Del Shores spills the tea in his newest act, "The Sh*t Stirrer"

by Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief

Del Shores has been busy since “the wedding.” A Very Sordid Wedding was released just two years ago on March 10, 2017. While plugging that film, Shores went on the road for a year doing 77 shows of Six Characters in Search of a Play, adapted A Very Sordid Wedding to a stage play, had two surgeries, and wrote his newest work, The Sh*t Stirrer.

Whew.

“Right now, I’m filming Six Characters," Shores said. "I premier The Sh*t Stirrer in Dallas on March 8, and my second performance of that show will be in Eureka Springs on March 30.”

The show is brought to Eureka Springs by the Eureka Springs Channel, an online community broadcast production company.

“We are extremely excited about Del’s appearance,” said Melodye Purdye, Owner of the Eureka Springs Channel. “This stand-up act is brand new; it will be only the second time the public has seen it. Anyone who lives in the area would find it worth the drive over to see him perform.”

Shores said the term “Sh*t Stirrer” has been a part of his description on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for a couple of years, since that “fateful” election.

“Especially on Twitter, I don’t mince words,” he said. “I come hard and fast against this administration and anybody else who marginalizes my LGBTQ community — or any community. I have always tried to add humor to my tweets when I go after someone, for entertainment and to get my point across, using humor as my own ‘spoon full of sugar’.”  

Shores said the performance is not a play, it’s stand-up.

“It’s not really a play. It’s pure standup like my Sordid Confessions and Naked. Sordid. Reality. tours.”

He said it’s his stories, his opinions, his life.

“It’s all over the place. But you’ll get the tweets that got me blocked from Mrs. Roy Moore, Cory Lewandowski, Scott Baio, Paris Dennard, Scottie Nell Hughes and more. There will always be some family stories in my show; we’ll talk about Leslie Jordan, who gives me so much material. And my favorite thing I’m working on right now, I’m performing Cardi B’s rant on Trump as my alter ego, Jimmy Del Watkins, with her exact words in the mouth of Jimmy Del, the latent, evolving redneck.  

“I’m also performing my version of Leslie Jordan’s ‘audition’ for Lindsey Graham in a possible film The Kavanaugh Hearings, using Graham’s exact “Hissy Fit.”  

Shores said the show will also include the difficulty of dating at age 60, porn and more.

“Frankly, there’s something to offend everybody.”

In playing the smaller venues, Shores said, “With this one, I want to go back to just playing bars. I love playing theatre, but its so much fun to get a mic and get with the audience.”

Shores said he hopes the audience walks away saying, “Oh my God, Del Shores was so funny, and you cannot believe what he said!”.

Well, he said that jokingly, and added, “Honestly, I just want to give people 75 minutes of humor and an escape, a place to laugh and enjoy each other in a safe place, a short respite from this crazy world we are living in.”

Purdye said the Eureka Springs Channel hopes to expand on this production and help Eureka Springs become a year-round destination for the LGBTQ+ tourist.

“Eureka Springs has long been a destination for LGBT tourists,” added Purdye. “Especially highlighted during Diversity Weekends, which occurs three times during the year.”

Purdye and her partner first met Del while traveling in Texas.

“We saw his one-man show, Six Characters in Search of a Play. Afterward, we met Del and instantly hit it off. With that, we extended an invitation to him to perform in Eureka, which he performed last summer during Diversity.

“We are beyond thrilled to have Del back in town and even more thrilled he will be sharing his talents for the workshop at The Writer’s Colony.”

Shores will be donating some of his time to The Writers Colony where he’ll take participants through writing exercises work on character development, all the way through to acting them out.

“I write by starting with characters,” said Shores. “Really developing them, scratching deep to understand them before they can start dialogue.”

Shores said he loves Eureka Springs and is so grateful Purdy is bringing him back to perform, and Linda Caldwell (The Writer’s Colony) is having him teach writing for the weekend.

“The little town is not only beautiful; there is an energy of love there and friendliness that I simply adore.”

Del Shores will perform The Sh*t Stirrer at Eureka Springs’ The Auditorium on March 30 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at www.theaud.org.

Copyright The Gayly. 3/3/2019 @ 10:23 a.m. CST.