Sheldon Norberg's solo performance of his acclaimed memoir, Confessions of a Dope Dealer is everything the book couldn't be, a living, breathing excursion down the drug road ­ from wide-eyed innocent to wild-eyed deviant, with a tad of acute schizophrenic paranoiac delusion for good measure.  The critically praised, self-unraveling observation of the book is all the more striking as Sheldon transforms himself on stage.

Sifting through the inner landscape of his mind and grooving to the music that defined his drug use, Norberg's carefully sculpted soundscape brings his recollections to life in sensurround, without the distancing dreamy quality of film.  Sheldon is in your face, bowl for bowl, hit for hit, from enlightenment to endarkenment.  No one leaves this show without being touched by Sheldon's Sysephean quest for self-acceptance, or being faced with the parallels to their own behaviors, whatever they may be.

As a humorist, Sheldon plays both sides of the coin brilliantly, poking fun of society's hypocritical stance on drugs and his own drug-fueled stupidity.  Whether they have any history with drugs or not, your audience will have plenty to laugh about as the white-knuckled ride of Confessions of a Dope Dealer informs, enlightens, and entertains.

As steeped in personal tragedy as his drug use became, Sheldon still eschews the Just Say No propaganda, preferring to recognize the historical precedence of drug use, the cultural factors involved, and the foundational quality drugs have lent to Western society.  As a proponent of Harm Reduction and Cognitive Responsibility, Sheldon delivers a post-show Q&A that covers the breadth of audience concerns about drugs from a perspective of first hand knowledge, tempered by a longtime academic study of drugs, consciousness, and alternative health.

There has never been a show that addresses the issues of drug use in our culture the way Confessions of a Dope Dealer does. It is not another laughable scare film, nor is it "daring" you to do anything other than think intelligently about your own life.  Confessions may be the ultimate vehicle to engender realistic dialogue about drug use perspectives.  Collegiate audiences appreciate Sheldon because he cuts through the BS, and stands alone as a counter culture figure that admits to his own damage without demanding that anyone else should pay for his mistakes.

"Confessions of a Dope Dealer, it's a hit!"