There's that oft-stated notion that you can't go home again. And Matt Smith isn't actually trying to. But in his one-man show "My Last Year with the Nuns," Smith gets a chance to revisit, on stage at least, both a place and an era.
Smith grew up on Capitol Hill and attended eight years of parochial school at St. Joseph's Catholic Church on 19th Avenue East. "Nuns" concerns his eighth grade year in 1966. As he describes it, that part of the Hill was very different in the mid'60s. There was a great deal of racial tension (redlining was still the norm) and homophobia; the area around St. Joseph's was predominately Catholic and home prices were low enough that large families lived there.
"It was basically two neighborhoods next to each other," said Smith. "This whole centralized, Catholic culture has disappeared over time. And it was like two separate neighborhoods, one black and one white."
"Nuns," one of three solo show Smith will perform though Nov. 4, is not a specific diatribe against the church nor its recent highly publicized sex scandals.
"The show is a stream-of-consciousness series of observations from the point of view of an eighth-grade boy," he said. "There's a lot about the kind of abuse 13-year-old boys heap on each other to survive."
As a result, there are no heroes or villains. And nothing, Smith says, that leans toward judgment.
"It's just the way it was," he said. "Growing up then was often brutal. We defined ourselves by what we were not, by what we were afraid of."
Smith is a self-described latecomer to the world of comedy and improvisation. As a young man he moved around a great deal, never staying long enough to really scratch the comedic itch.
"I always thought I might be funny, but never had the courage to go for it," he said. Living in New York when he was 23, bussing tables to make ends meet, he told a coworker that he'd like to be a stand-up comic. The fellow had some connections. He came back the next day and told Smith he'd booked him at a comedy club's open mike.
"I was paralyzed with fear, and I didn't do it," Smith said.
His pattern was to save some money and then move on. It was rewarding at first, he said, but around age 30 he realized that such wanderings kept him from doing what he needed to be doing. Returning to Seattle after several months in New Orleans he thought he'd finally try comedy, if only to get it out of his system.
"I thought I'd try it for one year, then fail, then open a seafood restaurant," he said. "The mystique would be gone."
It was an act of reinvention, and things moved pretty quickly from that point. He took a class in improvisation, liked the collaborative elements of improve, felt it was less brutal and competitive than stand-up. He loved the immediacy, he loved that it forced him to pay attention to just about everything.
"Improve is an amazing way to study how people interact with each other," he said. "Being on stage has helped me be a better person."
Soon he was a performing in Theater Sports, then joined the improv group None of the Above, which led to Seattle Improv. Such work evolved into forming Stark/Raving Theatre with Ed Sampson, with whom he wrote and performed five plays. Solo shows followed the dissolution of Stark/Raving Theatre. Smith has written and performed four so far. They've each been directed by playwright Bret Fetzer.
Smith's work has been staged across the county, often to hugely positive reviews. "Nuns" was first performed in 1997 at the New City Theater (it's the Richard Hugo House now and used to be a mortuary).
Smith has also appeared on T.V. and in films. When not performing his solo works, Smith works as a fundraising auctioneer and as a corporate trainer. He also teaches improvisation at Seattle University and Freehold.
As for "Nuns," Smith said it fits more or less in the realm of comedy. The language is rough, the situations certainly not gentle. He warns that anyone expecting "Late Nite Catechism" hijinks will be in for a rude awakening.
"My Last Year with the Nuns" continues on Friday, Sept. 9, Sept. 16 and 23 at The Market Theatre, 1428 Post Alley. The show begins at 8 p.m. and runs roughly 90 minutes. For reservations, call 781-9273 or go to www.unexpectedproductions.com or www.matt-smith.net.
Doug Schwartz is the editor of the Capitol Hill Times. He can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com or 461-1308.
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