Surely folks are tired of “unprecedented times,” but the new gestalt raises some questions about what love and sex now look like. Is unbridled sexual exploration truly liberating? Where is home if you haven't found it with another person? And is there value in both tradition and exploration?

These are the questions posed by Katie Folger’s one-woman play, Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man. Austinites may get some answers — or at least entertainment — at Ground Floor Theatre from July 10-14.

If her name sounds familiar, it might be because Folger was recently voted Best Actor in Austin Chronicle’s 2024 Best of Issue.Aside from being an indie-film darling, Folger is a writer and comedian who trained under Amy Poehler herself at Upright Citizens Brigade. Her film credits range from Rooster Teeth’s post-apocalyptic Day 5 to the El Rey Network series, From Dusk Till Dawn.

Other names tied to this play include director Matrex Kilgore and nationally-touring standup comedian Stef Dag, who will be opening for the play on July 12 and 13.

The play is a racy and whimsical one-woman show following Katie, our 30-year-old protagonist, who is fumbling with dating and boundaries in the newly very boundaried world, post-pandemic.

“It was mostly inspired by my first trip [to San Francisco] just after the pandemic, so summer of 2021,” says Folger. “It’s certainly informed by my real-life experience, but like any artist, the story is sculpted into a cohesive storyline. I call it memoir-style fiction.”

Like many leading ladies before her, in this play Katie faces heartbreak, confusion, and self exploration — with a dash of psychic readings, hippie cuddles puddles, and of course, a curious collision with a pizza man. Unlike your typical “chick flick,” though, Folger’s play explores important themes like sexual empowerment, bodily autonomy, boundaries, and gender roles.

“A primary driving force for me as an artist is pushing forth true-to-life narratives of women, without a filter,” says Folger. “I think just by doing this honestly and authentically… it’s a rebellious act. Especially with what’s going on with women in Texas right now regarding our bodily autonomy, it’s like there’s a requirement to step forth and speak truth in this increasingly scary climate.”

Folger says that in general, the work she does and the roles she takes on are driven by these values. The women she wants to portray are complicated and nuanced, just like in real life.

“All we really want [as an audience] is to see something that is an authentic human experience. I know there are so many shows that explore sexuality. There is even a trope that every one-woman show is about sex,” she laughs. “I’m not above that and I’m not beyond it. But what is distinct about this show… is that [the audience] goes in expecting one thing, and they get something different. I feel like the experience I share is so specific and zoomed in, it becomes universal. When you get really personal, it gives other people permission to get personal with themselves.”

The play has certainly come a long way from its humble roots as a backyard performance with 25 guests. In 2023, Folger raised over $22,000 in a successful Kickstarter campaign funding this play’s production. It then took the stage of Austin’s Crashbox Theater at Bolm Studios with two sold out weekends and rave reviews.

The Austin Chronicle’s Bob Ableman lauded the premiere as an “entertaining celebration of sex and transcendent, plague-free orgasms” and called Folger “a fierce, confident, engaging storyteller with superb, effortless comic timing and a liking for descriptive detail and heightened prose.”

The Chronicle ended up naming Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man one of Austin’s Top Theatrical Moments of 2023, before it was swept off to L.A. for two successful shows, which were also met with rave reviews.

From Noho Arts District’s Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros, “Katie’s beautifully written and gorgeously performed Getting In Bed with the Pizza Man is as close to a perfect show as I have seen. There’s something so genuinely sweet about Katie Folger. She’s vulnerable, truthful, brashly brilliant and utterly exceptional.”

Now, after more than a year away, Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man is back in Austin for an encore performance.

“Coming back to Austin is a joy. Austin is my community; my home,” says Folger. “So bringing the play back here feels like a celebration.”

She adds that it’s exciting to be able to bring whatever success she experiences as an artist back home to Austin. “I love Austin so deeply. As I go along on this journey and grow, I want to bring that growth back home with me. Anything positive I do, I want it to reflect on Austin.”

Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man is playing at Ground Floor Theatre from July 10-14. Tickets (starting at $40) are available at katiefolger.com.