‘Happy Endings’ show turns pain into performances
Celebrating six years, this literary show thrives on raw, emotional storytelling in the intimate Make Out Room in San Francisco.
By Courtney Muro
The audience at the Make Out Room murmured with unease, chuckled nervously, then laughed warmly. It was a wild ride of emotions as Baruch Porras-Hernandez recounted his childhood routine: Setting booby traps by his window to protect himself and his mother from his mentally ill and abusive father. One night, they found him hiding in the closet, armed with knives and ropes. His mother held a knife to his throat, and he never came back.
“Is this the happy ending?” I thought.
Happy Endings isn’t a consortium of perfect people whose lives are fit for a fairytale. It’s a group of people who come together and retell shitty situations, some are personal experiences, some factual — and in other monologues, it’s unclear. Once a month, five writers work through life’s messy moments on a stage and in front of a hundred people.
Joe Wadlington — known on the drag circuit as Jubilee — has been hosting Happy Endings with Danielle Truppi for six years. I met Wadlington last month at Drag on Ice, where he performed what was an unfamiliar sport to him. With the exception of one spill, he did great — but at Happy Endings, Wadlington shined. He and Truppi are rays of light in a rather dark bar, leading the crowd through the process of emotional release and self-reflection.
“I believe art is a group project and culture is something that happens when a group of people care deeply about an art form, a vibe, or a movement,” Wadlington told me.
He began going to readings when he moved to San Francisco from the Appalachian foothills of Morristown, Tennessee. As their two favorites, Write Club and Shipwreck began to fade out, the pair decided to take it on themselves to continue the tradition.
Sharing poetry in public feels like a brave but puzzling choice — laying your emotions bare for all to see, and I often experienced mixed feelings after a monologue.
The crowd itself was part of the performance, too — or so it seemed. I couldn’t discern whether the heckler was dealing with personal challenges or simply drunk. Her third outburst prompted Hieu Minh Nguyen to deliver the line, “Shut up, bitch!” with such precision it felt like part of the act. He transitioned effortlessly, channeling his frustrations into a cutting monologue about high school bullies, punctuating it with, “No, I don’t care what your baby looks like.”
As I wandered back in from a bathroom break, a man was surmising what goes through his clients’ heads when they use his bathroom. He must be a psychiatrist, I thought. Who else has clients in their bathrooms?
“When my clients are in my bathroom and they notice my gonorrhea medicine,” he took us through a battery of scenarios. Ah, he was a sex worker — in this story at least, but was he really? “The best part of being a hooker is that I don’t have to have a LinkedIn account,” he smiled with indiscernible emotion.
I do hate LinkedIn, I thought, but was that a happy ending?
London Pinkney painted a vivid picture of personal challenges, discussing moments of betrayal, harassment, and rejection. “Everyone told me that my trauma would make a great story,” she said at the outset, “so I’m about to bum you all the fuck out right now.”
Her words lingered, and I hoped for a turning point that maybe I missed while taking photos. Maybe she would find God, become a volleyball star, or fall in love and have a family. But I left that monologue feeling heavy.
Some months are loosely based on themes. I spotted one dubbed a “menstruation celebration,” another on micro-plastics and aggressions. Each show raises money for the writer through suggested donations — and we appreciate artists being compensated for their work. Writers’ stories may or may not contain happy endings because Wadlington and Truppi consider happiness an experiment.
“We’re interrogating happiness,” Wadlington told me. “And sometimes we even surprise ourselves with what is a silver lining versus what is a happy ending. It’s all about perspective.” Wadlington said that even if you’re having the worst week ever, he wants you to feel like you can go to Happy Endings and leave feeling energized.
At its core, Happy Endings isn’t really about resolution or trying to make sense of life’s chaos. It’s a process of sharing — the vulnerability of standing in front of a room full of strangers and putting your story out there raw and unpolished. I left the Make Out Room unsure how to feel. I laughed, cringed, and felt genuine empathy for the people on stage. But I also left lighter, as if the weight of their stories had balanced out some of my own.
Maybe the real happy ending is not the promise of a perfect resolution, but the permission to sit with life’s imperfections and find meaning in sharing.
Courtney Muro is a San Francisco-based content strategist, producer, designer, and creator.
The Bold Italic publishes first-person stories on topics that are on the brains and lips of San Franciscans. We’re a hub for conversations to be heard and discussed, and we celebrate all that’s great about living in San Francisco and the Bay Area. We hope our continuing conversation will get you thinking, talking, and inspiring you to share your opinions with us on living in San Francisco.
You can help us celebrate our home by making a tax-deductible donation through our Flipcause page. We can also take stock, and Donor Advised Fund donations. We are partnered with Independent Arts & Media, a 501(c)(3).
What we’re doing this week
Candlelight Tour of Fort Point
Immerse yourself in history with a Candlelight Tour of Fort Point National Historic Site. Explore the site by candlelight, guided by rangers, and uncover the fort’s hidden stories. With the Golden Gate Bridge as your backdrop, this unique experience offers a fresh perspective on the fort’s history. Engage in dialogue, climb to the roof, and gain insight into the fort’s role in San Francisco’s past and present. This is your opportunity to access the fort when it’s otherwise closed to the public. Uncover the secrets of Fort Point and be a part of this special, memorable journey.
When: Next tours are January 18th and January 25th, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Where: Fort Point National Historic Site
Chinese Flower Market Fair
The Chinese New Year Flower Market Fair is held on the weekend before Chinese New Year Day. The Flower Fair is the place to come to purchase fresh flowers, fruits, candies and brand new supplies for the home to begin the new lunar year. Delight in performances of traditional Chinese magicians, acrobats, folk dancers and opera as you take in the beautiful fragrances of spring. You will find over 120 booths and concessions making this a shopper’s paradise.
When: Jan. 25 & 26th, 2025
Where: Grant Avenue between Clay to Broadway
FOG Design+Art Fair
The FOG Design+Art Fair is scheduled to take place in San Francisco from January 23 to 26, 2025, at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. This event will feature nearly 60 prominent exhibitors, including 13 galleries participating in the second edition of FOG FOCUS, which highlights emerging artists. Additionally, the fair will introduce FOG MRKT, a curated installation showcasing artisanal products and crafts with an emphasis on the Bay Area. A Preview Gala benefiting the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is set for January 22, providing early access to the fair's offerings.
The gala is on the same night as the SF Ballet’s! But The Bold Italic will likely make it to both. Read our review from last year.
When: January 23–26, 2025
Where: Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco
Drag-cula — Fangs, fabulousness, and living greyscale realness
Picture this: the performers are decked out in "living greyscale," covering themselves in gray makeup to look like they’ve stepped straight out of a 1930s horror film—if that horror film also had goth rock, bondage jokes, and an audience hollering for more.
Hosted at SF Oasis, the story follows a hapless British lawyer who accidentally releases Count Dracula, a polyamorous, pansexual vampire who leaves a trail of seduction and scandal across 1930s London. With a playlist of 1980s goth rock bangers, the plot spirals into delightful chaos as a shibari-loving Van Helsing tries to stop Dracula’s sexy reign of terror.
WHEN: January 16 – February 1, 2025; Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:00 PM
WHERE: OASIS, 298 11th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
The SF Ballet Gala — A wild evening of elegance
Fancy people, fancier outfits, and a performance so stunning you’ll swear off Netflix (for one night, at least). The San Francisco Ballet Gala kicks off the year with champagne, pirouettes, and a dinner at City Hall that makes you feel far classier than you are. Whether you’re there for the art or just to drink bubbly under the marble rotunda, this night is peak San Francisco sophistication — before it devolves into slightly tipsy networking at the afterparty. Read our 2024 review, and here’s our 2023 review, too.
When: January 22, 2025
Where: San Francisco City Hall and War Memorial Opera House
It’s $$, but the after party is mildly affordable at $175 — and that ticket can be bought as a standalone.