Carry On

As a nomadic single mother who worked in theater when she could, Breckenridge actor Murphy Funkhouser knows a thing or two about baggage: She's been on the road, lived out of a suitcase and dumped a lot of old clothes by the road in her lifetime, so much so that it's become a bit of a metaphor for her life story. And now it's morphed into the no-brainer theme of her one-woman show, Crazy Bag, which resulted from a suggestion by Backstage Theatre artistic director Christopher Willard. "Sure," Funkhouser said, when Willard proposed she go solo, "I can pull something out of the bag." And that's exactly what she did, drawing from her own personal history to build a comic performance for the stage.

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More About

• Murphy Funkhouser
• Breckenridge
• Christopher Willard
• Edith Weiss

"It turned out to be a beautiful analogy, to utilize the idea of baggage to tell my stories," she explains. Funkhouser, with a well-received run in Breckenridge under her belt, is taking Crazy Bag cross-country this summer, beginning with a Denver premiere engagement beginning June 6 at the Vintage Theatre. But before the show goes on, she's throwing a Baggage Ball benefit tonight at the Vintage, 2119 East 17th Avenue, to help fund her tour. Featuring standup comedy by Funkhouser and Edith Weiss, with emcee Skip Wee, the kickoff party begins at 7 p.m.; audience members are asked to bring donations of gently used luggage, which will go to the Denver Rescue Mission after providing a makeshift set for the evening. Admission is $15 in advance or $20 at the door; call 303-839-1361 for reservations. For more about Funkhouser, log on to www.crazybag.net.
Wed., May 28, 7 p.m., 2008