30 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY NOVEMBER 6-12, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com ONSTAGE “Anybody can make a joke about an elevator,” says actor and now playwright Rodney Gardiner. He may be right. But not everybody can make a joke about growing up in a Caribbean household with very strict Christian parents and very sexy music as part of culture. Gardiner can. His play, Smote This: A Comedy About God and Other Serious $h*t, returns to Monterey County after being performed earlier this year during Black History Month festivities in Sand City. In this one-man show, originally directed by Raz Golden for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he strives to make sense of his feelings about God in the context of his deeply Christian roots and the experience of growing up undocumented in 1980s Miami where racial unrest, an immigration crisis and the drug war were norms. Miami was as dangerous as it was exciting, a very different world from the quiet, Baptist island of the Turks and Caicos archipelago southeast of the Bahamas, where he was born. Moving there was a shock and an identity test. “I struggled with religious resentment long into adulthood,” Gardiner explains. Perhaps that is why, after graduating from New World School of the Arts, he performed with a traveling group, entertaining and educating folks in drug rehab facilities, jails, group homes and shelters. Gardiner started working on the play in 2023, after leaving Oregon where he had spent over 15 years acting for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (he calls himself a “recovering Shakespearean actor”) and arriving in Los Angeles to try acting on camera and stand-up comedy. Smote This originated as stand-up comedy material that soon took on a life of its own, becoming a more serious reflection on Gardiner’s past and growing up. “Stand-up comedy is supposed to make you laugh,” he says. “It becomes a one-person play when it dives deep beyond humor and becomes more thought-provoking, something more than just a joke after joke after joke.” Gardiner and his brave, entertaining show is brought to Monterey County by New Canon Theatre Co. and the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at CSUMB. Just as in February, it is one performance only. Smote This, A Comedy About God and Other Serious $h*t 7pm Saturday, Nov 8. CSU Monterey Bay World Theater, 5260 Sixth Ave., Seaside. Free. (831) 5824580, tinyurl.com/smotethis. COURTESY OF RODNEY GARDINER Serious Humor Rodney Gardiner brings his one-man show, Smote This, back to the area for one night. By Agata Popęda Fans may know Rodney Gardiner from his recurring roles in From Scratch on Netflix or drama series David Makes Man. The Peninsula’s Downtown Shops, restaurants, hotels and businesses Spend some time with us Downtown… oldmonterey.org 11:30am-close, 10am Sat & Sun 484 Washington Street Downtown Monterey 831.643.9525 www.melvilletav.com WOOD FIRED PIZZAS, BURGERS, PASTA, SAlADS & SANDWICHES INDOOR, PATIO DINING & TAKEOUT HAPPY HOUR FOOD & DRINK SPECIALS SUN-tHUR 4-6PM wEEKEND BRUNCH Family-Owned. Locally Loved. Since 1980. Open Daily from 8am 1992– 2025 VOTED BEST Comfort Food Family Restaurant Desserts Now Open in Sand City! 447 Alvarado St • Monterey • 375-5332 www.gaspersjewelers.com Voted Monterey’s Best Jewelry Store 20 years ’25 Celebrating 11 years in Downtown! Sunday–Thursday 11:30am-10pm Friday–Saturday 11:30am-11pm 426 Alvarado St. Monterery 831-655-BEER asb.beer Monterey County’s Best Local Beer/Brewery Best Bar for Gen X Best Server-Chelsea Dalhamer Best Place to Eavesdrop Best Podcast - KRML’s ‘Pub Talk” Landscape • Hardscape • Irrigation 831-624-4991 insideout1design@outlook.com f InsideOut Landscape Design CA LIC# 960809 w Landscape Design From An Interior Perspective Eliza DeCiantis believes that your landscape should be an extension of your interior space. Having received her Master Gardener’s Certification over 28 years ago, Eliza combines her 22 year career in television set design with her life-long passion for gardening to create beautiful custom landscape. Eliza is conscientious of our water management issues while creating a drought tolerant, deer resistant environment custom to your personal taste and budget. With a keen sense of attention to detail, Eliza will spruce up your existing landscape for a special event or create a new landscape to enjoy for years to come. InsideOut Landscape Design, Inc. can increase the value of your home, while enhancing the natural potential and beauty of your exterior space for your home or business.
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