FOLDING HOUSE

Written and performed by Sheila Gordon

Directed by Ruth Barnes

Won “Best of Fest” at

Hyde Park Theatre Frontera Festival, February, 2009.

Sheila Gordon, who wowed Edinburgh Fringe audiences twenty years ago with her one-woman show, New York: Sex, Killing and the Shopping, returns to Edinburgh this year with a new tour de force.  In Folding House, Gordon delves into the American housing/economic and health care crises in a biting and elegant portrayal of multiple characters converging around the event of a debilitating stroke.

Sheila Gordon opens the show as Artie Long, a mega real estate auctioneer, who engages the audience in a live auction for the sale of bank-owned foreclosures.  This sets the tone for the “credit crunch” environment in which the characters of Folding House exist. David Shultz has an unfortunate bout with several strokes and races against time to sell his house before Medicare coverage runs out. In darkness, with LED light castañuelas, STARWATCH lady guides the audience through a journey of Earth time and other planetary time, orienting the audience to Mr. Schultz’ altered gravitational and chronological perceptions. "Medicare will pay for nursing home care for 58.65 Earth days -- the equivalent to one day on Mercury... but it will take 352 actual Earth Days for Mr. Schultz to sell his house." Meanwhile, a growing surge of the 911 Truth seekers gathers behind Blake Williams Schultz (David’s estranged son), who has staged a hunger strike outside of Senator Jack McBride's office in Phoenix, Arizona during the presidential primary elections of 2008.