Glamour Shots

Author and storyteller Naomi Ulsted takes audiences on a journey back to her early 20’s in Austin, Texas. There, she spent her days clinging to small thrills, such as an imagined romance with the UPS guy and the occasional escape of dancing on Sixth Street. The rest of her life felt like a string of underwhelming routines tied together by cheap rent, theater costumes, and just enough money for beer and groceries.

On a whim, (and perhaps out of mild desperation), she scheduled a Glamour Shots session at the mall, convinced it would be the perfect activity when her younger sisters came to visit from their home in Oregon.

Show time is 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 27. This presentation includes mature themes, and / or strong language, and is recommended for teen and adult audience members.

Admission $11.50

This performance is part of the 2026 Bandon Fringe Festival. All performances are at the Sprague Community Theater, 1202 11th St. SW, in Bandon City Park.

Tickets are available for individual performances, or purchase a Fringe Festival Pass for all shows. Advance tickets are available online at Tix.com. Tickets are also available at the box office during the festival.

The Bandon Fringe Festival is presented by the Sprague Community Theater and Bandon Playhouse. Learn more about the Bandon Playhouse community theater organization at BandonPlayhouse.org.

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As Naomi recalls, “When my sisters arrived from our home in Oregon, they brought with them not just their worn sneakers and sharp humor, but the weight of life back home: a cruel stepfather, low expectations, and the quiet erosion of their confidence. I wanted to give them something different, something glamorous, something hopeful, even if I wasn’t entirely convinced I believed in it myself.

“The photoshoot, however, unraveled into pure chaos: ill-fitting dresses clipped together with office supplies, too much hairspray, melting makeup, and my stubbornly uncooperative eye turning every pose into a spectacle. But somewhere between the awkward poses and the photographer’s strained patience, everything shifted. What should have been embarrassing became hilarious . . . . By the time we left the mall, clutching overpriced prints and laughing until we could barely stand, nothing else seemed to matter. Not my empty apartment, not the cruel words waiting back home for them, not even my mediocre life. For a while, we had rewritten the narrative, turning it into something loud, defiant, and entirely our own.”

Naomi Ulsted writes fiction, non-fiction, and stage plays. She’s the author of the YA novel “The Apology Box” (2021), which was runner-up in the Indies Today contest and a finalist in the Next Generation Indies Book Award contest. Her memoir, “A Bouquet of Weeds: Growing Up Wild in the Pacific Northwest,” is forthcoming from High Frequency Press. She’s been published in “The Nomad,” “Rumpus,” and “The New Guard,” among others. She lives in North Bend, Oregon. Learn more at NaomiUlstead.com.