Placenta Jerky, Anyone?

When James Braly tells a story, people can't help but listen. All types of people, it seems, judging from the crowd at the SoHo Playhouse last night. James has tall wiry frame, a long and slightly wild shock of salt and pepper hair, a strong jaw which is balanced out by small smartypants spectacles--he's really rocking a look reminiscent of my college American History professor whom I clearly had (have?) a crush on. Braly's also got a great voice with which to tell a story, and he's hilarious. He moves about the stage with a ton of energy and authority, but then there's a this healthy dose of sensitivity and self effacement that make him incredibly likeable. And then, well, then there's this wife of his! Susan. Let's just say that Susan's got some unconventional quirks that one can't help but pay attention. Or forget, for that matter.

I remember James from a Moth StorySlam competition a few years ago where he performed his piece just after I performed mine. When he mentioned something about his sons' breast feeding via a philosophy called "self-weaning" (ie: basically the kid sucks boob until he tells his mother he'd prefer some chicken fingers, I believe), I thought to myself, "Man. I'm fucked. My story about getting a black Barbie for Christmas can't hold a candle to a story about titties. James has this sewn up." And so he did. In fact, James is the only two-time Moth GrandSlam Winner to date. No kidding. It's all in the details. And when James describes--with equal parts love and revulsion-- his amazing twenty-year relationship with Susan and shares with us how the placenta from their son Owen's birth--taken out of the freezer where it'd been stored for 3 years --turned from red to brown, I blurted out involuntarily "Blleeeecccchhhhh?!" with such alacrity that I cracked up Mr. Braly himself. Marriage is a lot of things, and Braly reveals that his is far from conventional. But frozen placentas aside, Life in a Marital Institution is a true love story. A real true love story.

James Braly's

Life in a Marital Institution: (20 years of monogamy in one terrifying hour)
Written and Performed by James Braly
Directed by Hal Brooks

http://www.jamesbraly.com/

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