Speaker and in 2002, he co-founded the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) Young Adults Chapter in San Francisco, one of the few support groups specifically for mentally ill young adults in the country.

For more information about Joshua Walters, check out his website: http://www.thejoshuawalters.com