Brian Mulligan
Richmond.com
Friday, November 18, 2005

The death of a friend is a harrowing experience, but especially so
when the circumstances are entirely unexpected. Slash Coleman’s
latest stage show, "The Neon Man and Me," developed from just such
a tragedy. The odd part of it, though, is that it’s a comedy.

Based on his long friendship with Mark Jamison, a Roanoke man
affectionately known as "The Neon Man" for his work as a neon
artist, "The Neon Man and Me" is Coleman’s expressive, exaggerated
eulogy to his best friend’s life, which ended tragically last year in a
power line accident.

Culled exclusively from personal memories ("anything not directly
related to our friendship had to go") and infiltrated with the type of off-
color humor that steers its storyline from John Coltrane to African
elephants to aliens, "The Neon Man" plays as a tribute that also
proves a point: just because it reminds us of someone we’ve lost
doesn’t mean it can’t be a pleasant experience.
Strangely enough, it wasn’t Mark’s death that motivated Slash to write the play. The
inspiration for that came about a month after the accident when Slash noticed a newspaper
article about Lisa Thomas, Mark’s girlfriend, that revealed she was pregnant - with Mark’s
child. Mark never got the chance to find out about his son, but Slash wanted to make sure
that Mark Jr. would get to know all about him.

After deciding to create a capsule of their friendship, Slash changed his mind.

"I started writing down a lot of the memories of times we had," said Slash. It was never
intended to be a play at all, but "It really just formed itself." In fact, when Slash had finished
chronicling all his memories, there was enough material for two shows and he had to go
back and whittle away a lot of the extraneous stuff.

What resulted is what Slash likes to call a "spiritual rock n’ roll comedy about best friends."
The show consists of nine monologues over the course of an hour that mesh Slash’s
penchant for physical comedy with his stand-up routine. There are 35 characters in the
play, and Slash performs them all. Those aforementioned elephants, that’s Slash, too.

Oh, and his background in music (Slash went to school for jazz piano), makes an
appearance as well; at one point he grabs a guitar and starts singing. The whole
experience is so manic and energized, it led director Shanea Taylor to liken Slash’s stage
presence to "watching Ernest Hemingway bounce on a trampoline on Mad TV."

"The Neon Man and Me" is Slash’s second foray into the one-man stage show. His first
attempt, the musical/romantic comedy cohesion "Love in Boxes," had mixed success,
opening his eyes to what to expect from "The Neon Man."
"The Neon Man and Me" plays
Saturday night at Art 6. It’s the last
performance of 2005. The show
will start at
7 p.m. and play again at 9:30 pm.
Tickets cost $10, with partial
proceeds from all performances of
"The Neon Man" going to the
Mark Jamison Thomas Education
Fund for Mark's’ son.
"I did everything wrong with "Love in Boxes," Slash said, "I was still writing the script while I was out on tour." He also finds faults with
the fact that he didn’t have a director – whom he credits for helping his "Neon Man" characters come to life – and while he found
someone to write him a blank check for that tour, there was never any real emphasis to get people in the seats night after night. Now
that he’s helping to foot the bill himself, it’s much more important to find his audience.

And so far the audience has come. Slash has been very pleased with the reception to "Neon Man," which has also helped him line up
gigs at Fringe festivals in Orlando, Philadelphia and even Scotland.

Future goals include finishing off a two to three-year run of shows that will hopefully result in a spot Off-Broadway. Slash’s model for
success actually comes from none other than Nia Vardalos, who turned her one-woman act "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" into a
blockbuster success after Mrs. Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, saw it and turned the show into a hugely successful feature film.

But with all the constant shows, has it been tough on Slash to relive his memories with each performance? Not really. He said that
scripting the whole play has allowed him to disconnect from it in part, so he could add levity to the situation and maybe eventually pass
it on to someone else.

"The show has offered a sense of closure – which wasn’t my intention – but it has been therapeutic to a lot of people . . . Originally,
the director wanted me to have a breakdown on stage every night to show that I’m connected to the show," Slash said. But that wasn’
t the tone he was trying to achieve.

This was a show not to relive the tragedy, but to remember the life.
•  "The Neon Man and Me" plays Saturday night at Art6. It’s the last performance of 2005. The show will start at 7 p.m. and play again
at 9:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10, with partial proceeds from all performances of "The Neon Man" going to the Mark Jamison Thomas
Education Fund for Mark’s son
© Slash Coleman 2008