Fertile Ground Diaries: Genuis

When Sean Bowie strolls onstage at the Headwaters, stark naked and carrying a clipboard, it sets an appropriate tone for his new solo show, Genuis. Though there's no nudity in the rest of this Fertile Ground performance—aside from a brief clip from the 1984 ski bum movie Hot Dog—Bowie does spend the next 70 minutes laying bare his soul.

Told in a series of essay-style vignettes, Genuis is Bowie's autobiographical offering of his experiences and thoughts on everything from his fear of ecstatic dance to his nostalgia for video rental stores. Canadian transplant Bowie is no stranger to sharing his deeper personal struggles and failings: His previous performance piece, Drunken Fucker, explored his years as an alcoholic and, in his words, a "big 'ol self-indulgent A-hole."

Though here he keeps the tone light with self-deprecating humor—like the time he clogged the toilet at his Portlandia audition—Bowie also delves into the slow heartbreak of a crumbling relationship and the pure wonder at the birth of his first child.

[if gte mso 9]> 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false Genuis. But you can't deny that Bowie certainly has some good stories to tell. EndFragment

SEE IT: Genuis is at the Headwaters, 55 NE Farragut St., No. 9. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays through Jan. 31. Donation. More info here.

WWeek 2015