For the first time, a local independent artist has sold out the Center for the Arts stage. Today Andrew Munz will deliver a stand-up comedy routine to a crowd of 500 people. Munz not only sold out the show, he also did so in six days using only social media to get the word out.
In her nearly eight years as marketing director for Center for the Arts, Anne Bradley has seen acts big and small grace the Center stage (priced at more than $4,000).
She asked colleagues who’ve been with the Center longer if they could remember such an event happening in the past. No matter who she asked, she came up with an answer similar to her own: “I have never seen an independent artist take the Center stage in this fashion and sell it out so quickly.”
Munz has also acted alone with his other large-scale artistic endeavors, namely his acclaimed I Can Ski Forever satirical plays. They have poked fun at ski town culture and quirky characters unique to Jackson Hole. The success of those sold-out plays perhaps makes a Center stage sell-out less surprising (especially given Munz sold out two nights at the 325-person Pink Garter when he debuted his standup comedy routine in December).
But selling out the coveted Center for the Arts stage, a venue that has hosted superstar acts like Willie Nelson, Herbie Hancock and Portugal the Man is new territory for the playwright, writer, actor, director and now comic.
Bragging rights aside, a Center sell-out holds deeper significance, Munz said. He discussed what it signals about the potential of local artists in Jackson Hole. He also told KHOL about his world standup comedy debut in Iceland, and how a tasteless joke made by a famed satirist became fodder for his new play Tumbleweed.
Listen above for more.
