She says her grandfather wanted to set the Guinness World Record for most cruises taken from Florida to the Bahamas (and she says he did, eventually), but her grandmother wasn't too keen on spending her golden years on a boat ... And that was that.
On Saturday, September 24, Shore's coming back to Phoenix to tell more stories and perform her one-woman humor show, "How to Survive Your Adult Relationship with Your Family," at Alwun House.
Frost has written for major national publications and has published two books (Deep Inside in 2007, and With One Eye Open in 2010). Her topics range from food and "mommyblogging" to designer dog breeds and familial farces. But the latter is the prime topic of Frost's humor show.
Frost says her path to celebrated satirist and humorist was nontraditional. "I started out wanting to be a serious writer," Frost says. "I went to a workshop, and I had this story that I thought was great - a real downbeat, searing story. And I read it, and everyone was laughing. Afterward, the instructor said 'You have no talent for literature. But you're funny - you should go with that.'"
"If you try to be funny, it often isn't," she adds. "It's when you go into the serious stuff that people laugh."One topic Frost (who currently lives in New York) will touch upon in her solo show at Alwun House is how to cope with changing family relationships as people get older. "You go through therapy - which I did, when I got to New York," Frost says. "And I had a good childhood, it's just that you have to go to therapy if you go to New York. It's the thing to do. It's a Woody Allen thing."
The biggest upside of the solo show for Frost is being able to connect with audiences, something that's far less tangible with books or blogs. "We're so much in a virtual world - and I love the Internet as much as anybody - but I think people need that live connection with writers," she says.
She's also looking forward to coming to Phoenix and checking out the art scene since she last performed at the (now-defunct) Paper Heart in 2007.
Polly Frost will perform "How to Survive Your Adult Relationship with Your Family" at 8 p.m. Saturday, September 24, at Alwun House, 1204 E. Roosevelt Street. Admission costs $10. Call 602-253-7887 for more information.
