A Lesson In Proper Bow-Fluffing Technique is Trey Nichols' critically acclaimed one-man play set in a busy department store during the mad crush of the holiday shopping season.  Trey plays a harried customer service representative who’s seen it all!  His only refuge from the hectic front desk is the gift wrap nook, where he slips away whenever possible for a few moments of peace and quiet fluffing bows.  But this year his world is turned upside down when the store hires a group of bright, developmentally challenged students to fluff bows for the store.  Undaunted, Trey quickly appoints himself bow-fluffing coach--but he soon discovers that teaching the fine art of bow-fluffing to a group of teens whose hearts aren’t in it is harder than he first imagined! (Image at left:  graphic design by Kiff Scholl.)

During the course of the show, Trey portrays both himself and a zany succession of shoppers and store employees as he tries to get through the crazy day without losing his holiday spirit or his job. In addition to the four bow-fluffing teens and their cough drop-sucking counselor Bob, we meet Trey’s frazzled boss Betty; a caffeine-whacked supermommy who will stop at nothing to get a balloon for her young son;  a middle-aged husband whose monthly pleadings for a credit line increase will never sate the appetite of his shopaholic wife; a young shoe salesman obsessed with the films of Quentin Tarantino; and a mercenary, maxim-spouting store manager among others.  Trey strives to keep the students fluffing and the customers happy in a chaotic world where no good deed seems to go unpunished.

A Lesson in Proper Bow-Fluffing Technique explores an everyman's crisis of faith, and the possibility of redemption in a consumer culture obsessed with the bottom line.  In an interview with LA Cityzine Trey remarked: “This piece is about the things that truly matter in one's engagement with the world.  The little acts of kindness one performs in the course of a mundane daily existence have resonance, though often in unexpected ways.”  Ultimately, the “lesson” in bow-fluffing technique isn’t about bows--it’s about acceptance and forgiveness in a world that too often forgets the importance of small things, gentle words, and kind deeds.

Production History

A Lesson In Proper Bow-Fluffing Technique was originally developed from a shorter one-man play entitled Fluffer, written and performed by Trey Nichols in December 1998  at Moving Arts, a Los Angeles theatre company, as part of an evening of comedic holiday shorts directed by then-Artistic Director Lee Wochner.  The piece was a hit with audiences and critics and was brought back in 1999 by Moving Arts for a run at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in the city’s historic downtown district.

In 2004 Trey approached producer Isabel Storey with the idea of further developing and expanding Fluffer into a longer solo show, and A Lesson in Proper Bow-Fluffing Technique was born.  In December of that year, the show premiered in its current form as the inaugural production of Storey Productions, presented as a co-production with Moving Arts, under the direction of Lee Costello.  Performances were held at Praxis Studios in L.A.’s bustling Fairfax district.  The show remained a hit with critics and audiences, and received a 2005 Ovation nomination for Best Solo Performance.

In December 2005, Trey performed excerpts of A Lesson in Proper Bow-Fluffing in a special benefit performance at the Hollywood Bowl Cottage, along with musical guests Jackson Browne and Kenny Rankin. 

In December 2007, Trey performed the show in a special engagement at the Santa Monica Playhouse for its Benefit Series under the direction of Julie Briggs.

For booking information:

Contact Trey directly at

(310) 926-1061

trey@treynichols.net