PORT ANGELES — Lindy West owns up to it: She’s been an avoider, one who would rather hide from hard things and hard truths. Fantasy books and fabulous castles were her style.
It all began when her father, a lounge singer, read “Lord of the Rings” to little Lindy.
Then she grew up to be a New York Times bestselling author, a podcaster, a television writer and the creator of “Every Castle, Ranked,” the comedy show she will bring to Port Angeles next week.
The performance is about castles, yes, but West promises she will go beyond their walls. She will take us on “a hilarious bittersweet journey through disillusionment, finding hope again at 40, and the history of toilets,” as the elevator speech goes.
Tickets are on sale at fieldhall events.org for the 7 p.m. show on Friday at Field Hall, 201 W. Front St.
Olympic Peninsula residents may remember her “Every Castle” presentation at Thing in Port Townsend in August 2023 — and a since a lot has happened since, West said Friday’s version is an evolved one.
West’s personal fairy tale also has developed. Born and raised in Seattle, she now lives in her family’s log cabin in rural Jefferson County with her husband Ahamefule J. Oluo.
Oluo, who performed the one-person show “The Things Around Us” last October at Field Hall, is the director of “Every Castle.”
West’s show was first sparked by her journey from childhood to adulthood, fantasy to reality. She grew up dreaming of those glittering royal residences, complete with princes. Of course, the moat gates slammed shut as West careened out of her youth, headed straight for middle age. Turns out castles are just another damp, smelly part of the brutal power structure.
When that happens, West said, one must learn new ways to find joy, beauty — and comedy — in life.
So, yes, “Every Castle” is about buildings and history and West’s own odyssey in the 21st century. The performer vows to also make it funny — outrageously so.
West is noted for writing about feminism and popular culture in numerous articles and in her memoir, “Shrill,” which was made into a series on Hulu in 2019.
In these times, though, “I just really want to make people laugh,” West said.
When her audience leaves Field Hall, West wants their takeaway to simply be: “We had a great time.”
Perhaps surprisingly, West was a shy child: “I didn’t want anyone to look at me or talk to me, but I also had a drive to create things, to be funny,” she recalled.
“What do you do when you want to be invisible and famous?”
The dichotomy may have been related to the fact that her mother is from a Norwegian family and is reserved and humble, West said, while her dad was in show business, a piano player at venues and parties during the 1950s and ’60s.
Paul West later wrote and performed advertising jingles. He encouraged his daughter to get out there and perform, but she resisted for a while. Her dad didn’t live to see her up on stages around the country. West talks about him a lot in her show.
Up next is her new book: “Adult Braces,” a midlife memoir fueled by the van trip West took, solo, across the country to Key West, Fla. It comes out March 10.
“The older I get, the more I move toward the scary thing,” she said.
The more she embraces the difficult stuff, “the better my life is, and the less scared I am.”
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Diane Urbani de la Paz is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Port Townsend.
