Paul Mason Barnes, author of Paul for Pete: Politics. Theatre. Life. One Man’s Adventures (or, How I Became a Septuagenarian Fanboy), takes us along on his journey to become a member of Pete Buttigieg’s Arts Policy Advisory Committee and much, much more during Pete’s campaign to become the 2020 Democratic Party Presidential Nominee. This writer, director, and arts administrator shares his rich, uplifting story!

Author’s statement, Paul for Pete

I’ve always been politically involved, mostly as a sideline kibitzer and a contributor to political campaigns and candidates in whom I believed. It took the despair of the first Trump administration and the hope Pete Buttigieg’s emergence as a possible alternative to get me off the bench and involved much more actively than has been customary for me.

I became an early contributor to the Pete for America organization, and after corresponding with members of Pete’s at the time miniscule staff, accepted an invitation to become a grassroots fundraiser. Later, I joined Pete’s Arts Policy Advisory Committee, and then, after Pete suspended his campaign, made a lateral transfer to Joe Biden’s Arts Policy Committee. To say this was a complete immersion in a world I knew little about would be a colossal understatement.

After the dust settled on the 2020 election and life returned to a semblance of normal, I thought I should write about my experience. Figuring my recollections of a unique time in my life would make a good stocking stuffer for some friends who put up with me during my time as a political activist, I set fingers to keyboard. It didn’t take long for a few of those friends to encourage me to think more expansively . . .  to publish a book.

So I did. And then, people who read and admired Paul for Pete, began hinting that I had a one person show in the material. Pandemic time being what it was, I thought, “Well. Why not?” And voila! Paul for Pete: Politics. Theatre. Life. One Man’s Adventures, edited and adapted for the stage.

In so many ways Paul for Pete is about taking a chance . . .  about daring to leap into the unknown. So it’s fitting that I, someone who gave up acting long ago but who found his path as a director, have once again entered uncharted territory. Join me in the adventurous waters of the unfamiliar as I travel into the center of politics, theatre, and life.

Paul Barnes, Ashland, OR   

Saturday, November 29 –  7:00 PM