'Mortified' Makes Return to D.C.

Relive awkward adolescence tonight. Mortified returns to D.C. for another round of angsty love poems, diary entries, letters from camp, and this time, a series of sex pictures drawn by Jennifer Tress when she was a confused kid whose mom gave her way too much information about the birds and bees.

Caryn Sykes, producer of the D.C. show, told The Huffington Post that this year's Mortified lineup also includes three pieces on obsessions: Nintendo, being adventurous, and gnomes.

"Forest creatures," Sykes said. "Which is my favorite of the obsessions."

Mortified began in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. There are versions of the show -- in which people share, with strangers, the most embarrassing, most revealing things they made as kids -- in Austin, Boston, Chicago, California, New York, Portland and Sweden. D.C.'s first Mortified was in 2007. This year's D.C. performers include SM Shrake, Jennifer Treff, Diane Ivey, Adam Ruben, Steve Heisler, Tom King and Sykes herself.

The show goes on at 8 p.m. on Thursday, at Town Danceboutique (2009 8th St. NW). Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.

Those who don't feel embarrassed enough seeing other people share their painful youths onstage should look out for Mortified DC's next casting call, which Sykes expects will be in November.