Paper Gun · For Therapeutic Interest
For presenters, clinicians, and group facilitators
Paul Tosh · tosh42.com · bookings@tosh42.com
"… This Is Mine — But You Can Have It"
It's about survival rather than grievance. It's about how we have as much right to our truth as anyone has to their behavior — but the songs don't name, they don't accuse. They witness, they transform; into something that can heal, something redemptive. They draw on things I know closely, making them into something people can sit with has been the work.
It's about what we do with what we are given.
Take Away
The operetta embodies a process to help lead a narcissistic-trauma survivor out of the self-punishing that they are left with. There is no circumstance where you cannot find the pleasure in taking responsibility for your own life.
What This Page Is
Paper Gun is an original one-man operetta in three acts about the inner dynamic between the empathic and the narcissistic — material that many audience members, particularly survivors of narcissistic abuse, will recognize from the inside. That recognition is the show's therapeutic power, and it deserves a professionally held container. This page describes how each performance is framed, held, and closed, so that a clinician or presenter can book it with confidence.
01 · Before the Performance
Advance Framing
Your promotional copy can state plainly what the show explores; suggested content-note language is provided with the booking pack.
Clinical Partner
For survivor-focused audiences, a licensed clinician known to the group is present in the room — typically the facilitator who convened the audience. Their role and seating are agreed in advance.
Pre-Show Word
The evening opens with a brief spoken frame: what the piece is, permission to step out and return at any time without explanation, and where the quiet space is.
02 · During the Performance
No Participation Required
No audience participation is ever required. The audience is never singled out, addressed individually, or asked to disclose anything.
A Deliberate Arc
The three-act arc moves deliberately from entanglement toward clarity and release — the evening does not end inside the wound.
Exits Stay Open
House lights are kept at a level that allows discreet movement; the host keeps sight of the room.
03 · After the Performance
Facilitated Talkback — Optional, Recommended
A 20–30 minute conversation co-held by Paul and the clinical partner — reflective rather than confessional, with the facilitator guiding depth.
Grounded Close
The evening ends with a musical decompression piece and a spoken close — not on the show's most intense material.
Resource Sheet
Every attendee can take a one-page sheet listing the host organization's own follow-up options plus national support lines — prepared with the presenter so it reflects your community's actual resources.
Caveats · Full Candor
Worth mentioning rather than editing the art in advance. Two points to be aware of, that as required I can soften:
"From a Living Grave" — Act Three
"From a Living Grave" sits in Act Three (The Emergence) and contains "past the point of buying a rope." The line means beyond despair, and the notes justify the descent-and-return. But regarding my promise that the evening "does not end inside the wound," this is a line you should know exists.
"Painful Bother"
"Inseparable from your nose and thumb" and "I hope I don't see you in hell" are the sharpest second-person jabs in the piece. They're defensible — it's a farewell between internal voices, N speaks first, and "just as sorry for what I'm not" self-implicates — but the dramatic frame holds.
The mandate and architecture hold and are genuinely delivered: This Is Mine (ownership, not victory), Let Me Cry (release), Paper Heart (the gift), and the notes' own framing that Act Three offers "clarity, release, and a realistic warmth" rather than triumph. That is precisely the shape of leading a survivor out of self-punishing without selling a fantasy.
Division of Responsibilities
◆ Paul Provides
The performance, the pre-show frame, the talkback format, and full technical self-sufficiency (rider available here).
◇ The Presenter Provides
The room, the piano, the audience, the clinical partner (for survivor-focused events), a quiet adjacent space, and local resource details for the sheet.
This frame was developed across two decades of therapeutic performance in senior communities, congregations, and community settings. It is adjusted with each presenter — the container belongs to the room.
Paul responds personally to every enquiry — availability, audience fit, the clinical partnership, and how the frame adapts to your setting.