Some of the Bay Area’s most critically-acclaimed, award-winning, and beloved solo shows are coming to San Leandro!
Note: Due to mature language and themes, this series is recommended for ages 15 and up. Schedule subject to change without notice.
All shows will be held at the San Leandro Main Library, 300 Estudillo Ave., San Leandro.
Shows are Saturdays and Sundays at 2 PM. Schedule is subject to change.
Seating is General Admission.
Questions? Contact info@bestofsfsolo.com
To inquire about buying tickets, contact BrianCopelandShow@gmail.com
THE SHOWS:
STEVE BUDD: OY, WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT LOVE
March 1 & 2, 2025
Steve Budd wonders why other people can tie the knot and he can’t. Oy, does he wonder! So he asked a bunch of couples what brought them together and keeps them from pulling apart. Meet a Jewish couple who met on Craigslist, an interfaith pair who met at a Halloween party, and more. Budd plays a dozen characters and weaves in his relentless search for “the one.” Heartfelt and hilarious.
“Sparkles with manic and irrepressible charm… Steve Budd’s uplifting and energetic jaunt through the trials of love thrives because of his excellent acting and warm moments of insight.”
—Theatrius

PEARL ONG: NIGHT DRIVER
March 29 & 30, 2025
What’s a Hong Kong princess doing behind the wheel of a San Francisco cab? And how does her very proper mother react? “Night Driver” takes audiences on the unexpected journeys of a model minority gone rogue. This captivating story vividly revisits the vibrant, free-spirited gay scene in San Francisco from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, blending humor, rebellion, and cultural clashes to portray a life fiercely determined to defy expectations.

A SPECIAL SERIES OF MONOLOGUES FROM MEMBERS OF THE FORMERLY INCARCERATED PEOPLE’S PERFORMANCE PROJECT
April 26 & 27, 2025
Join us for powerful solo performances from members of the Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project (FIPPP) sharing their personal experiences with the justice system and incarceration. FIPPP believes in the power of storytelling and that sharing personal experiences from marginalized communities can be transformative for the storyteller and the audience. Through their stories, they give an insight into life behind bars, systemic obstacles, personal revelations, and the injustices entrenched within the carceral system they have learned first-hand.

JEFF GREENWALD: 108 BELOVED OBJECTS
May 31-June 1, 2025
What do a pink elephant, a Cuban beer bottle, and a Krishna statue have in common? All are among the “108 Beloved Objects” featured in author/journalist Jeff Greenwald’s new one-man show.
With COVID-19 squashing his travel assignments, Jeff decided to take an inward journey—around his Oakland flat. He picked out 108 objects, all of which evoked personal passages, and made a decision: He would part with the items, but hold onto their stories. For this solo performance, Jeff recreates the popular “grab bag” option from his critically acclaimed “Strange Travel Suggestions.”

DON REED: GOING OUT
September 27 & 28, 2025
What does going out feel like after more than a year of staying in? Writer-performs Don Reed taps into our collective excitement about life “after the Pan Pan” in this exuberant and timely one-man show

TINA D’ELIA: THE BREAK UP! A LATINA QUEER TORCH SONG
October 25 & 26, 2025
Trina Maria thought she met the rom-com movie butch of her dreams. Seeking heartbreak relief, she trudges up a steep hill to a mystical “break-up” support group of queer misfits.

MIKE GUIDO: A REAL MAN—DAD. DAUGHTER. AUTISM.
November 22 & 23, 2025
“A Real Man – Dad. Daughter. Autism,” is the story of a successful stand-up comedian, Mike Guido, who’s living a great life with his wife and two young daughters until that life is turned upside down when his next daughter, Maria, is diagnosed with very severe low-functioning autism. He then struggles with anger, frustration, sadness, and seeing himself as a victim until Maria, through her innocence, vulnerability, and pure sweetness, as well as several life- and attitude-changing experiences, shows him the kind of father and man that she needs him to be… and the father and man that he never really knew that he could be. As author and screenwriter JS Layton wrote about this show, “Uproarious laughter and deep pathos in one sitting!”

BONUS SHOW!
BRIAN COPELAND: THE JEWELRY BOX
December 13 & 14, 2025
In this hilarious and heartwarming prequel to his hit show “Not a Genuine Black Man,” beloved actor-playwright Brian Copeland recounts two memorable weeks in his youth when he took to the “mean streets” of Oakland to buy his mom the perfect Christmas gift. Rife with references to 1970s Oakland, “The Jewelry Box” follows six-year-old Brian’s adventures as he scours the help-wanted ads, applies for jobs and collects bottles, inching his way toward the coveted present, a jewelry box at the Hegenberger White Front store.
“Destined to be a holiday classic!”
—SF Examiner
“‘The Jewelry Box’ is a gift in itself… it glitters with bright comedy, sharply observed local color and deftly drawn characters as well as genuine warmth.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
