Fictional Names is the ultimate performance of the developing lore of Cashew Lowman, “a fictional character I met about a year ago on Quora.com.” -CW After a puzzling coincidence involving frogs and faraway places, with significance only he understands, he takes a trip to visit a friend, Sasha, which propels both of them into fictional spirals. Cashew confronts his inconsistent existence, formed mostly through a collaborative newsletter and on Quora, where he answers questions from time to time. Q: What habit silently changes a person’s life? Cashew: i think most of them. but if you don’t have habits, you can still change. that isn’t the question but feels important to state. & even bad habits offer some sort of control. Sasha is a bold writer who isn’t afraid of being perceived — she is a harsh critic with a soft spot for Cashew, her loyal, longtime admirer. She is too preoccupied with writing reviews, forming opinions, and journaling in cursive about her mother to fully understand her melancholic friend’s fictional crisis, though she does write about it. Q: Can a question answer another question? Cashew: i can see this working rhetorically. A combination of blunt narration, poetry, puppetry, practical effects, and “conventional theater” celebrates coincidence and imaginary friends, how we create distance from our subconscious in order to study it. The process is precarious, things fall down, lights go on and off – it is supposed to be funny, but if you don’t laugh, that is totally okay. Q: When do you do what you don’t want to do? Cashew: I don’t notice when I am doing the things I want to do, so anytime I notice I am doing something, I believe I do not want to be doing it! (show image credit to Ricardo Ruiz @ricardoruiz_org)