Bird & Beckett has invited a former neighbor, Jeff DeMark, to take the stage and reprise a tale that’s funny, insightful and evocative of Zoanne (Zoe) Nordstrom, a Glen Park legend whom he knew well. For three years in the late 1980s DeMark rented a space in Zoe’s home.
In a comedic monologue on Sunday, September 8 at 8pm, DeMark will be joined by musician Laura Black who will provide sound effects and other musical touches, to delight the audience with their show, “Went to Lunch, Never Returned.”
The show humorously details DeMark’s journey from Wisconsin to San Francisco for an ill-fated love affair and DeMark’s subsequent struggle to survive in the temp work world. DeMark toiled at 17 jobs in a 22-month period and kept notes.
For Glen Park residents there’s a particular resonance because DeMark lived with Zoe when she was one of the so-called “Gum Tree Girls” who helped stop a proposed freeway through Glen Canyon Park. There’s a significant portion of the show that focuses on Zoe and her wise advice to a struggling DeMark.
The entire show is dedicated to Zoe who passed away in 2021. Earlier, in 2016, DeMark wrote a poem celebrating her grit and determination. Upon her passing an obituary was published in the Glen Park News.
DeMark debuted “Went to Lunch, Never Returned” at Dell’Arte Theater’s Mad River Festival in Blue Lake, California. The show toured widely to enthusiastic praise. DeMark is a native of Racine, and the Wisconsin State Journal called “Went to Lunch” “The best show of the year in Madison, Wisconsin.”
The Capital Times of Madison said “DeMark’s work provides side-splitting personal comedy. It’s accessible performance that is no less thought-provoking than Spalding Gray’s work.”
Bird and Beckett is located at 653 Chenery.