Created and performed by Josh Kornbluth
In collaboration with director David Dower
Originally commissioned by Z Space Studio

Celebrated monologist and public television host Josh Kornbluth’s highly acclaimed take on democracy, Citizen Josh, runs at The Ashby Stage. Written and performed by Kornbluth with production design by Alex V. Nichols, Citizen Josh is presented by Tony Award-winning Berkeley Producer and resident Jonathan Reinis. 

Special "Democratic Discussion" talkback leaders will include Berkeley Daily Planet writer Becky O'Malley, Berkeley City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, newly appointed Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, Timothy Burroughs and Matt Nichols. These post-show talks will augment the performances, and engage audiences in larger conversations about politics and art in Berkeley. 

Kornbluth says: “The current, convoluted primary season is bringing back all the feelings of anger, fear, and frustration that roiled me and everyone I know during the previous two presidential elections. It's so important for all of us to engage in our democracy at the local level.  It's been a few years since the Free Speech Movement, but it seems to me that Berkeley is still the perfect place to start new conversations about how we can all work together to bring democracy to life.”

Inspiration for Citizen Josh came to Kornbluth after the election in 2004, when he came to the conclusion that perhaps, just perhaps, voting was not quite enough.  As a father and a citizen, he wanted answers to several pertinent questions.  How do I make the world a better place for our children?  Where does power come from? Is democracy even possible today?  Citizen Josh wove his Kornbluthian web of smart, funny, and moving autobiographical tales into a personal quest to engage the fundamentals of democracy. 

Kornbluth says of the company: “I've always admired how creatively Shotgun addresses the great democratic task of today's theater: to bring the important stories to the people, and to bring the people to those stories.  And as a member of Berkeley's Energy Commission, I'm also thrilled to be performing Citizen Josh—which deals, in part, with our struggle against global warming—at Shotgun's Ashby Stage, the country's first 100% solar-powered theater.”

Taking the title of his show to heart, Citizen Josh has since offered to help out with the climate change efforts in the City of Berkeley, at first as emcee for the Climate Action Kick-off event, after which Mayor Tom Bates appointed him to the City’s Energy Commission, which is to play a key role in the development of Berkeley’s greenhouse gas reduction plan.