Musings on the mountain
Hiking Mt. Tam helped inspire Strauss' new solo show
Adam Strauss has a tendency to obsess over things. That trait might help him create some hilarious comedy in his standup and long-form solo shows, but at times it can completely derail his life.
Strauss' hit solo show “The Mushroom Cure” chronicles his attempt to treat his debilitating obsessive-compulsive disorder with psychedelic mushrooms. After an extended run at San Francisco solo performance hub the Marsh in 2017, the show has returned almost every year since.
Now Strauss is back at the Marsh with a brand-new show, “Something is Wrong with Adam Strauss.”
“It's about this fundamental feeling that has in many ways defined my life, even if I don't understand it,” Strauss says. “More and more we talk about mental illness and we talk about trauma and things that may be more extreme outliers. But I don't think people generally talk about the fact that life can be good in many ways, but many of us from time to time have had this feeling that there's something deeply wrong.”
His new show takes more of a long view than “The Mushroom Cure,” which is about a very specific period in his life. In this one, he talks about incidents from his childhood right up to the present moment to explore his troubles with romantic relationships and a pattern of self-sabotage that can be exacerbated by his OCD but may have its roots in something else.
“This, in a sense, is sort of a sequel. It's where I'm at now and what I'm grappling with now,” Strauss says. “Rilke has this great quote from `Letters to a Young Poet,' where he says, `A work of art is good if it is necessary. That is the only criteria by which it can be judged.' And so I'm always thinking, what feels necessary for me? What do I need to share?”
As “Something is Wrong” feels as if it takes Strauss' story up to right now, he anticipates that the show may change as his life progresses.
“The basic arc I think will always be the same, but as things evolve and shift with my personal relationships, I anticipate the show evolving and shifting,” he says.
During the Marsh run, Strauss will also perform “The Mushroom Cure” at Mill Valley's Throckmorton Theatre on Friday, followed by this new show April 12.
“It's a storied place, obviously, in the history of comedy, with Robin Williams and Mort Sahl, and I'm excited to make it out there finally,” Strauss says.
Although Strauss is based in New York City when he's not on the road, Mount Tamalpais looms large (and tall, obviously) in “Something is Wrong” as the place where several major turning points in his personal journey occurred.
“This show is fundamentally about this feeling of something is wrong and not quite understanding it but getting more freedom from it, but another dimension of the show is it's a love story,” Strauss says. “It's a love story with this particular relationship, but to me it is also a love story with the Bay Area, especially Marin and Mt. Tam.”
Strauss was staying in Bolinas while performing at the Marsh two years ago, and on hikes on Mt. Tam he both had a major epiphany about his relationship patterns and basically began the romance that much of the show is about.
“This relationship that I talk about in the show, I really don't know if it would've gone anywhere if it weren't for that mountain,” Strauss says. “Nature, particularly that level of awe-inspiring nature, puts me in a state of wonder, and there's this openness for me that undercuts a lot of the hyperactive critical thinking that my mind is prone to. And that allowed me to be open to this relationship I think in a way I wouldn't have been if we were just hanging out at coffee shops or bars. It's also my favorite place to write. I feel free in that environment in a way I don't if I'm in a city, and that really allows the ideas to flow.”
Just as Strauss has Marin to thank for some of the breakthroughs he talks about in “Something is Wrong with Adam Strauss,” we also have his personal connection with that landscape to thank for the fact that we get as many chances to hear his story as we do.
“The Marsh is a great theater,” Strauss says. “I love performing there. But I probably wouldn't be as motivated to come out here almost every year were it not for Mt. Tam and Marin and Stinson and the Marin Headlands.”
• Details: “Something is Wrong with Adam Strauss” runs through May 18 at the Marsh at 1062 Valencia St. in San Francisco. The shows will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is $20 to $35; $50 to $100 for reserved seating. For more information and to get tickets, go to themarsh.org.
Strauss will also perform “The Mushroom Cure” at
7:30 p.m. Friday and “Something is Wrong with Adam Strauss” at 7:30 p.m. April 12 at the Throckmorton Theatre at 142 Throckmorton Ave. in Mill Valley. Admission is $30 to $45. Get more information and tickets at throckmortontheatre.org.