C3 Spotlight
Center For Creative Change interviews Slash Coleman, playwright /
performer
about The Neon Man and Me
June 6, 2005

Slash on Slash
The zaniest thing I’ve ever done to get someone’s attention is…take
off my clothes and give a thirty minute Whirling Dervish demonstration
at a Grange Hall Green Party Fundraiser.

When waiting for a plane in an airport, I amuse myself by…thinking
about my childhood sex fantasy. Hijackers come in and tell everyone
to pair up. The homecoming queen chooses me.

One of my favorite conversation-starters is…um, er…uuuh.

Over the next year, I intend to… get an agent, get my novel published,
tour with my new show, and win a couple of short story contests.

One thing I wish more people would ask about me is...why do you
have the same nose as Chief Red Cloud?

And the answer is...Yes, your best friend will always end up falling
in love with a Yoko Ono.
From “The Neon man and me” I hope people will...go home and give their best friend a kiss.

During a performance, I sometimes think…this is so silly that I have the need to get up in front of all these strangers and say and do this.
Why can’t I just get a normal job and go to Starbucks on the weekend?

When people ask what I do for a living, I tell them…well I could tell you, but if you blink or sneeze it may cause it to change.

Slash on Richmond
Richmond has… my birth records because…I was born here.

When living on the west coast, I thought of Richmond as…the small, conservative, hick town I managed to escape from.

On an ideal Saturday in Richmond I…go skateboarding with my nephews.

I’d like to see Richmond bring… an outdoor art market to the bottom that runs every weekend from March through December…like the
Portland Saturday Market.

Three things I hope Richmond will always have are:  cops on horses, Chop Seuy and bronze confederates with cool hair on Monument
Avenue.

When I have visitors in from out of town, I…..take them to my pops house for a little fishing and some down home cookin’.
© Slash Coleman 2008
Slash on Work
I began “Home Grown Theater”…because it makes me feel like a little kid to screw light
fixtures into the ceiling, tack curtains on the wall, and transform my living room into a theater.

The first time I saw my writing in print I... was living in Chicago and I ran down to the el station
in my underwear in the middle of the night and called my best friend on the pay phone.

The common thread between all of my talents and creative interests...is common wussy boy
overhears a conversation between two superheroes and is inspired to become a superhero
himself.