WHY: I was immediately drawn into the vivid and delicious writing from Emmy Weismann and invested in the changing lives of Aviva and Chava onstage. We as the audience are given a beautiful opportunity to witness the inner thoughts and workings of a friendship on the brink of morphing, and given an insight into the orthodox Jewish world of a Mikvah, which is usually private.
The play is not only witty and hilarious, it is disturbing and eloquent. Emmy tackles sexual deprivation, domestic violence, the love that exists in female friendships and one’s devotion to culture and heritage while also wanting to honor identity and heart. These are not easy subjects to handle, yet Emma does it with sensitivity, humor and most importantly, love. I also loved hearing the girls speak Hebrew during the play. What makes a great play is its ability to capture the heart in ways that remind us we are connected as humans. I need not know what they were saying, for my body understood. The beautiful ensemble showed us the many shades and variations of what it means to live as an orthodox Jewish girl. Maya Knell, Rachel Wender and Sofia Joanna don’t hold anything back.
WHY: As you walk into the Zephyr Theatre, you realize immediately that you are in for a very playful ride. You are now on the set of The Ramon Show, hosted by queer, Puerto Rican Drag King Ramón for a live taping of a socially conscious Late Night Comedy Show. There are bubbles, there are dragons, there are prizes… but then, there are powerful – but still playful – conversations with important social impact, right now, for all of us. In the “taping” I attended, there was a revelation about renter’s rights that was a MAJOR contribution for so many in the audience. If social and civics lesson were always this engaging, we’d all be better off.
WHY:Because Mayuri onstage is a force to be reckoned with. Because she not only gives us a history of yoga but also the very importance of its existence in a context never discussed. Because her relationship with her musician Neel onstage transcends the show on levels my body is still digesting. Because she addresses the audience without fear of retribution. Because she names the white cultural appropriation and colonization of yoga in such a direct manner that you undeniably understand the effects it can have, not only on a culture but also on one’s identity. Because she gives form to numerous characters and deities in a physical manner that is a pleasure to witness.
I loved being in the audience – Mayuri’s energy and commitment to her work are contagious. The performance she gives is personal, a revelation of self, and as she embodies her parents you are given a generous glimpse into the dynamics of an Indian family, something we need more of in the theatre. This magnetic offering rewrites the falsities of yoga and takes back the power of an ancient practice that starts with the self and goes way beyond the practice of physical postures.
WHY: Chicago-based Writer/Actor Victoria Montalbano opens the show dressed in a sexy Princess Leia outfit, making it clear that this show will have Star Wars references and that the heroine will be badass! She cleverly incorporates Star Wars references into a very interesting and relatable life story filled with messy relationships, life lessons and ultimately a transformation that is so very satisfying to witness. Montalbano does not shy away from the details, including her experiences with online dating – she once dated a C-3PO. A majority of the audience members this particular evening happened to be women and we were smitten with her. Montalbano knows how to tell a good story. As one audience member accurately said after her show, she is charming! The show is funny and the writing is crisp, detailed and exciting – EVEN if you have never watched Star Wars. She’s a relatable performer who entertained and made us cheer for her the whole evening. This show has one more performance and deserves a good, boisterous audience!
WHY:I thought of my grandmother Addie Mae Brown as I watched this ever-changing but full-of-love relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter [producer/performer Vee Kumari and Sanchita Malik]. This play is a mighty and much-needed gem that is beautifully written by Jean Lennox Toddie. It features a rarely explored cross-generational relationship and validates the importance of us needing to see a wide range of relationships and ages onstage, where women have the opportunity to explore their inner emotional lives and have the space and projects to express them. This is the type of play that is vital to the American Theatre canon and deserves and needs to be uplifted and supported. You can call it a feminist play but ultimately it is a play exploring what it means to be human. How do we live our best and fullest lives in the face of aging and how can we spend the time we have left? It was a great delight to see the South Indian textiles; to have cultural references only elevated this necessary piece of theatre. It was a wonderful treat to see Vee onstage whose craft as well as her accumulated years on the stage were priceless lessons.
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!
WHY:I was immediately taken in by Italome’s onstage presence. As she entered, dancing, she addressed us directly and thanked us for being in the space with her… then all of a sudden she excused herself, grabbed a bottle of pills and began to swallow them down with a glass of water. It’s striking, startling and disrupts every expectation you had when walking into the theatre. It is a priceless lesson on the power of writing and how acting serves as a powerful tool in telling stories. What I loved about this show was that I could enter into African mythology via the Nigerian American lens – a lens that as an African-American woman, I do not often have a chance to experience. As I closed my eyes, I could see, hear and longed for Africa and my arrival at the Lagos airport she so deliciously described.
Mermaid is a story rooted in culture, memory, magic and heartbreak. The hopes and dreams a mother has moving her family to America ultimately will split the ties that bind her in ways that will crush your soul. Yet do not despair, for Italome’s dynamic and gentle performance brings you into the world of her family. Witnessing Italome embody her cousin and her auntie, your heart remembers that family relationships not only shape us, but also create the possibility to free us to live our most authentic lives.
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!
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.
WHY: “This Show is Surrounded By True Events” is a two person play, written by Pamela Eberhardt. Penny, played by Eberhardt, is a guilt ridden jury foreman whose actions put Shiloh, played by Tyler Stilwill, on death row. Seventeen years after the trial, Penny questions the circumstantial evidence that put him behind bars and attempts to atone for her past mistakes by visiting Shiloh in jail. A majority of the play revolves around tense and emotional interactions between these two characters. But the overarching question is how many innocent lives have been ruined by a flawed justice system? And what are we going to do about it? Eberhardt is clearly passionate and knowledgeable about the subject. She has been a life-long advocate of criminal justice reform and this play has a thoughtful and engaging way of creating dialogue around this hot button issue. And there’s also the pop culture references that provide much needed levity for such a dark subject matter. The mix of humor and drama with a call to action makes this a play that stay with you long after you’ve left the theater!
