February 27, 2026 7:00 pm
Everything’s coming up…Sheldon? Born at the start of the baby boom in postwar Brooklyn, Sheldon Feldman always obeyed his mother. He tried to please his wife. But after seventy-some years playing it safe, small, closeted and quiet, it’s Sheldon’s turn and he’s ready to sing out.
“Sheldon Feldman…” is an interactive, one-man musical theater cabaret. Shawn Shafner plays Sheldon, a fictionalized character based on real men’s accounts of what it was like being queer and closeted in the post-World War II era. Sheldon, a lover of musicals, recounts his life – growing up in Brooklyn with a single mom, the high school sweetheart that made him realize he was gay, marrying young and raising a son while navigating his hidden desires, and finally coming out to accept not only his sexuality but his life choices. Through music, storytelling, and a little audience participation, “Sheldon Feldman…” serves as both a tribute to underrepresented queer histories and a call to live authentically in the present moment.
Runtime: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Ages: Ages 13 and Older
Content Advisory: Mild swearing and references to violence, suicide, and grief.
Shawn Shafner (he/they) is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and advocate based out of Washington, DC, Nacotchtank and Piscataway land. Shawn is passionate about facilitating a fiercely loving relationship with our bodies, planet, and global neighbors through devised ritual theatre, community-based art and education projects, and creative wellness coaching. Since 2004, Shawn has developed arts-integrated curricula for families with young children, pK-12 schools, community centers, and offered master classes at over two dozen colleges and universities. In 2024, Shawn earned an MFA in Social Practice Art with an emphasis in Public Policy from the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at GWU, and was a 2025 Arts Lab Resident at Atlas Performing Arts Center. The taboo-breaking founder of The People’s Own Organic Power (POOP) Project, Shawn has created award-winning theater, film, podcasts, a book, and countless educational events to catalyze conversation about sustainable sanitation. Shawn’s work is featured in three books (another forthcoming!), he is the humble recipient of some fancy fellowships, grants and awards, he’s performed at the United Nations, Madison Square Garden, with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center and many more – but he doesn’t like to brag. He just wants to spread love, have fun and make meaningful connections. So let’s get started already! On your next exhale, send out compassionate wishes to a hurting world. And on the next, let’s activate those wishes as feats of loving kindness. www.thePOOPproject.org / www.ShawnShafner.com