Grief, healing, white female violence shattered mirrors, tainted vows. She’s reminded hard questions require slow answers.
The woman sits with herself. Grief lingers, she lets it live, lets it transform.
To sit with herself demands time, stillness, silence. She studies old relationships— professional, personal— and releases what no longer serves her. The heavy bricks that once drowned her every step, now lay buried.
Instead of stuffing her face with food, she cannot name —she fuels herself with knowledge. Research, rest, reading, recovering from the seen and unseen. It becomes easier, lighter, to release what does not sustain.
She allows grief to become a friendly foe. She laments—– wails until her body crumples and warps– until she can no longer move, until stillness takes hold.
The storm passes, Now able to breathe she welcomes the new season.
The aromatic smell of fall florets frees her mind from any fears. The air of a new season greets her, filling her lungs with courage.
She inhales the fresh air.
She lets grief live and shift. She turned generations of white female violence into art. She freed herself from the weight of desperate, toxic ties.
To recoup, to sit with, to examine eleven years in the work
To perform in various mediums that feed the work.
She remembers she can fly.
She reclaims her time. She remembers her power. She reclaims her voice.
In between the acts of routine and a hard-lined schedule, my body becomes numb. I hold a series of thoughts that refuse to reveal moments of clarity. The body cannot find rest and the mind roams. To quiet the noise she writes, she goes back in time, for her body holds onto what she can’t understand.
These days I whisper hard to hear truths.
I alter time so my eyes bear witness to hidden atrocities.
Daringly, I move through space holding and releasing the stories of exiled women.
To the brave souls occupying space in Sudan, Palestine, and Ukraine:
It may seem as though your fight for a free life goes unnoticed, misunderstood, or not heard at all. Yet, we see you fighting, we hear your piercing cries for freedom that ring as loudly as church bells on Sunday morning.
These days I dream of running the 8,397 miles to Sudan, walking the 6,414 miles to Ukraine
Or crawling the 7,562 miles into Palestine to hold hands with those faces who go unseen.
I see the bloody face of an old woman shouting out her husband’s name.
I hear the howling cries of the mother holding the remains of her daughter as blood runs down the crowded street.
These days I hold onto the voice of the little girl who stands in rubble as she talks into a camera about her hopes and dreams for the future of her country.
I pray for the woman dancing in the streets holding the ‘Free Palestine’ cardboard poster proudly above her head.
I understand having less, fearing tomorrow, and surviving today.
Tonight I do not light a candle in memory of those who have passed.
I shall not shed a tear for the unspoken names whose bodies go unclaimed.
Instead, I’ll write, create, and move to remember your profound ability to continue toward the light.
____________
‘Quay’ she called with her soft melodious voice bringing familiar comfort.
I knew Her right away //
This delicate yet statuesque woman of bold proportions…
her smooth skin as clear as the midnight sky.
She—the woman whose hands had rubbed my back while soothing my soul night after night |
days not so long ago.
Me—A woman child still in need of her mother’s touch.
A woman child still needing to hear her mother’s patio chime laughter.
Her She Me //
Mother
Daughter
Strangers.
Or perhaps
long-
lost friends
_________
*A note from within:
Finding the work is living between trust and letting go.
June is here and “Women on the Fringe” are again onstage!
There is nothing quite like the buzz that’s created during the Hollywood Fringe. It is a time filled with risk-taking, courage, hope and independent artists creating new work by any means necessary. Each year, I ask women writers a new series of questions influenced by the Proust Questionnaire and Bernard Pivot’s French series, “Bouillon de Culture.” The goal is to understand the artist’s work and their full nature while allowing them a space to reveal their authentic self. It is a great gift and a true honor to introduce women who will be presenting work in myriad genres, exploring a wide range of topics that allow us to examine who we are as individuals and as a society.
Introducing Carmen Kartini Rohde and her show, “Low on Milk.”
Carmen Kartini Rohde
Constance: What do you hope audience members take away after experiencing your show?
Carmen: Low on Milk is a musical comedy about a mother who struggles with breastfeeding and must battle the zombie apocalypse to find formula for her newborn. With this play, I want mothers to feel seen. The invisible load of motherhood can be so overwhelming and is not celebrated enough. Mothers are societally expected to feed the kids and keep a happy home, but we don’t always see the journey it takes to complete a simple task like putting food on the table. During a formula shortage and when you feel like your body has failed you in breastfeeding, it can be ridiculously hard, so we might as well sing about it. I hope broader audiences enjoy the show as well and walk away having laughed, quoting lines and singing show tunes.
Constance: What’s been your biggest challenge regarding your development/creation process?
Carmen: It all starts with believing in yourself and in your ideas. A lot of internal work happens before you crack open Final Draft and type up your script. You hope that your idea is worthy enough to invite a group of artists to come together to memorize lines, play piano and trust that an audience will find you. Then it’s all the logistics of producing: getting all your ducks in a row and managing all the moving pieces that come with a theatre production. It’s a challenge, but it’s super fun.
Constance: What are you enjoying most as you create your show?
Carmen: I come from an improv and sketch comedy background, so I love allowing space for collaboration and seeing how actors interpret the characters I wrote. I love hearing a musician add magic to the melodies with different instrumentation.
Constance: What has been the most surprising discovery?
Carmen: That male audience members who aren’t parents found the show entertaining!
Constance: The work will be given away soon. How does that feel?
Carmen: It’s bittersweet, like sending your child off to college. We did our homework together, and bought all the dorm room supplies necessary for a comfortable landing. Now it’s about trusting the process and letting your art live on outside your womb.
Constance: How long have you been sitting with this work?
Carmen: I’ve wanted to produce a musical since I was 13. And I came up with Low on Milk before even contemplating motherhood, when I kept reading about the formula shortage and thought how terrible that must be. Then I had a baby and lived how terrible that is. I added songs and scenes after experiencing birth, lactation consultants, doulas and all the bells & whistles that come with new motherhood, so this project has been gestating for a few years.
Constance: Why Fringe? Why this year?
Carmen: It was probably the worst time in my life to take on a project as big as putting on a musical. I have a baby at home, so I’m not exactly sitting in a field of heather at a typewriter with the winds blowing songs into my ear. With this in mind, I felt like my wit’s end was probably also the perfect time to do Fringe and embrace the joyful and frantic energy that only Hollywood Fringe provides. A theatre production is a lack of sleep and no control over the elements, it needs my constant attention and love. Kind of like a baby. Happy Fringe, everyone!
June is here and “Women on the Fringe” are again onstage!
There is nothing quite like the buzz that’s created during the Hollywood Fringe. It is a time filled with risk-taking, courage, hope and independent artists creating new work by any means necessary. Each year, I ask women writers a new series of questions influenced by the Proust Questionnaire and Bernard Pivot’s French series, “Bouillon de Culture.” The goal is to understand the artist’s work and their full nature while allowing them a space to reveal their authentic self. It is a great gift and a true honor to introduce women who will be presenting work in myriad genres, exploring a wide range of topics that allow us to examine who we are as individuals and as a society.
Constance: What do you hope audience members take away after experiencing your show?
Victoria: I hope they’re laughing through tears!
Constance: What’s been your biggest challenge in terms of your development/creation process?
Victoria: I developed the show through Storytelling, so the biggest challenge was putting the 8-10 minute stories together to create a seamless, 60 minute arc. Also the pandemic. I’ve been doing the show for 3 years, so much of the development process was during the pandemic, when I couldn’t do any in-person staged readings. I ended up doing for people over zoom and having them give me feedback individually.
Constance: What are you enjoying most as you create your show?
Victoria: I love how each audience is different. I never get tired of doing the show, because even though it’s fully scripted, it’s very conversational, so the audience really does affect each performance.
Constance: What has been the most surprising discovery?
Victoria: Certain lines in the show, that are not jokes, somehow get laughs more often than not!
Constance: The work will be given away soon. How does that feel?
Victoria: Well, I’ve been giving the work away at Fringe Festivals across the country for the last 3 years. It doesn’t feel like I’m giving it away. The more people that experience the story, the more it grows, it’s like blowing up a giant balloon filled with Star Wars based double entendre.
Constance: How long have you been sitting with this work?
Victoria: About 6 years total!
Constance: Why Fringe? Why this year?
Victoria: If you’re an independent artist who wants to tour, Fringe Festivals are the best way to do it. In general, it is more affordable than producing independently, and most festivals have a built in audience. I’ve been touring the US Fringe circuit for 3 years, and I’m just getting started! It’s purely logistical that I made it to Hollywood this year. I was also accepted to the San Diego Fringe, which is the last 2 weeks of May, so it made sense to do both festivals back to back!
Constance: If there is anything else that must be said, please say it!
June is here and “Women on the Fringe” are again onstage!
There is nothing quite like the buzz that’s created during the Hollywood Fringe. It is a time filled with risk-taking, courage, hope and independent artists creating new work by any means necessary. Each year, I ask women writers a new series of questions influenced by the Proust Questionnaire and Bernard Pivot’s French series, “Bouillon de Culture.” The goal is to understand the artist’s work and their full nature while allowing them a space to reveal their authentic self. It is a great gift and a true honor to introduce women who will be presenting work in myriad genres, exploring a wide range of topics that allow us to examine who we are as individuals and as a society.
Introducing Bethany Hill and her show, “Femmina Super.”
Bethany Hill
Constance: What do you hope audience members take away after experiencing your show?
Bethany: I think, historically, humans have been quick to judge the decisions made by those that break societal norms, forgetting that a large proportion of those decisions are made as an act of desperation, survival and self-preservation. I wrote this play because I wanted to unpack my own decision-making and to understand why my ancestors would marry difficult men, leave their homes, abandon a child or break rules in order to make art. Through this unpacking, I hoped that I could provide an empathic lens for audiences toward these characters so that they might reflect on the people in their lives and the questionable decisions they have made.
And then there’s the music… Inspired by Barbara Strozzi, a female composer from 17th century Italy, I have used a variety of instruments like the Appalachian dulcimer, shruthi box, glockenspiel, Irish drum, live looping and electronic soundscapes to showcase her music and my own. It’s an introduction to music from 400 years ago combined with modern opera performed in a way that, hopefully, feels accessible and fresh to an audience that may not regularly attend opera or enjoy classical music.
Constance: What’s been your biggest challenge in terms of your development/creation process?
Bethany: While I love writing, this was my first script, and so I had next-to-no experience in crafting a balanced piece of theatre where the story moved forward. I had written moments of poetry and character monologues, but I needed to learn how to write “the glue” that would make it coherent. I had so much material – I was passionate about the themes I was exploring – but I spent a lot of time cutting it down to a Fringe-friendly 80 minutes while still retaining the essence of the piece I had originally intended to make.
Constance: What are you enjoying most as you create your show?
Bethany: I have written the words and the music, and then I get to jump on stage and sing and play multiple instruments and be multiple characters! It’s the multi-faceted work that I have dreamed of doing. The discovery of my characters has been such a rewarding process. My women (the different roles) have morphed and changed with me throughout the rehearsal period. For me, that’s been the biggest joy – finding their voices.
Constance: What has been the most surprising discovery?
Bethany: To go back to the challenges of this show – the cutting of material, but in a helpful way. I was really stubborn at first about what I was willing to let go of. It was a surprising discovery to realize I didn’t need so much of the material to tell the same stories.
Constance: The work will be given away soon. How does that feel?
Bethany: Terrifying and exhilarating. This has had a gestational period of 15 months! It’s time to birth it and hand it over to audiences.
Constance: How long have you been sitting with this work?
Bethany: For almost two years. It has gone through many formations. It actually began as a story utilising the music of Joni Mitchell and Barbara Strozzi! And then I realised that I wanted to write the music and tell my ancestral stories combined with the story of Barbara Strozzi. That was when I pitched the idea to my (now) director, almost a year and a half ago.
Constance: Why Fringe? Why this year?
Bethany: I’ve lived in the US for three years now, relocating from Australia during the pandemic. I wanted to change career paths from full-time opera singer to theatre-maker. I’m an unknown quantity in a new country! I was busting to make this show. I didn’t want to sit on it any longer. The Fringe seemed like a safe platform to launch this show on. The resources needed were easier to access under the umbrella of the Fringe than if I had tried a stand-alone season.
Constance: If there is anything else that needs to be said, please say it!
Bethany: I would encourage audiences to not be deterred by the title, Femmina Super: a Modern Opera. So far, the feedback has been “I didn’t know what to expect, but that wasn’t it!” in the best way possible. If you are an opera lover, this will still satisfy you. If you are not an opera lover, then this is so much more than what your perceptions of opera may be. This is theatre, opera, poetry, folk music, electronic soundtracks and human stories. But, most importantly, it’s the hidden stories of women – relatable, universal, and beautiful.
June is here and “Women on the Fringe” are again onstage!
There is nothing quite like the buzz that’s created during the Hollywood Fringe. It is a time filled with risk-taking, courage, hope and independent artists creating new work by any means necessary. Each year, I ask women writers a new series of questions influenced by the Proust Questionnaire and Bernard Pivot’s French series, “Bouillon de Culture.” The goal is to understand the artist’s work and their full nature while allowing them a space to reveal their authentic self. It is a great gift and a true honor to introduce women who will be presenting work in myriad genres, exploring a wide range of topics that allow us to examine who we are as individuals and as a society.
Constance: What do you hope audience members take away after experiencing your show?
Mayuri: It’s a sensory immersive experience; it is to be felt, not just intellectually understood. At its core, THE ANTI “YOGI” is a call to action, not only to reflect a mirror but to call out our own ignorance through humor and depth. I hope audiences are amused, moved, touched, and awakened.
Constance: What’s been your biggest challenge in terms of your development/creation process?
Mayuri: The writing. Without a doubt. Showing not telling, and getting past perfectionist syndrome to get the writing on its feet… because it changes a number of times anyway! Also, being the director/producer/marketer/etc. in every aspect; the performer and producer at the same time. I learned a lot, but it was definitely a challenge. I had a wonderful team I brought together – but I still have to execute in all areas!
Constance: What are you enjoying most as you create your show?
Mayuri: The opportunity to combine all my art forms to be a storyteller. I love rhythm; so to be able to express through visual poetry, live percussion, dance, acting and sound in one space with a cinematic feel of the stage has been amazing. I’m a mover, so it’s so wonderful to be able to use my body through all the characters, for my emotions and for the sentiment of the piece.
Constance: What has been the most surprising discovery?
Mayuri: At how much I can accomplish even when I think I’ve hit my limit or doubt myself. I have to give credit to my team: directors D’Lo & Shyamala Moorty, producer Jessica Johnson, my percussionist Neel Agrawal, my team at the Zephyr including Nick Foran, and my friends who have been helping my non-stop. Honestly, it’s been reaffirming to see myself bring all the pieces I envisioned together and trust my voice and my gut more – believe in myself more.
Constance: The work will be given away soon. How does that feel?
Mayuri: This piece and experiences have been with me for so many years – so to see it come out in a full body of work is something. Hopefully, I’m able to take it further and go deeper with the work. I also feel proud to see a big project like this through. It’s been a long time coming and gives way for my next piece to come out that has been brewing just as much.
This show is my Part 1 (focused on Spirituality) and my Part 2 is focused on Sensuality.
Constance: How long have you been sitting with this work?
Mayuri: Honestly, since I was in college or probably earlier, maybe even lifelong. I’ve had so many experiences that I didn’t realize were micro-aggressions or issues that needed to be addressed until later in my life. Initially, I thought “To each their own” and learned that what I was feeling was rooted in a much deeper issue. So though I didn’t recognize it then; it’s probably been since I was very little and accumulating over the years.
I’ve been wanting to do a one-person show for nearly 5 years now, and when the strike occurred last year I decided to work on the piece. The script started around the end of last year. I’ve been sitting with it for the past 7-8 months or so.
Constance: Why Fringe? Why this year?
Mayuri: I learned about Fringe last year after watching several shows and decided I wanted to be a part of it eventually. And when the strike happened, I knew this was the time.
Constance: Anything else that must be said – please add!
Mayuri: Thank you for taking a look at my show, for your time, and for the opportunity! This piece is a call to action and is about a practice much bigger than I – yet through my lens at the same time. I hope it resonates with many.
June is here and “Women on the Fringe” are again onstage!
There is nothing quite like the buzz that’s created during the Hollywood Fringe. It is a time filled with risk-taking, courage, hope and independent artists creating new work by any means necessary. Each year, I ask women writers a new series of questions influenced by the Proust Questionnaire and Bernard Pivot’s French series, “Bouillon de Culture.” The goal is to understand the artist’s work and their full nature while allowing them a space to reveal their authentic self. It is a great gift and a true honor to introduce women who will be presenting work in myriad genres, exploring a wide range of topics that allow us to examine who we are as individuals and as a society.
Sanchita Malik and Vee Kumari, l to r, in “Late Sunday…”
Constance: Vee, can you share your background as an actress and producer?
Vee: Growing up in the south of India, I loved words and books and wanted to become an English professor, but went to medical school instead. At the UC Davis School of Medicine and the USC Keck School of Medicine, teaching neuroanatomy to medical students was my passion. But I continued to read fiction. Since my retirement in 2012, I have pursued writing and acting as careers.
I am also an actor and have appeared in TV shows, including Criminal Minds, Anger Management, and Glow. In 2019, I produced and was the lead in the short film “HALWA,” which earned the first prize for the directors in HBO’s Asia Pacific American Visionaries contest. In 2022, I was the Executive Producer and lead in the short film “YATRA: The Journey,” which finished a successful festival circuit, winning many recognitions. Currently, I’m working on a feature script based on my debut novel, “Dharma, A Rekha Rao Mystery.”
I live in Los Angeles near my two daughters and their families.
Constance: What do you hope audience members take away after experiencing this show?
Vee: Don’t stop dreaming! Your dream could come true if you put your mind to it with courage, determination, and passion!
Constance: What’s been your biggest challenge regarding your creation process?
Vee: Sometimes, working with only one other actor can be challenging. I believe my fellow actor and I did go through this process, but we worked our way through it to a bonding performance!
Constance: What are you enjoying most about your show?
Vee: I want to be able to act my age, respect older women, and never take anything away from their needs, wants, and passions!
Constance: What has been the most surprising discovery?
Vee: Originally, it was just a play, but the more we worked through it, the closer it became to real life. This could be my story of transitioning from decades of being a scientist and a professor to an actor and writer after retirement. I will enjoy this run as long as there’s breath in me because it’s a gift! My mom is gone, or I could tell her, “Look, Ma, I did it anyway!”
Constance: The work will be given away soon – How does that feel?
Vee: Great! We are ready to share our discoveries with an audience!
Constance: How long have you been sitting with this work?
Vee: For over a year!
Constance: Why Fringe? Why this year?
Vee: I did Fringe last year with an ensemble show, but due to COVID, I was unable to perform. I wanted to give it another try on a smaller scale. Fringe is tough to do!
Constance: Anything else that must be said – please add!
June is here and “Women on the Fringe” are again onstage!
There is nothing quite like the buzz that’s created during the Hollywood Fringe. It is a time filled with risk-taking, courage, hope and independent artists creating new work by any means necessary. Each year, I ask women writers a new series of questions influenced by the Proust Questionnaire and Bernard Pivot’s French series, “Bouillon de Culture.” The goal is to understand the artist’s work and their full nature while allowing them a space to reveal their authentic self. It is a great gift and a true honor to introduce women who will be presenting work in myriad genres, exploring a wide range of topics that allow us to examine who we are as individuals and as a society.
Constance: What do you hope audience members take away after experiencing your show?
Sunita: My hope is that the audience walks away from my show inspired and having experienced a true emotional journey. Laughter, tears, joy and ultimately spiritually uplifted.
Constance: What’s been your biggest challenge in terms of your development/creation process?
Sunita: Initially, when I chose the stories from my life that I wanted to tell, it was important for me to create a real beginning, middle and end. In addition, I had to choose songs that spoke to me but that also illuminated or supported the stories I was telling.
Constance: What are you enjoying most as you create your show?
Sunita: At this point, I’ve done the show quite a bit over the last few years, but in this incarnation, I’m actually on a stage without being married to a standing microphone. I absolutely love the freedom, in all capacities, that it has provided me as an actor.
Constance: What has been the most surprising discovery?
Sunita: Not necessarily a surprise, but more of a gratified awareness, that I am capable of performing a 75-minute show – singing 14 songs and holding an audience’s attention.
Constance: The work will be given away soon. How does that feel?
Sunita: It’s incredibly empowering to have written my personal story. I will have shared myself completely and allowed myself to be vulnerable. That is powerful.
Constance: How long have you been sitting with this work?
Sunita: I have been wanting to do a show like this for over 15 years. And finally in early 2020, I began writing the show and making song choices. I’ve performed it several times all over CA and on the East Coast in the last 4 years – most recently in February at the Whitefire Theatre’s Solofest. So when I heard about the Fringe this year, I thought, “Why not?” Especially since I had just performed it. It was fresh. I also was attracted to the fact that it wouldn’t be a one-off performance. Having 3 performances over the span of 2 weeks gives me the opportunity to tweak, adjust, or just plain make it better than the last performance.
June is here and “Women on the Fringe” are again onstage!
There is nothing quite like the buzz that’s created during the Hollywood Fringe. It is a time filled with risk-taking, courage, hope and independent artists creating new work by any means necessary. Each year, I ask women writers a new series of questions influenced by the Proust Questionnaire and Bernard Pivot’s French series, “Bouillon de Culture.” The goal is to understand the artist’s work and their full nature while allowing them a space to reveal their authentic self. It is a great gift and a true honor to introduce women who will be presenting work in myriad genres, exploring a wide range of topics that allow us to examine who we are as individuals and as a society.
Introducing Christina V. Anthony and her show, “I Hope You Heal.”
Christina V. Anthony
Constance: What do you hope audience members take away after experiencing your show?
Christina: The themes of the show are identity, forgiveness, self-love, hope, healing and many more! For one of the most beautiful experiences of my life to turn into one of the cruelest was, quite simply, a mind fuck. There was a lot to process, learn and heal from. I want to give audiences a path to healing. All my work is deeply rooted in my identity and staunch female empowerment. I hope audiences will leave feeling emboldened to be their most honest, strong and vulnerable selves. The message I plan to convey through the show is that even when you feel like you’ve lost your inner strength, you can heal and bounce back stronger!
Constance: What’s been your biggest challenge in terms of your development/creation process?
Christina: One of the biggest challenges was editing. My first draft was over 30 pages long and I had to get it down to 10 pages. When I started writing the piece, I wasn’t positive if I wanted it to be for print or the stage. I wrote it in a more prose style, so after I realized I wanted to perform it, I had to rewrite the whole thing to work better for a live performance.
Constance: What are you enjoying most as you create your show?
Christina: I am enjoying the strength I’ve gained by reframing one of the most painful experiences of my life into one of the greatest gifts of my life. It took a lot of time, reflection and self-awareness for me to see the beauty in pain. I now feel like the smartest, strongest, sexiest version of myself. I owe a lot of my growth to the wisdom I gained by writing this show.
Constance: What has been the most surprising discovery?
Christina: One of the most surprising discoveries was how much the audience laughed watching the show. I have been producing and performing in comedy shows for 8 years, so I do try to find humorous moments in my writing. This piece can be very sad and I thought that would be the overwhelming tone, but instead I was greeted with laughter throughout the piece. I’m proud of the balance I managed to create and the moments of levity I am able to give the audience.
Constance: The work will be given away soon. How does that feel?
Christina: It feels scary and exciting to debut this show. I’ve never felt so exposed before in my work. Theater gets different criticism than comedy shows, so this is new for me. I hope people like it and understand that this was intentionally the bare-bones version and I would like to keep developing different performative elements. I know there are always improvements that can be made, but for right now I just want to celebrate the fact that I put this dang thing up and put my whole heart into it!
Constance: How long have you been sitting with this work?
Christina: It took me 3 years to write this show. It has gone through over 20 drafts and has changed dramatically from the 1st draft. I would meticulously edit the piece and then not be able to look at it for a couple of months, then repeat the process of detailed revision. After I brought on a director, we went through another 10 rounds of edits. It was exhausting, but I’m so glad I stuck with it. I’m so proud of the final piece. I’d love to share it with as many people as possible!!
Constance: Why Fringe? Why this year?
Christina: I’d been holding on to this piece for years and honestly wasn’t sure if I’d ever have the guts to put it up. A friend asked me to do their show where artists do live readings of something they’ve been working on but have never been in front of an audience. I did a live reading of a cut-down 10-minute version. The audience loved it! I was so overwhelmed by the praise, that I knew I had no choice but to go through with it. I debated whether I wanted to just rent a space and put it up, but ultimately I wanted its debut to be a part of a community. I chose Fringe 2024 because of the community aspect of the festival. 2024 marks the 8th year that I’ve been performing and I approached this year as the year I would do everything that scares me. No fears in 2024!
Constance: Anything else that must be said – please add!
Christina: There are two more shows! Tuesday, June 18th @ 6:30pm and Sunday, June 30th @ 7:00pm at The Broadwater Second Stage. You can find more of my work on my website: christinavanthony.com and the show’s Insta is @ihopeyouhealshow. Thanks!
June is here and “Women on the Fringe” are again onstage!
There is nothing quite like the buzz that’s created during the Hollywood Fringe. It is a time filled with risk-taking, courage, hope and independent artists creating new work by any means necessary. Each year, I ask women writers a new series of questions influenced by the Proust Questionnaire and Bernard Pivot’s French series, “Bouillon de Culture.” The goal is to understand the artist’s work and their full nature while allowing them a space to reveal their authentic self. It is a great gift and a true honor to introduce women who will be presenting work in myriad genres, exploring a wide range of topics that allow us to examine who we are as individuals and as a society.
Constance: What do you hope audience members take away after experiencing your show?
Marisa: I hope more than anything that audience members leave with more questions of their own. Our show talks about a lot of big ideas in a very silly and absurd way, which I love, but I hope it can serve as a conversation starter for some of those big ideas.
Constance: What’s been your biggest challenge in terms of your development/creation process?
Marisa: Allowing myself to just let the project go. I found myself still trying to make edits, and it got to a point where I had to just cut it off and give it up to creatives who I could trust to bring it to life.
Constance: What are you enjoying most as you create your show?
Marisa: Watching my director and actors find new nuances and meanings that I didn’t even realize I was writing into the show. In particular, some of the jokes are being added to both visually and sonically in a way I couldn’t have ever imagined. Though that makes sense – my friends and co-creators are all funnier than me!
Constance: What has been the most surprising discovery?
Marisa: In the rehearsal process, we ended up finding mantras that we started repeating at the beginning of every run. One of those was to “find the love” and compassion in every scene, no matter what was happening in it. This isn’t exactly groundbreaking I suppose, but it served as a reminder that theater is about caring deeply, and even in moments of anger or tragedy, it’s impossible to carry out without a strong core of love – for the characters and for the craft.
Constance: The work will be given away soon. How does that feel?
Marisa: Definitely anxiety-inducing, but also cathartic in a way! I’ve been sitting on it for so long that it’s nice to finally call it done – at least for this phase of its lifespan.
Constance: How long have you been sitting with this work?
Marisa: I wrote the first draft of this play in 2019, and largely forgot about it until recently, when I went back and reread it and found myself genuinely entertained. Since then, I started soft pitching it as just an informal table read, and when we finally did the read this past October, I had actors come up to me afterward asking that I please put it up somewhere. That felt like the kick I needed to actually take the next step and produce it.
Constance: Why Fringe? Why this year?
Marisa: In a world that feels increasingly disconnected from community and the events that shape our lives, Amen questions how things have been, and how we can take back control over our narratives. Who decides the way that things are, or how we think? If they were relevant once, are they relevant now?
Constance: Anything else that must be said – please add!
Marisa: I’ve had a few people come up to me and ask dubiously if the play was religious – and while it sure does feature God as a main character, I’d issue the disclaimer that God is as much a fictitious character as any other in this play. We don’t discuss or touch on any institutional religion at all – so feel free to come ready to laugh and immerse yourself in a world only slightly similar to our own!
