Lindy West has opinions about castles. Well, she has opinions about a lot of things, actually. The New York Times bestselling author of Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman tends not be shy about opinions, responding to internet trolls or being vulnerable about the real stuff; stuff that many of us wish we could also feel liberated to share.

With four books, three seasons of a hit Hulu show, podcasts, a Substack newsletter and work appearing on outlets like “This American Life,” The New York Times and The Guardian (to name a few), West has not been shy about speaking her mind in print and on the internet for a very, very, very long time.

If that’s the case, then why has her one-woman show, Every Castle, Ranked, which plays at the Oklahoma City Repertory Theater for select dates April 10-19, been such a revelation of confidence for her? 

“I hosted ‘The Moth’ live storytelling show, and that was kind of the thing, when I think back,” says West, tracing where her live storytelling yearnings began. 

“That might be the thing in the world that I am the best at, just being on stage. It’s all riffing, it’s all just talking to the crowd, and it was really fun. And I have very low self-esteem, so I don’t usually say things like this, but I was just like, ‘Man, I’m really good at this!’”

A live show, for West, was such a contrast to the work she had created so far. Shrill, the adaptation of her bestselling memoir, was a production in every sense of the word. West served as showrunner, executive producer and writer, working with at least 200 other people on the show. With so many cooks in the kitchen, West’s vision was, naturally, diluted. 

And while writing books also appealed to West (again, four books down, more to go), it also came with hidden pangs of frustration. Books are solitary, sure, but still receive notes from editors, publishers and other interested parties. Plus, she didn’t exactly want every tiny detail of her life circulated to her wide audience. 

“I think when I’m putting a book out with a mainstream press, I’m like, ‘OK, so potentially, lots of people are gonna read this,’ whereas doing a stage show, a live show, one time in a theater—you can be a little bit riskier. I feel safer, a little bit, to be kind of weird,” says West.

And in Every Castle, Ranked she does have the chance to get kind of weird.

Double Act

But West wasn’t flying solo for this first crack at a one-woman show. Her spouse and creative partner, Ahamefule J. Oluo, co-creator of Every Castle, Ranked, was right there for every step, from brainstorming to revisions, from rewrites to reworks. 

“So we worked together, before we were a couple, in a writing relationship. And I think that it’s, in a way, that’s kind of our home at this point,” says Oluo, who mentions how the pair have experienced all the growing pains together in how to collaborate, offer criticism and listen.

 “We’ve really gone through all of those processes before. And I think we have a really smooth, beautiful, co-writing arrangement that we really fall into.”

Oluo, whose one-person show The Things Around Us played at OKC Rep in January 2025, has been a perfect creative partner for West’s Every Castle, Ranked. Plus, Oluo knows a thing or two about live performance; The New York Times said Oluo expanded the experimental theater format to “dizzying proportions.”

So after the first iteration of Every Castle, Ranked debuted, selling out Seattle’s historic Neptune Theatre on April 6, 2023, West added more show dates to her calendar. As she traveled the country, the duo would repeatedly crack open the show and rework it, trying to sculpt it into perfection, its final form.

The spine of the show was always West on stage with a PowerPoint-slash-slide-deck (depending on what generation of computer usage you’re from), and yeah, to some extent, it’s what it says on the tin. It’s every castle, ranked—a slideshow of castles from around the world, how they would fall into a ranking system versus other castles, a discussion of medieval toilets and an examination of expectations; what’s modern romanticization and fantasy versus reality in these historic structures. 

From city to city, some bits, jokes, or stories from the show would change (“Oh, it seemed like the audience really liked that part when I humiliated myself. We should put in more stories like that,” quips West). But always, the castles and the poignant examination of what castles represent metaphorically—that won’t be spoiled here—were always at the heart of the show. 

Now, after nearly three years of performing the show and making so many iterations of it, when do West and Oluo know it’s done? 

“I think it’s there,” says West. Oluo adds, “That’ll be in Oklahoma City.” 

“Yeah, I think OKC is going to be it,” says West.

Then the couple high-five. 

Road Trippin’

What makes OKC part of the secret sauce to the show’s completion? Some of it has to do with the magic of OKC Rep.

“I brought my last show to OKC Rep last year. They’re just such an incredible organization,” says Oluo. “How dedicated everyone is at that organization, in terms of everyone kind of buckling down to make shows the best that they could possibly be, is such a perfect environment for this show. We’ve really just been flying by the seat of our pants with this show, and it’s so nice to have actual infrastructure.”

West has played Every Castle, Ranked at venues like small comedy clubs to theaters of all sizes, and most of the performances have been fairly pared down. She and Oluo agree that OKC Rep’s magic is helping them take a “leap forward in the show” in a way they hadn’t experienced previously.

“They’re like, ‘What props do you want? What do you want the set to look like?’ I’m like, ‘Set?’ The set is just me standing in the dark,” says West with a laugh. “I think for OKC we're hoping to just do some fancier stuff with lights and build a little bit of the fantasy world on stage.”

Another magical thing about Oklahoma for West? Both West and Oluo can claim honorary “Oklahomie” status: West’s father lived in Ponca City for a few years, and Oluo’s family lived in Enid for a time. West is even planning to take a few weeks to explore Oklahoma during her tour stop in the state and to take a trip out to check out her father’s old house in Ponca City.

“He loved it. He had really fond memories of it, and always talked about it. So I was like, ‘I’m sorta from Oklahoma, it’s sorta a homecoming for me,’” West says.

Right before West lands in Oklahoma for the first time, she’ll have just finished the final leg of the book tour for her fourth book, Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane, which hits bookshops on March 10. The new book takes readers through West’s emotional rock bottom, cross-country road trip and, yes, having braces in her 40s. Touring for both Adult Braces and Every Castle, Ranked at the same time seems to align with West energetically. 

“One of the chapters in Adult Braces is adapted from part of Castle because I was working on them at the same time,” she says. “I hate to steal from my own pocket, but I think actually I’m allowed to.”

After West’s performances of Every Castle, Ranked in OKC in April, she’ll be signing copies of Adult Braces and her other books for new and die-hard fans, which folks can bring from home or purchase from a pop-up booth hosted by OKC bookstore Commonplace Books. 

So what’s next after Every Castle, Ranked plays Oklahoma City? West has high hopes for the show. “My dream trajectory would be national tour, an international tour and then a Netflix special, and then someone gives me a travel show and a theme park ride,” says West wryly.

Thanks to the show, she’s built years of confidence, not just to share written opinions or shut down trolls, but also to be witnessed when she shares her story—and to find a community of people who resonate with that.

“Real creative power still just comes from each one of us, and then I’ve been lucky enough that I have ended up getting institutional support, like with OKC Rep,” says West. 

“It’s like, hey, if you work hard on something that you care about, and then you make a good thing, sometimes people do find it and like it and help you. It’s just nice, yeah? It’s a nice little light in the darkness.”

Lindy West’s one-woman show Every Castle, Ranked plays at the OKC Rep Theater for select dates April 10-19. To buy tickets, visit okcrep.org/every-castle-ranked. You can follow Lindy West on Instagram at @thelindywest and OKC Rep at @okcreptheater.

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