TICKETS $25

Doors 6:30 p.m.; Event 7:30 p.m.
Select Showtime to Purchase Tickets

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THE EXPERIENCE

7 Deadly Sins: CHURCH is a seven-part interactive live storytelling series that explores each of the Seven Deadly Sins, what they mean in this particular moment in history, and how we might choose to think of them in these turbulent times.

Despite being an entirely secular show created by a group of outlandishly sinful heathens, 7 Deadly Sins: CHURCH will have all the trappings and spirit of an old-school gospel tent revival—albeit with less religion and more access to cocktails. (Also, if anyone is somehow miraculously healed of anything, it will surprise us way more than you.)

In our second CHURCH show, Part Two, the stories will focus on the Sin Of Lust.

Lust is the most desired and sought-after of all the sins, but it can also be the most complicated. Sometimes Lust can drive us all the way to True Love—but it can just as quickly inspire us to hurt the people we love most. At its best, Lust delivers unto us our most intense moments of euphoria, about half of all popular music, and each succeeding generation. At its worst, it also drags along betrayals, body shaming, The Manosphere, and the entire #metoo movement in its wake. Lust, in other words, is like all the other deadly sins: for better or worse, it’s what makes us human.

There will be laughs! And music! And poetry! And readings! And singalongs! And still more laughs! Because more than anything, 7 Deadly Sins: CHURCH is a kick-ass, howl-at-the-moon evening of fun as we all celebrate what it means to be human, and keep the darkness at bay just one night longer.

The CHURCH series is a collaborative production conceived, created, and directed by writer, journalist, and 7 Deadly Sins Executive & Artistic Director R. Tod Kelly; actor, writer, and filmmaker Travis Abels; producer, comedian, and storyteller Alina Aliyar, storyteller and stand-up comedian Star Dell’Era; PICA performance artist and creator of Life Coach Andrew Dickson; comedian, host, and story coach Meg Ferrill; longtime teacher and raconteur Pat McCreery; and essayist, journalist, and illustrator Briana Wheeler, with the help of CHURCH’s Musical Director John Shipe and Art & Media Director Mark Noland.

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ON STAGE:

Brianna Wheeler: Host

Brianna is an award-winning essayist, journalist, and illustrator. Her book Altogether Different, a unique blend of memoir, creative non-fiction and illustration was nominated for the 2023 Eric Hoffer Award. Her work has been featured in The Nasiona, Midnight & Indigo, and Human Parts. She is a frequent contributor to Willamette Week, and the host of their weekly news and culture podcast.

 

 

Ash Allen: Storyteller

Ash is a comedian, writer, director, producer, and radio host, known for her tall-yet-true stories shared on stages across the country. Originally from Mississippi, Ash is a multiple Moth StorySLAM winner, one of 2026 Willamette Week’s Funniest Five, and a 2025 Best of Portland Comedy finalist. She hosts Porch Hang, a weekly storytelling radio show with a killer soundtrack, and cohosts the monthly show ROY G BIV, highlighting the best queer comedy Portland—and beyond—has to offer. Her first solo(ish) show, BACKFENCE Presents: Big Feelings Baby, premiered in March 2026, and will next be performed at the 2026 Ashland Fringe Festival.

 

Tanya Awabdy: Storyteller

Tanya is a poet, storyteller, choir nerd, and molecular biologist.

Tanya describes herself as “a late-blooming lesbian and loving it.” Her stories have been featured on multiple BACKFENCE Storytelling stages, as well as The Moth StorySLAM. In April, she was a featured performer in Dance Naked Creative’s live show Igniting Desire: Erotic Stories From The Second Half Of Life, a part of 2026’s Fertile Ground Festival.

 

Mx. Dahlia Belle: Storyteller

Dahlia is a comedian, writer, musician, storyteller, and activist.

Willamette Week named Dahlia one of Portland’s Funniest Five for 2025; in March 2024, she appeared in the Netflix comedy special Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda. Her written work has been featured in publications such as Cosmopolitan and Portland Mercury. In 2021, she gained international attention when The Guardian published her open-letter rebuke to comedian Dave Chappelle and his anti-trans Netflix special, The Closer.

 

John Shipe: Resonator Guitar, Band Leader

Once a frontman for the iconic northwest rock band Renegade Saints, John’s career as a genre-defying singer-songwriter has spawned no less than eleven critically-acclaimed studio albums.

John’s latest album, Water So Dark, made a slew of 2024 Top Ten Indie Album lists in the US and Europe. The UK’s Fatea Magazine declared the album a masterpiece that “paid in full” any debts of sin he might have acquired in the past, while Italy’s Planet Country called the album proof of “an artist and a man with a poetic and sensitive approach whose songs deal with sobriety and excellent melodic skills all the emotions of life, dreams, aspirations, suffering, and disappointments.” And no less than Bee Delores observed that John “weaves his emotional threads into a warm tapestry, faded with time yet still somehow carries with it the richness of life itself, with darkness caked into his performance.”

 

7 Deadly Sins

7 Deadly Sins has built a reputation as one of the most innovative live storytelling collectives in the country. Each of our shows blends comedy, tragedy, inspiration, and redemption into riveting stories from real people that remind us all what it means to be human.

Over the years, 7DS has expanded into a full storytelling production company. Our original bare-bones stage show, titled simply 7 Deadly Sins, eventually added scored music and became 7 Deadly Sins: MainStage. Other regular shows were added, including 7DS: Pants On Fire, The Absolute Worst Show, Rough Draft, Daria’s Confessional Cabaret, and 7 Deadly Sins: Saturnalia. We also began working with artists to commission one-off shows, such as Spoken, Andrew Dickson’s Kids These Days, and Swimming Like Frankenstein’s Monster. In addition to Moth-style personal-narrative storytelling, our shows have also incorporated music, performance art, spoken word poetry, readings, improv, dance, and even various visual arts. The through line with all of them is that everything on our stage, regardless of genre or medium, tells a story. That, and we work to ensure that every story we produce creates two seemingly paradoxical responses with the audience: “Wow, I’ve never experienced anything quite like what that person has,” and “wow, I have so been there — I know exactly what they’re talking about.”