Ha-ha, you’re dead

Katie Rubin, a UC Davis grad known for her one-woman productions, returns to Capital Stage for a two-night stand this week in her latest, Why I Died, A Comedy! Rubin, who's had roles in a number of Capital Stage productions, is now based in Southern California, although she's touring nationally with this new solo show and as a stand-up comedian.

Why I Died, which was well-received at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, is a rambling and hilarious look at spiritual death. Rubin describes it as “a drama wrapped in comedy.”

“This show tells the story of my journey into, through and sort of out of a very deep spiritual process through the Sufi path,” she told SN&R. “While I was doing that I was simultaneously trying to write my third show, so this is the story of trying to live a comedic performer life while dying spiritually and being like spiritually reborn in a new way.”

Under stress and eager to please, the question of whether or not she can find peace and still be funny results in a show with one woman, a number of characters—“we keep making up numbers” she said—music, poetry and enough laughter to reach enlightenment.

Rubin is clear that audiences should not expect anything even resembling religious proselytizing.

“Sufism isn't really a religion; Sufism is the mystical arm of a religion, and that's a really important distinction,” she said. “Sufism is to Islam as Kabbalah is to Judaism, or as Christian mysticism is to Christianity.”

She describes religion as being about doctrine, dogma and rules, while the mysticism is about “chanting and praying and meditating to bring you close to the divine in your actual body.”

And that can be fairly difficult while trying to keep a career on track in Hollywood. The show incorporates characters based on real people in her life at the time—“a really out-there spiritual hippie who's my best friend”—as well as characters from the play she was working on at the time—“a Texas infomercial saleswoman.”

“At the heart of it, there's a really simple narrative,” Rubin said, “but around it are all these other concepts.” It has to be funny, she said, or else it would be too heavy-handed.

Apparently, the road to spiritual health is paved with plenty of chuckles and guffaws.