Thought-Provoking Comedies

Since 2006, Tongue in Cheek Theater (TIC), has produced over 40 thought-provoking comedies. Relentlessly Pleasant, Shut Up Martha, and solo shows, including Learning Curves -- currently being performed in various venues around the U.S.

Learning Curves

Can a perky, middle-aged rule follower once and for all face down her middle school demons before the building is razed to the ground?
A precocious girl named Jake grows up loving school, until the year she turns twelve, develops early, and a teacher crosses a line. Years later, she's invited back to a middle school reunion. Are there lessons to be learned by revisiting the past, people, and places that shaped you?

Written and performed by Jake Lipman
Directed by Susan Gross
Developed in Matt Hoverman's Go-So Workshop, go-solo.org

Emerging Artists Theatre's Spark Festival - 2 performances
Tuesday, 9/16 at 7pm | Chain Theatre, 312 W. 36 St, Fl 3 - $20 tickets
Wednesday, 9/17 at 7pm | Chain Theatre, 312 W. 36 St, Fl 3 - $20 tickets
Run time: 1 hour, no intermission
Content warning: contains mild profanity, mentions of sexual harassment and abuse. Suitable for ages 13 and up.
Learning Curves premiered at Burning Coal Theatre in Raleigh, NC on August 27, 2025.

Shut Up Martha

Further Development
We continue to develop this piece into a 2-act play, for a future production in NYC.
Production History
Washington, DC - Capital Fringe Festival, July 2023, "Best of Fest" - DC Theatre Arts 
New York, NY - Developmental reading - Sunday, March 30, 2025

"If it hadn't been for Martha, there would have been no Watergate" -- disgraced former president Richard M. Nixon
Shut Up Martha is a political profile on Martha Mitchell, the outspoken wife of Attorney General John Mitchell, who served President Nixon. When 5 men are caught breaking into the Democrat's offices inside the Watergate building, all the president's men are tasked with shutting out and shutting up the talkative Martha, before she unravels the presidency.
Recent Tragic Events by Craig Wright (2019)
 L-R: Matt Gibson, Jaya Tripathi
Relentlessly Pleasant ​by Jake Lipman (2018)
L-R: Jessica DiSalvo, Maria Maloney, and Shauna Pinkett
The Inn at Lake Devine by Jake Lipman (2015)
L-R: Jill Melanie Wirth, Jake Lipman, Andrew Dawson, Andrew Speiker, Jennifer Dorr White