'Off Leash: Who's a good girl?'

by pawlitico

There's a show in town called Off Leash: Who's a Good Girl? and it's about the relationship between us dogs and humans. You humans can see it at ODC Theater in San Francisco from October 8 to 12, 2008.

Presented by ODC and Litquake, the show is written and performed by JoAnn Selisker, seen here in puritan parody.

Here's a bit about the show:

Off Leash ponders the question "Who's a good girl?" in a world where model behavior is defined by being able to sit still while being fondled by strangers.

Shot through with flat irony and sometimes satire, Off Leash combines elements of literary short fiction, theater, dance, and satirical humor to form a multi-dimensional narrative where the wires carrying the required currents of mutual trust, love and affection inevitably cross, producing sometimes giddy, and sometimes darkly poetic short circuits.

If you're the kind of person who loves animals, is fascinated by dogs, puzzled and sometimes troubled by how humans collectively use or treat them, and in general mull the canine-human continuum, then Off Leash is for you.

Ms. Selisker is said to know how to get to certain comic and arresting realities. Fur example, she sometimes refurs to humans as "dog's best frenemy." She can also give thought-provoking (or, some might say, just plain provoking) answers in interviews. When the San Francisco Bay Guardian asked "What do you think of Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer?", Ms. Selisker replied:

I think he makes some nice dog beds. You can get anything he thinks your dog needs with his "brand" on it. You could call him the Martha Stewart of the dog world. . . . They both give us simple how-to instructions and affordable, quality products. All we have to do is buy the videos, magazines, supplies, and accessories, follow step-by-step instructions, and . . . voilà! The perfect dinner party; the well-mannered pet.

The pawblem I have with JoAnn Selisker's show is that I can't apply the title to myself. Not that I'm not good. I am good! . . . I'm a very good boy.

Pawnote: Dog-ma sez she rather likes Martha Stewart.