Category Archives: Female Artists

The FPI Files: New “Winter’s Tale” Speaks to Our Time

Director, Female Artists, Interview, playwriting, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Sarah Garic

Why do we go back to Shakespeare? Time may pass, whole centuries even, and yet these plays continue to show that we humans are working through the same things… over and over again. So then, what changes? I like to think that you can never listen to a song and hear it exactly the same as you did before. Maybe there’s something new that sparked – a chord, a thought, a color… because the day, time, setting, potentially you were different. And in this particularly interesting moment in history, I wonder… what will resonate with the audience – with you! – in a play in which a king exerts violent power over his family, his subjects, at the harm of those he holds most dear, potentially even himself?

Tracy Young first lifted The Winter’s Tale into modern verse through Play On Shakespeare, a non-profit company promoting and creating contemporary modern translations of Shakespeare’s plays. For Tracy, a director and playwright with a deep portfolio spanning new plays to translations and adaptations, accessibility is a driving force: “Shakespeare wrote for everybody to be able to enjoy the plays; he was not an elitist.”

Now, you may be thinking, “I don’t know if I buy that; Shakespeare isn’t for me.” And you’re probably not alone in that sentiment. My mom once told me she would have to take a class before she could understand Shakespeare’s plays. I feel you mom! I’ve taken many Shakespeare classes, acted in his plays, and feel like I’m barely scratching the surface.

Tracy Young

Tracy hears us, she hears my mom, and all those who may think that Shakespeare stands on a lofty pedestal unreachable for us mere mortals. That is exactly why she is doing this work. Her goal is to render this play as something that can and should engage everyone. So the question is, what might spark with you now in Tracy Young and Lisa Wolpe’s adapted The Winter’s Tale, playing at the Skylight Theatre Company? And what will you hear in 5, 10, 15 years down the road if you chance across this play again? Here’s hoping that the tyrannical king will resonate a bit less.

And on that note, Tracy and I dove right into the juicy stuff.

Sarah Garic: What is resonating now, in the rehearsal room, with all that is happening in the U.S., in the world; metaphysically, spiritually…?

Tracy Young: The original theme is about a man who gives in to false thinking. He suspects his wife and best friend of having an affair… Hmm we’ve definitely seen that storyline before! Horrible consequences role out as a result of conspiratorial, paranoid, and destructive thought processes. This really resonates with the rampant online ecosphere of disinformation, conspiracy-minded thinking and weaponized information that we are living through right now. And this play is asking, what are the consequences of weaponized information? Time will reveal the long-term harms, but certainly the characters’ and people’s ideologies are being shaped by things that may not be true.

Misha Osherovich as Perdita & Israel Erron Ford in “The Winter’s Tale” – photo by Jason Williams courtesy of Skylight Theatre Company

Sarah: Is there a particular character whose story was emphasized in this adaptation?

Tracy: We emphasized the role of Perdita, which means little lost one. She is the daughter of King Leontes and Queen Hermione. Royalty is her curse, and she is sent away and uprooted from who she is, her home, her original place in the world. She grows up in these other places and with other people.

In our adaptation, the actor who plays that role is trans and the character is trans. We focus on the theme of trans-ness and trans-identity, ensuring that there is textual support. In fact, a lot of Shakespeare’s plays integrate trans-ness.

This culture currently has heightened weaponization of language against trans-culture and trans-identity. The character’s marginalization has resonance with her trans-ness as well.

I find that no matter who we are or how we identify, we can recognize ourselves and what it means to be alive and navigate ourselves and the world with these plays as a support. This is why I find Shakespeare’s plays incredibly adaptable to the exploration of modern themes and language.

Sarah: I want to hop back to the idea of being displaced from community. How do you address the question of whether we have agency in choosing who is our community and where is our home? Is Perdita – and the broader “we” – forever stuck with who our father is, etc.?

Tracy: That is really interesting because in the original text, the characters all reunite after a 16-year flash forward. Time has been a factor, and the king is sort of welcomed back into the community. There is a controversial ending in which they are all reunited and there is forgiveness and even happiness maybe.

In the adaptation, we’ve changed some of the way that the last moments play out. We, and particularly the character of Hermione, wrestle with the question, Can you embrace your husband after experiencing such trauma? Should you? In the original, Hermione embraces Leontes.

Misha Osherovich, Spencer Jamison as Hermoine & Daniel DeYoung as Leontes – photo by Jason Williams courtesy of Skylight Theatre Company

Sarah: She embraces the monster. I am really curious by how we deal with monsters. If Hermione embraces Leontes in the original, is it possible that Leontes becomes less scary to her?

Tracy: A lot of times when Leontes is portrayed, he is the villain until he’s not. Somehow the monster is able to find humanity at the end of the play; it lets people off the hook for complicity with the own monsters that we may carry.

In this adaptation, I try to humanize Leontes from the beginning. Leontes has a lot of internalized trauma. The play wants to relate to all the characters in some way; no one is excluded. Shakespeare creates worlds where there are complexity and nuance because humans are so complicated and contradictory.

In the journey that Leontes takes, you see how hideous and destructive he is, and yet, you see and track what were the things that contributed to that … what kind of things set the stage? And we explore that without forcing forgiveness or diminishing the culpability of what the person has done.

In this adaptation, we are actively reckoning with the complexity of doing harm in all the different ways.

Shaan Dasani, Victoria Hoffman, Daniel DeYoung, Israel Erron Ford, Quest Sapp, Iman Nazemzadeh, KT Vogt, Misha Osherovich & Spencer Jamison – Jason Williams courtesy of Skylight Theatre Company

Sarah: Going to need to soak that one in… Switching gears here, what does a modern translation and then adaptation entail?

Tracy: For a modern translation, the first directive is do no harm. When you think it needs to change, the goal is to really interrogate why it needs to change before you change it

Then, the overarching goal is to make the writing more accessible, which of course is going to be subjective. I used my own sensibility and experience being a theatre-maker for many, many years.

For example, with the syntax: often we don’t speak that way anymore; we use a different vocabulary, a different way of forming phrases. I’m looking to unravel the syntax knot while keeping the iambic pentameter structure. With a modern translation, we can stay in time with the play rather than struggling with the language being too antiquated.

There are also events of the past that the audience would have recognized back then, but that are not recognizable now. In some cases, there is a modern equivalent that speaks in a similar way. My mission is to try and find a modern-day analog while keeping the verse intact.

Sarah: Whew, that’s not for the faint of heart!

Tracy: Oh! And the comedy! One of the main challenges is the comedy; comedy needs to be situated in the present-day for us to understand it. Jokes have their own timing and construction of syntax; they also require content accessibility. Ever been in a theatre when some people laugh, but most don’t get it?

Iman Nazemzadeh, Quest Sapp, Israel Erron Ford, Daniel DeYoung & KT Vogt – photo by Jason Williams courtesy of Skylight Theatre Company

Sarah: Yup, that’s been me… once, twice, thrice?

Tracy: In this play, there are a bunch of moments that are comedic bits. I try to deal with the jokes by asking, what kind of a joke is it? And then you try to re-write it in a way that people will recognize!

“The Winter’s Tale” by William Shakespeare, in modern verse translation by Tracy Young, adapted by Lisa Volpe and Tracy Young and directed by Tracy Young, produced by Gary Grossman and Armando Huipe for Skylight Theatre Company in Los Feliz, runs through June 14th. For tickets call  (213) 761-7061 or www.skylighttheatre.org

The FPI Files: Laura Shamas Recounts Her Passion For “Four Women in Red”

Female Artists, Interview, playwriting, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Leilani Squire

I recently had the honor of speaking with playwright and LAFPI Co-Founder Laura Annawyn Shamas (Chickasaw Nation). She wrote Four Women In Red now playing at The Victory Theatre in Burbank.

The play is about four Indigenous women who are the survivors of their missing relatives and friends, who are devastated by the loss, and yet who continue to search for the missing against all odds of finding their loved ones.  Laura said that it was hard writing the play because of the subject matter. But she is passionate about it and wants change and so she wrote a play. She realizes that it is hard on the actors and the director because they have to relive the trauma during the rehearsal process and performances. However, the director and the actors are willing to go to those places over and over in spite of the emotional toll doing the play has on them.

“The ending is something people have not seen before,” Laura said when we talked about the power and beauty of the production. The four women onstage create a memorable final stage picture of unity and determination … and defiance.

Zoey Reyes, Harriette Feliz, Jehnean Washington and Carolyn Dunn in “Four Women In Red” – Photo by Tim Sullens

In the play, one of the female characters says, “It always falls to us.” It is the women who keep taking action. It is the women who support each other. It is the women who keep the hope alive. The four characters embody the strength and resilience of Native American Women, and the search for justice. Laura said that “these women” have been resisting systemic oppression for hundreds of years. They have been fighting against the oppression. What she means by “these women” are not only the four women in the play—but all Indigenous women.

She said, “Story is medicine. This is what is taught in the tribal way. This is what the tribes teach.”

Playwright Laura Shamas – Photo by Stephanie Girard

Laura believes in the magic of theater and theater as an art form. She went on to say, “The playwright helps the audience to experience a temporary collective. There is an electrical, an alchemical response when sitting in the audience with others and watching actors perform on stage. A lived interaction. An aliveness. Something about the live interaction of experiencing the actors in real time – this is an active response. Not passive like watching a streaming video or a movie that takes place in the past, even if the story is in the present. Watching a play on stage is active – living and experiencing in the moment. We need this kind of collective experience now as a society. We need to cry and laugh together. This is what theater is about. This is the magic of theater. And we need the magic and the collective more than ever.”

With all the divisiveness and prejudices and everything else happening in the world, we do need the magic and the collective experience of live theater more than ever. As I sat in the audience and watched Four Women In Red, I felt as if I was experiencing the story and the journey of the characters in community. I felt the immediacy and aliveness of each moment. and I sensed the audience experiencing the same.

Harriette Feliz, Jehnean Washington, Carolyn Dunn and Zoey Reyes – Photo by Tim Sullens

I asked Laura, what did she learn as a person as she wrote the play. Her answer encompassed more than the writing of the play, but the process and journey that began five years ago: “I will always need to keep learning. I will always try to keep learning. As an artist.”

Laura said she was at every rehearsal, wondering how to make it better, and that she changed words during the last of the rehearsals. She added, “I feel very humbled by the show. I still have a lot to learn about the topic.”

Laura hopes to bring attention to the important topic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives. She hopes to shine a light on the issue so that people will be aware of what is happening and to take action. And she says she is proud to have been a small part of the larger picture. “If some change happens, no matter how small, if someone takes action because they saw the play, then this five-year journey will be worth it.”

“My hope is that once they see the play, they can’t stop thinking about the issue – the issue of missing native women,” Laura continued.

The systemic oppression Native women experience is another issue that people need to bring attention and take action to in order for change to happen. “A chorus of voices to bring real action is what is needed now, “ she said.

Carolyn Dunn, Jehnean Washington, Harriette Feliz and Zoey Reyes – Photo by Tim Sullens

I said that, to me, the ending of the play is a call to action. She thanked me for seeing that. She emphasized that, “There are a few calls to actions in the play.”

Laura suggested a few ways that we can help bring awareness and to take action:

  1. Call your Representative and ask what they are doing about the issue.
  2. Go to National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) website and donate.  The website is https://www.niwrc.org
  3. Be part of a search for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.  

During opening weekend, Tayana Viscarra (Piro-Tewa Pueblo, Apache, Kumiai, European) and Norm Sands (Apache, Yaqui, European), co-founders and leaders of Way of the Sacred Mountain, an indigenous-led, grassroots partnership providing healing and support for families and communities affected by Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), talked to the audience after the performance. They talked about conducting searches, and they may be a place to find how to be part of a search. Their website is https://www.wayofthesacredmountain.org

At the end of our dialogue, Laura offered this advice to playwrights: “Write something you care about. Write what you’re passionate about. What is it you care most about and what do you want to tell the audience about?”

I thought of the plays that I’m writing and how I’m passionate about them and how I love the characters and how they are alive within my life and how I’m alive with their lives. And Laura’s advice makes me even more determined to finish the plays – even though one may always be working on the play, according to Laura – and get it out into the world.

“Four Women In Red” by Laura Annawyn Shamas (Chickasaw Nation), Directed by Jeanette Harrison (Descendent of the Onondaga Nation), Produced by Maria Gobetti runs through March 23, Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 4:00pm, at The Victory Theatre Center in Burbank. For tickets call (818) 841-5421 or visit thevictorytheatrecenter.org.

The taste of fire

Female Artists, Home, Playwright, playwriting, Writing

The view from my house on Tuesday, January 7, 2025

by Cynthia Wands

January 11, 2025

It’s Saturday afternoon. I’m writing this while I’m watching the smoke from the Palisades Fire continue to menace the skyline. I’ve been on evacuation alert since Tuesday, when I packed up my car, reassured the cat (Ted) that we’re in this together, and that we’ll leave once I’m given a Mandatory Evacuation Order. It’s been four days of trying to remain calm and organized during the power outages, the buzz of evacuation alerts, and the sleepless nights hunched over the phone, tracking the Watch Duty fire maps.

Dear friends have lost everything, their house burned to the ground that Tuesday night. And so did thousands of their neighbors. The images of the neighborhoods charred beyond recognition look like the aftermath of the bombings in Dresden during World War Two.

And there’s a lot in this disaster that reminds me of what war might be like: the constant awareness that at any moment your life could be shattered; knowing that other lives have already been ravaged; there’s the unexpected roar of helicopters, and the shock of the hurricane winds that slammed through that dark night; the occasional burst of acrid smoke that make your eyes water; and the scent of burnt everything when you step outside to see if the fire is on the ridge line.

You get jumpy. And bursts of emotion can surprise you. Last night a friend was online with me as we were both yelling at the newscasters ON THE TELEVISION. I know. I know they can’t hear us, but it was the only yelling we could do. HOW MANY HELICOPTERS ARE ON THEIR WAY? WHERE’S THE FIRE? STOP THE STAMMERING! WHERE? WHERE IS IT? STOP IT!

That kind of thing. You’re so helpless that the only sense of engagement is yelling at the television. At least the power was on.

I’m thinking that these fires, and the disaster of these fires, will change the stories we tell about our life here in Los Angeles. We’ve had other fires, and earthquakes, and riots. And mudslides. But this disaster feels differently for me – its about the four elements: fire, air, water, earth. Its about home and refuge and community.

It’s also about the thousand little things we live with, the thousands of decisions we make about the things in our life. When I was packing up the car in case I needed to evacuate, I had to evaluate the value of any item I would carry away with me. And that’s when the story of my life here became a kind of inventory – what do you take with you when you have to leave everything else behind? After I packed up the legal documents, the computer, the medicines, cat treats, my grandmother’s quilt, Eric’s artwork – then I paused. Could I fit the artwork on the walls in the car? Family portraits? Some of it would fit. But could I fit the big pieces of artwork, the big paintings, the six foot mannequin, the six panel art screen – maybe not. The family china? The books? Oh, the many books – do I have time to go through my favorite books? Maybe I’d get more books. Later.

And that’s when the story became a thousand different stories. The mosaic of my life here: when I lived here with Eric, as I’ve lived here without him, the dinner parties with the fancy wine glasses. I felt every object asking “Would you take me?”

In the end, I took what I could. I hope I’ll be able to unpack it all when the evacuation alerts end, and the air is cleared of smoke, and the bits of the mosaic of lives burnt by fire finds a new pattern.

Just now I stepped outside to watch the trees thrash around in the winds. The air tasted like fire.

Entering the Twilight Zone

Female Artists, Performing Arts, Play, Playwright, playwriting, Reading,

by Chelsea Sutton

This summer felt a little Twilight Zone-y. I got the opportunity to travel to Valdez, Alaska for the annual conference there and to Ivins, Utah for the Kayenta New Play Lab — both for readings of my play The Abundance.

The play, as I’ve come around to understanding, is a horror play, though, like most things I write, I didn’t know it was horror until I shared it with a wider group of people. In one feedback session after a reading in Utah, an audience member said that the play was a like an extended Twilight Zone episode written at the height of Rod Serling’s abilities. And I truly can’t think of a better compliment I have ever (or will ever) receive.

Why am I sharing this? For bragging rights? Maybe. Partly because the way new play development goes these days, this may be the last time this play is ever performed in front of an audience. It may disappear as swiftly and suddenly as Lt. Harrington in Season 1 Episode 11 of The Twilight Zone. So I have to try to hold on to the moments that mean something to me. That make me feel like I succeeded in getting something across and clear, at least to one person.

The author Lincoln Michel wrote an article recently about the fleeting and fickle nature of literary (and in our case theatrical) fame and memory. Who decides what lasts, what is remembered, what continues to be seen, produced, read years from now. You won’t recognize the books on the best sellers list from 1924, nor probably the plays produced on stages then. Why should we assume anything we create will have meaning in 2124? And there’s an unsettling feeling in that realization. And a freeness.

Many of the episodes of The Twilight Zone that I love are about the desire for more time, about figuring out how to let go or being plucked from existence or entering a new plane of reality altogether or being forced to experience something over and over again. They are about the smallness of the horror of our existence — the beauty and terror of things that matter so much to our little lives and how they are swallowed up by the outside world.

I guess I’m ruminating on this because I don’t get invited to conferences and new play labs very often, and until its proven otherwise this may be the last summer it ever happens. It was a strange summer — to feel like I was in community with people who cared about the work, and to also feel like I don’t know where theatre is going, that it has more often than not been a fickle partner in this life, and I can’t count on it. Theatre still thinks she is quite important even in the yawning maw of everything else happening in the world. And I want to believe her when she says so, but I suppose I’m trying to stake less and less of my identity in that notion.

All I can do is enjoy the red mountains of Southern Utah, and the endless waterfalls of Alaska, and the little bit of laughter and applause that echo across them, and try to ignore that maybe I’m living in an extended Twilight Zone episode, and the moment I say out loud that there’s time enough at last…time will have run out. In case we get to the end of the episode and find out theatre was only a rumor or an illusion by Fate or an alien experiment. Or the last pitch we make to Death himself before we take his hand.

The FPI Files: Subverting Ancient Narratives – Dido of Idaho

Female Artists, playwriting, Production, Theaters, , , , , , , , , , ,

by Carolina Pilar Xique

In Dido of Idaho, playwright Abby Rosebrock challenges her main character, Nora, and audiences to change the stories we tell ourselves, by framing Nora’s tale in a story many of us know so well: the Myth of Dido & Aeneas (wherein the Queen of Carthage falls desperately and tragically in love with the Trojan hero Aeneas).

Abby is a Brooklyn-based writer and actress from South Carolina. Her work has been commissioned, developed and produced throughout New York City and across the country. Other full-length works include Wilma, Blue Ridge, Singles in Agriculture, Monks Corner and Ruby the Freak in the Woods. Abigail Deser directs the West Coast premiere of Dido of Idaho, produced by The Echo Theater Company. Dido of Idaho is a dark comedy about “the lengths to which a woman might go for the love of a good man.”

I wrote to Abby about the production to learn more about her process, the inspiration of the Grecian story of Dido and Aeneas, and balancing the weight of economic inequities with humor and grief.

Carolina Xique: What inspired you to write this piece and how has it grown since its inception?

Abby Rosebrock

Abby Rosebrock: Recently, I read a piece on the filmmaker Catherine Breillat that said she’s exploring the way heterosexuality deranges women. I was like “Damn, well said.”

That’s kind of exactly what I was trying to do with Dido of Idaho, though in a completely different mode, when I wrote it. But there were a million other motives and inspirations. I’d had a long-standing desire to work with the Dido myth, which had been haunting me since I first came across [Henry] Purcell’s music in high school and Virgil’s poem in college.

Recurring dreams I was having about my mother found their way into the play, too. And another impetus was the desire to write some wild female leads that were funnier than I’d seen before. As far as the piece’s growth, I think the story has gotten sharper over the years. Seeing it come to life in different regions and contexts has helped me zero in on what’s essential in the story and prune away the rest. 

Alana Deitze and Joby Earle – Photo by Makela Yepez Photography

Carolina: You say that you wanted to “write about a woman who feels hopeless of ever being loved, and to imagine a way out of that for her.” How have the references to the elements of the story of Dido & Aeneas brought this piece to life?

Abby: I love the portrayals of Dido in both Purcell and Virgil. They’re gorgeously crafted and I think largely very empathetic. Of course, in those versions, Dido is destroyed, and I wanted to write a story about a woman who survives. But those works very much inform the play; Purcell’s music and narrative elements from Virgil are woven into the script. The myth has literally determined the course of Nora’s life, insofar as she’s a musicologist who studies the opera for her livelihood.

She’s also living out a narrative of abandonment and annihilation in her romantic relationship. So it’s a play about how painful it is to be trapped inside of a compelling but ultimately destructive story about oneself. I think everyone struggles with that at some point or another. How do you break out of some terrible intoxicating pattern and start creating a life you love?

Nicole DuPort and Alana Dietze – Photo by Makela Yepez Photography

Carolina: What has the rehearsal process been like and how have your thoughts about the play evolved?

Abby: It started with a Zoom reading that was instrumental in helping me evolve the script. I feel I have a more objective relationship to the story and characters than I’ve ever had. And I’ve loved being in conversation with this team across the time zones.

Carolina: How has it been, balancing the hilarity and the weight of the themes you’re dealing with?

Abby: It was a doozy to write. I’d be confronting memories that brought up deep grief, and then I’d try to crack myself up with jokes to snap out of it. So the script has this quality of vacillating between darkness and delight. Hopefully that makes for a fun and rewarding creative process, even though it demands a lot from everyone.

Carolina: And why this play today, right now?

Julie Dretzin and Elissa Middleton – Photo by Makela Yepez Photography

Abby: There’s an economic context to the play that often escapes notice but that shapes everyone’s actions. The only person in the play with a stable income is Michael, a tenured professor at a university. His wife and his lover are both pathologically attached to him because they see him as a source of security—not just emotional but material security. Nora’s brilliant and has a job but her life is especially precarious; Michael’s wife, Crystal, a teacher who desperately wants a kid, wouldn’t have the funds to raise children on her own. And her mother is ill, so medical bills loom over the story. These characters long for a partner to the point of self-destruction because the future for a broke single woman in America is so bleak.

If there’s one timely argument I hope people take away, it’s that economic inequality brings out everyone’s worst instincts and creates immense suffering. Nora triumphs insofar as she becomes a person who can see this economy for what it is and stand for something different.

“Dido of Idaho” plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. through August 26 at Atwater Village Theatre, located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039.. All Monday night performances are pay-what-you-want. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (747) 350-8066 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.

Know a female or FPI-friendly theater, company or artist? Contact us at [email protected] & check out The FPI Files for more stories.

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#FringeFemmes 2024: Meet Carmen Kartini Rohde

Female Artists, Fringe Festival, Interview, playwriting

By Constance Strickland

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!

For info and tickets visit https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10555

#FringeFemmes 2024: Meet Victoria Montalbano

Female Artists, Fringe Festival, Interview, playwriting

By Constance Strickland

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 Victoria Montalbano and her show, “The Princess Strikes Back: One Woman’s Search for the Space Cowboy of her Dreams.“

Victoria Montalbano

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!

Victoria: Just that I have 2 more shows, Thursday, 6/27 at 7pm and Saturday, 6/29 at Midnight! http://www.victorianotvicky.com/

For info and tickets visit https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10624

#FringeFemmes 2024: A Chat With Bonnie He

Female Artists, Fringe Festival, Interview, Producing, , , , ,

By Eloise Coopersmith

Bonnie He is an Asian American actor, improviser,  writer, award-winning physical comedian and clown and Hello Kitty super fan.  At #HHF24 she added producer to that list [co-producing “Recolonizers” – LAFPI nods to the show’s femme writers Megan Sass & Keisha Zollar]. I caught up with her before she headed out in her European tour for her solo show, “A Terrible Show for Terrible People.” 

Bonnie He – photo by Nicol Biesek

Eloise: When did you first start performing and what have been a few of your favorite fringe stops/experiences?

Bonnie: My very first Fringe experience was at Hollywood Fringe in 2022 with my clown show, “A Terrible Show for Terrible People.” I originally debuted it back in 2018, and I began studying clowning in 2014, so it took me 8 years to begin my Fringe journey. Hollywood Fringe holds a special place in my heart; I received the Diversity Scholarship, won Best Comedy, and met lifelong friends which has made HFF incredibly memorable. Another cherished experience was at Orlando Fringe Winter-Mini Fest, which was exceptionally welcoming and well-organized. Say what you will about Florida, but Orlando is truly magic.

Eloise: You have been very successful at the Fringe with audiences and awards. What does success mean to you?  Is it a packed house, income, creative satisfaction…?

Bonnie: Not gonna lie, for me a successful show has to start with a packed audience. That’s the risk of doing an interactive clown show – you don’t have a show if you don’t have an audience. At one of my first festivals, before I understood how to market my show, I had like only 2 people in the audience and I had no choice but to use them both twice. It was not really a pleasant experience for everyone involved haha. When the audience is full, there’s a synergy that just sparks, and I love feeling the joy of the audience – a lot of them discovering clowning for the first time.

Eloise: You have served as Fringe mentor and producer – what drew you to be more than “just a performer?”

Bonnie: At the Fringe, you wear many hats – you’re not just a performer but also a producer. I believe in being a self-starter; if you don’t produce your own work, who will? I really enjoyed producing my own show and felt that I could help other people get their show on their feet. There’s a joy in helping bring something to life. I feel very grateful I was asked to produce “Recolonizers” for the Hollywood Fringe this year, to help them bring their exciting ideas to life.

Eloise: What makes the Fringe experience different for you?

Bonnie: The Fringe experience is uniquely inspiring. It’s a gathering of dreamers and creators, all striving to realize their artistic visions. The energy and excitement are palpable, making it a truly special environment to be in.

Eloise: Last, one world of advice for Fringers and/or for those out there thinking of coming to see shows? 

Bonnie: For Fringers and those attending shows alike, my advice is simple: immerse yourself in the diverse offerings the Fringe has to offer. Take chances on new and unconventional performances—you never know what hidden gem you might discover. And of course, don’t miss “Recolonizers,” a wild ride of a show that promises to entertain and provoke thought. Catch us on Thursday, 6/27 at 8pm and Saturday, 6/29 at 2:30pm.

For info and tickets visit https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10841

#FringeFemmes 2024: Meet Bethany Hill

Female Artists, Fringe Festival, Global Feminism, Interview, playwriting

By Constance Strickland

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.

For info and tickets visit https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10601

#FringeFemmes 2024: Meet Mayuri Bhandari

Female Artists, Fringe Festival, Interview, playwriting

By Constance Strickland

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 Mayuri Bhandari and her show, THE ANTI “YOGI”:

Mayuri Bhandari

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.

https://linktr.ee/mayuribhandari

For info and tickets visit https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10384