Mortified: Angst Written

Frequently Asked Questions

Main FAQ | Casting FAQ

Q: What is Mortified?
A: See out About page for full details.

Q: When's the next show?
A: Visit our events calendar page. Or join our mailing list and stay updated. In some cities, we're monthly... in other cities, we're seasonal.

Q: How can I participate in your stage shows?
A: Read our Casting FAQ to learn how to request a "screening session" with us. We meet with everyone who contacts us.

Q: How else can I participate?
A: There are lots of great ways for people to support Mortified.

• We are always looking for new people to participate in our stage show.
• Invite friends to visit our website.
• Join our mailing list.
• Submit pics and poems to our Woe & Tell section. It's anonymous and open 24/7.
• Buy fun stuff from our store. Give the gift of angst.
• Buy fun stuff from our book.
• Tell your friends in the press to cover us. From magazines to TV to blogs!

Q: Where are you guys located?
A: While we are based in LA, our stage show operates chapters in several cities.

Q: Will Mortified start new "chapters" in other cities?
A: We'd love to. That said, we are very tiny organization with even tinier resources, and we're very careful not to overextend ourselves. Especially since we're fueled almost entirely by word of mouth.

Q: Why do people want to share their childhood writings and art with total strangers?
A: It’s a healthy cocktail of curiosity, catharsis, self-deprecation, cajones and a desire to make strangers laugh.

Q: How do you label the format of your live show? Stand up? Lit salon? Theater? Performance art?
A: Mortified is ultimately intended to be a storytelling show-- albeit one that uses a very unusual set of tools (Hello Kitty journals, beat-up notebooks, etc.) to convey its tales. The difference between our project and say, a traditional "lit salon", is that we're using source material that has no awareness of its entertainment value and was not initially created for our project. Think of it as accidental art. We believe that there are truly amazing tales -- hilarious, heroic and harrowing -- buried in the pages of ordinary people's lives. Our job is to simply help bring those narratives out.

Q: Is everything in Mortified real?
A: Yes. Our producers work with each participant to help them select excerpts from their actual childhood writings. That's the fun. In some ways, we look at it as "urban archeology", digging up relics to create portraits of peoples' pasts. Or, as one admiring blogger once described what we do, "This is beautiful... in a dead bird kind of way." Still curious? Read our Casting FAQ.

Q: Are you guys aware of the sudden emergence of other journal-themed stage projects?
A: As Mortified has grown over the years, we've noticed a few like-minded concepts sprout up across the country. We think it's great that other people have discovered a similar source of fun. That said, while we're hardly the first to mine "some" form of entertainment from old journals over the decades, we are proud of our specific approach. We truly love what we do and hope to be able to keep doing it.

Q: Can I get a copy of any segments I heard on NPR's This American Life?
A: Yes. Visit thislife.org and you can actually BUY the episode as a CD or an MP3. Mortified has been featured on episodes titled "My Experimental Phase" and "Parental Guidance."

Q: Wait. I still have more questions!
A: Great. Contact us. We're nice. We'll do our best to respond very soon.

Q: Do you like me? Or do you like-like me?
A: We totally like-like you. You are a mega fox to the extreme.