Night + Day

Tuesday
May 26
Ben There The personal is political for solo performer Josh Kornbluth, but his wry comic style keeps his theatrical work from collapsing under its own introspective weight. In his first autobiographical monologue, Josh Kornbluth's Daily World, he described life with his communist parents in 1960s New York. That piece and Moisture Seekers, about his experience with an older woman, led to Red Diaper Baby, a sort of combination of the two for a producer who wanted a show with communism and sex. Kornbluth spun the tale of his life out further still in The Mathematics of Change, in which his math-whiz reputation withers during freshman calculus at Princeton, and Pumping Copy, about his stint as a copy editor for a progressive weekly newspaper. In his new show, Ben Franklin: Unplugged, Kornbluth attempts to uncover the real story of an American Founding Father and link it with his own history, including the "un-American" activities of his parents. The show opens at 8 p.m. (and runs through June 28) at the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Theater, 2350 Turk (at Masonic), S.F. Admission is $20; call 392-4400.