Yoga Bitch

Suzanne Morrison is tired of spending money on fancy yoga pants. But like so many of us, she continues to buy them despite herself—a contradiction she explores in her one-woman show Yoga Bitch. “It’s a brilliant industry,” says the itinerant local writer and performer. “Spending $150 a month on yoga makes me feel like I’m doing something better for the world,” she says sarcastically. “I don’t think it’s quite on the same level as Gandhi’s hunger strike.” Morrison has been practicing yoga for the past decade. Training to become an instructor in Bali, she instead became obsessed with the business of relaxation: “It’s just such a racket that there’s a commercial industry surrounding what’s essentially a spiritual practice.” While she worked on the monologue with her longtime director, Jean-Michele Gregory (an ex-Seattleite now based in New York), she also became aware of the contradictions within her own yoga endeavors. “When we try to be better than we are, the natural pitfalls of really wanting to drink and get laid and shop really come out. Your id is out of control the second you try to control it.” We can all relate. And if you miss her show at Bumbershoot, catch her month-long stint at Re-bar on Friday and Saturday nights starting Sept. 19. Center House Theater (Seattle Center), www.bumbershoot.org. $35–$100. 4 p.m. (Also 1 p.m. Mon., Sept. 1.) ANNA ROTH
Sun., Aug. 31, 4 p.m.; Mon., Sept. 1, 1 p.m., 2008