Doug Motel is an award-winning storyteller, writer, speaker, and coach. His events are a hybrid of performance, humor and tools for positive change. Doug’s message of using humor as a tool for achieving our goals has inspired large groups and individuals since 1985. Doug’s work aims to help us change the game of life to one of joy and play.

As a playwright, Doug has authored several critically acclaimed solo plays including MICK IN AMERICA, MIND SALAD (L.A. Weekly award nomination for writing and performing), SHIVA ARMS (winner of the L.A. Weekly award for Best Solo Performance and winner of Theatre LA Ovation award for Best Writing of a World Premier play, and nominated for Best Actor and Best Production), and PRAESTIGUM.

“...the writer-actor takes us through a succinctly eloquent slice of low-rent-Hollywood life, creating 11 indelible characters...a work at once uproariously funny and poignant...a series of character-defining monologues that never lapse into caricature...an outrageously funny telling in a chorus of clashing but ultimately complementary voices...as a comic actor he has a gift for expressing body language...there are moments when all it takes is a certain look or sigh or shake of the head and we respond as though to someone we’ve known for years.”

Sheri Linden - VARIETY

“Motel goes beyond snagging the varied essences of his 11 characters from a low-rent  Hollywood apartment complex, using the form for an aim loftier than showcasing his abundant performing skills.  The story that unfolds through the affectionate impersonations is a sardonic and sometimes farcical portrait of flinty SoCal dreams, with poetical allusions to larger questions of life, death and spirit...Motel’s characters have softer edges than those of Eric Bogosian’s resulting in a more compassionate and less glib veneer”

Pick of the Week
Steven Leigh Morris - LA WEEKLY
Winner L.A. Weekly Award  - Best Solo Performance for 'Shiva Arms'

“Motel’s story begins as a slice of life, turns into a mystery, transforms into a tragedy and then vacillates with devastating accuracy between slapstick and drama.”

Jana J. Monji - THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

"Brilliant...constantly surprising and hilarious hairpin turns.  Motel's character delineations and timing are as masterful as any you will see on a U.S. stage....malice-free spiritual satire...a Zen farce in which gut-wrenching laughter and gut-wrenching tears are poignantly indistinguishable"

Tommy Westerfield - THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN

“In his one-man play Shiva Arms, Doug Motel demonstrates that he is an actor of incredible versatility and range. He inhabits the shows 11 characters...with such specificity that it’s hard to believe that the man doesn’t have a diagnosed multi-personality disorder. Each of the characters has a body language, a vocal cadence, mannerisms and tics, even breathing patterns, that are wholly his or her own...That all of these characters come from one man is nothing short of astounding...his performances couldn’t be any richer.”

Edward Shapiro - BACK STAGE WEST

Awards 

Shiva Arms

Winner: Theatre LA Ovation Award: Best Writing of a World Premiere Play
Winner: Best Solo Performance - LA Weekly Awards
Nominee: Best Actor Theatre LA Ovation Awards
Nominee: Best Production Theatre LA Ovation Awards

Mind Salad

Nominee: Best Solo Performance - LA Weekly Awards