Bottoming for Jesus
Bottoming for Jesus is a queer coming-of-faith solo performance by Michael R. Speciàle about longing for purpose, for transcendence, for an imagined future self. A work of sincerity and embodied spiritual inquiry, it invites audiences to examine their own relationship to faith in what Willamette Weekly calls "an audacious but essential work of art."
Moving between memoir, theology, musical numbers, and sharp wit, the piece reveals itself as a ritual of undoing, reassembling, and making meaning on one's own terms as Speciàle guides audiences through an intimate exploration of holes, and the lengths we go to fill them.
Developed with award-winning director Spenser Theberge and music director Jeremiah Ginn, Bottoming for Jesus premiered at LINT in Los Angeles and is now touring nationally, with a planned run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2026.