A one-man show mixing comedy, cringe memoir and ineffable philosophy.
The UKL Library minitour is in conjunction with the exhibit "A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin" at the Oregon Center for the Contemporary Art, 8371 N. Interstate Ave, Portland. (right around the corner from the Kenton Library). Thanks to the Le Guin estate for permission to include the poem "Meditation in the Desert", and for general support. These free shows are sponsored by the website www.taoish.org and feature new material about his interaction with Le Guin.
Comedian and author Mark Saltveit debuted his first theatrical show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2025 with 22 performances, relating how his discovery of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) and Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) as a troubled teen in Portland Oregon led him into a series of picaresque adventures that helped recover his footing.
The show's first preview was in June 2025 at the International Conference of Daoist Studies
in Braşov, Romania, where he also presented an academic paper on whether there
could be such a thing as a Dao of Evil.
Saltveit's reflections on the Tao (or Dao) have
been published in The Journal of Daoist Studies, the academic blog Warp, Weft and
Way, his own blog Taoish.org, and his popular book about American football, The Tao of
Chip Kelly, as well as his comedy act.
Warning: the results may be rude or weird. In fact, it's pretty likely.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival -- August 5th - 27th 2023 at 16:55 (aka 4:55 pm) except Tuesdays at the venue 102, Brewdog Lothian, 50 Lothian Road in the heart of Old Town Edinburgh EH3 9BY.
We're part of the PBH Free Fringe. No charge, no tickets, just turn up! (We'll pass the hat at the end.)