By Kai Bisby

The Fear Factor

The New Year brings that usual tsunami of resolutions that tend to beat us down and recede before the third week of January. Quit smoking, drinking, eating, and the list goes on. This year, let’s dig a little deeper, my dear readers, and focus on the source of our bad habits: fear. Now I never get preachy in this column, nor am I about to transform myself into Michael Moore (My waistline would never allow such a thing), but as humans, we are all born with fear and proceed to learn it through our lives. With that said (here comes the theater part), now you can experience one man's comical and honest look at his life consumed by fear in the New Year production of Do You Fear What I Fear? an original one man show written and performed by David Jahn opening Jan. 6 at The Elephant Asylum Theatre (6322 Santa Monica Blvd.). Jahn, who is an alumnus of the famed Groundlings Theatre, has spent several years writing this hilarious, poignant, and very personal piece about his journey into a world where fear ruled. "When I hit 30 I started therapy," explains Jahn, "and the more that I went, the more I realized that I was living in a lot of fear." Jahn, who had broken up with his long-time boyfriend and began realizing the dysfunction that came from fear in both the relationship and his life, was inspired to create a piece about what he felt was a universal trait. "I actually became fascinated with it and thought that everyone on some level has this fear thing." After a successful run to sold-out houses at The Groundlings Theatre in 2004, Jahn struck a nerve with audiences through a slew of wonderfully funny characters, including a gay clogging therapist. "I wanted to do it in a way that is not self indulgent or preachy, so I made sure that I was playing characters and not myself." With the help of veteran co-directors Robert Tucker, choreographer of the Rosalind Russell film Gypsy (among many of his accomplishments), and his son Ian, an experienced Broadway performer and director, Jahn has reason to be fearless about this show. "Between the two of them they have 117 years experience in acting, teaching, and directing," says Jahn "They have staged this show beautifully." While the subject matter is universal, Jahn insists that this solo opus on fear is not about solutions, but awareness. "I explore what we are born with and what we learn ... the show is not about overcoming it, but realizing it." And I say awareness is nine-tenths of healing! Have a wonderful and fearless New Year!