My Salvation Has a First Name: A Wienermobile Journey | Chicago Fringe Festival 2011 review

Traveling the highway in a 23-foot-long hot dog on wheels and shilling for mass-produced encased meats may not be everyone's idea of a good time. But to Robin Gelfenbien, it sounded like a dream job. After an early ’90s college experience marred by being chosen as the regular target for a group of bullying brahs, the gawky, open-hearted, musical-theater-loving Gelfenbien thought she'd found her people in the perky pork punners who trained at Hot Dog High. She balks a bit when she's partnered with a dude whose idea of comedy is a Jerky Boys cassette, but over the course of a year in the Wienermobile, Gelfenbien finds herself. The performer embraces her younger self's awkwardness, sharing snapshots most of us would burn before we'd project them in front of audiences. Her wry perspective on the earnest ridiculousness of Wienermobile culture is gently but thoroughly charming.