'Shrill' writer Lindy West brings show 'Every Castle, Ranked' to OKC

"Well, I'm ranking all the castles from worst to best. It's a slideshow, so I'm showing pictures of castles. There's visual aids; there's interstitial video content. I mean, it's very multimedia," West told The Oklahoman.

"A really long time ago I came up with this title, and I think my plan was like, 'What if I could sell this as a book and then make my publisher fly me all over the world to look at castles?' And then my editor was like, 'No one's going to do that.' ... But I kind of carried it around with me, this title, because I thought it was so funny."

The author of the New York Times best-selling book "Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman," as well as the newly released memoir "Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane," West is performing "Every Castle, Ranked" through April 19 at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center as the closing show of Oklahoma City Repertory Theater's 2025-2026 season.

West created her one-woman show with her spouse, Ahamefule J. Oluo, an award-winning comedian, composer and jazz trumpeter who brought their solo "The Things Around Us" to OKC Rep in January 2025.

"I was so excited that Aham had such a good experience ... and wanted to recommend us to someone else — and not just someone else, but a family member — and thrilled that we get to bring Lindy here," said Emily Comisar, OKC Rep's executive artistic director.

"They sent me a recording (of the show) ... and I just laughed so hard I cried watching it."

Lindy West and her husband, Ahamefule Oluo, attend the 45th annual Humanitas Prize in 2020 in Beverly Hills, California.

Performer hopes to explore her Oklahoma roots during her one-woman show's OKC run

"My paternal grandfather was a radio producer ... so they went to Scarsdale, New York. They were in L.A., they were in Seattle, and they were in Ponca City, Oklahoma, when my dad was a little boy," said West, who was born in and is based in the Seattle area.

"My dad always talked fondly about living in Ponca City. My grandfather produced a radio show called 'Life in Ponca City.' It's kind of this mysterious chapter of my dad's life that I have never really looked into. ... My husband, Aham, he also has roots in Oklahoma. ... His grandparents' families came from the Enid area."

Although West and Oluo are producing the touring show, Comisar said they have enlisted OKC Rep to help with the visual aspects of "Every Castle, Ranked."

"Sometimes we have an opportunity to leave an imprint on the production process and help artists think about, 'How can we push the physical production of this show even further?'" she said.

In the days leading up to her show's OKC premiere, West, 44, said she was eager to take "Every Castle, Ranked" beyond the stripped-down setup of a podium and slideshow.

"It's gotten rave reviews, Oklahoma City; everyone in my household loves it and had the best time (there). ... I just feel so grateful that OKC Rep believes in the show and is investing so much time and care in it. They're building a set, we've got a whole crew ... just bursting with ideas and enthusiasm," she told The Oklahoman via Zoom.

The cast of Hulu's "Shrill" -- Ian Owens, Ali Rushfield, John Cameron Mitchell, Aidy Bryant, Lolly Adefope, Elizabeth Banks, Lindy West and Luka Jones -- talk about the show in at a 2019 event.

Despite her show's focus on them, West indicated that the shortage of castles in OKC isn't anything to hold against the city.

"There's, like, I don't know, 13,000 castles on Earth. There's so many. And then, when you start to get into the definition of a castle, what are the parameters? What defines something as a castle? I don't know. That's part of what maybe what I'm exploring in the show," she said.

With "Every Castle, Ranked," she also explores castles as an kind of “expectation vs. reality” meme.

"Basically, the show starts out a very straightforward, serious ranking of castles. We start with the worst one, and we get one better. Then, in this way that I like to do a lot in my work, it spins off in different directions. So, I'll show a picture of a castle that very loosely, tangentially, sends me off on a story about summer camp and my dad. And it goes all over the place, and then we keep coming back to the central conceit of the castles," West said.

"My dream is that people come out of it and they say that was funny and smart and weird. ... It's a very accurate representation of what the inside of my head looks and sounds like."

"Shrill" (Hulu) Now streaming: The series follows Annie, who, trying to make it as a journalist, does not let her weight dictate her life. Based on activist, humorist and writer Lindy West's "Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman," both the show and the book delve into the subjects of gender politics, feminism and the fat acceptance movement.

Best-selling author also is promoting her controversial new book 'Adult Braces' while in OKC

A podcaster, activist and author, West arguably is best known for her 2016 nonfiction best-seller "Shrill," which was turned into the Emmy-nominated three-season Hulu series of the same name starring Aidy Bryant ("Saturday Night Live"), with West as a writer and executive producer.

In 2020, West's writing on the show earned her a nomination for a Humanitas Prize, which honors and empowers film and television writers whose work "explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way."

Known for her frank and frequently funny musings on social justice, feminism and self-image, the 2004 graduate of Los Angeles' Occidental College penned two essay collections ahead of her new memoir "Adult Braces," which was released in March via Hachette Books.

Writer, performer and podcaster Lindy West recently released her fourth book, "Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane."

Billed as her "most ambitious book yet," "Adult Braces" chronicles a cross-country road trip she took as she coped with her "post-'Shrill' emotional implosion, her shifting feelings about traditional marriage and her search for her long-lost self."

The book has stirred controversy for detailing West's struggle with Oluo's decision to date another woman, Roya Amirsoleymani, who produced Oluo's "The Things Around Us;" her husband's request to open up their marriage; and West's decision to enter into a polyamorous "triad" with them.

"So much of my motivation for doing this kind of work is to feel understood. I'm trying to connect with an audience and communicate who I am. I mean, I also love collaborating. It's really fun; making the TV show was really fun. ... But there is something very liberating about coming back to this other work that's just me and my computer," she said.

Commonplace Books is selling copies of West's books during her OKC Rep performances of "Every Castle, Ranked." Plus, she will do a book signing and reading at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, at the OKC bookstore.

"I'm so grateful that this is my life. I can't believe it. I used to fight so hard to be a freelance writer and pitch things that I thought would sell and that would be the kind of thing that people wanted me to write. And it's been really incredible to realize that the stuff that is most successful is when I just make the stuff I want to make, and I'm not trying to play to the audience," she said.