WHERE:Actors Company(The Little Theater) 916 N. Formosa Av
WHY: In this solo, sometimes musical dramedy, Becca Lustgarten plays Auntie B., an Upper West Side advice columnist whose outward expression is elegant, highly refined, almost anachronistic. As a self-proclaimed dating guru, her advice is sharp, hilarious and highly relevant. Over the course of the play, Auntie B. paints a picture of her perfect marriage to the perfect man, but it becomes apparent there’s something she is hiding from us, and herself. The fun begins to unravel as reality interrupts her opining on other’s lives. We find that we, the audience, are in the fact in the midst of her loss and unique expression of grief. Content warning: conversations about suicide.
WHY: This beautifully acted and cleverly written solo play by Yelba Zoe McCourt is a smart and grounded discussion on the topic of identity and the immigrant experience in America. The main story follows the life journey of “Zoe” who starts out as a passionate supporter of Walter Mondale, turned actress turned nurse – constantly facing scrutiny and questions about her race and the all too familiar question “where are you REALLY from”.
When Zoe realizes she doesn’t know much about her background she unravels a family past that she has tried to bury in the past. There are moments of laughter as the fun and funny characters bring lighthearted energy at the beginning of the play, but a serious turn midpoint of the play and the reveal of her generational trauma pulls at your heart strings and brings not only tears but a deeper understanding toward the humans that suffer under our immigration policies. This show is powerful and thoroughly engaging.
WHERE:Actors Company(Other Space Theater) 916 N. Formosa Av
WHY: Marisa Ray’s Amen is a wonderful one-act play. It is a play that is fearless in asking big questions and doesn’t feel the need to answer them for the audience. It requires us to ponder, to sit with our beliefs… and what we think we know and how we know it. The ensemble is lovely and each actor onstage is a fully realized character. I loved the shadow work embodied by the actors and the use of talking to God. And God, themselves, talking throughout the play was clever and familiar, for we all have had our own experiences with God.
Yet religion is not the focus of the play but a catalyst for expansive thinking on a wide range of ideas, issues and beliefs. There is nothing like an ensemble of young actors onstage doing new work. They were magnificent together; unique because the entire cast reflected the real world. An excellent, non-forced representation of what diversity can look like onstage. I was mesmerized by the writing on huge topics and in awe of the direction, costume and set design. A truly original piece.
WHY: Brenda “BK” Wong shares personal experience with intrusive and destructive thinking, leading the audience to realize that those thoughts just aren’t helpful! Through her story, BK leaves us with a choice: give in to the intrusive thoughts or choose positivity. I can’t wait to see this new writer develop a team of support. Yes, one day, she may have more actors and more set pieces, though they don’t need to look any better or be any better than what is at heart a raw and personal portrayal. BK’s debut as the unlikely hero of her own story resonates with personal vulnerability, humor and a whole lot of positivity. Honored to see this first performance from a writer who I look forward to seeing back at fringe again soon. Keep writing BK, your stories matter!
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.
Lots of love for sure, but there’s also the madness that comes with parenting. Melissa Greenspan’s show captures it all: highs, lows, pivots, love, tenderness, anxiety, perfect plans in an imperfect world. Her engaging and candid look at motherhood made me go home and text my daughter. This is the perfect show for anyone who has a mom, is a mom, or is considering having children. Rich with paradigm-shifting moments and laughter, it’s a must-see. Take your mom—she’ll love it!
WHERE:Actors Company(Let Live Theater) 916 N. Formosa Av
WHY:Because there are not enough plays that focus on the health of women. Because Rahvaunia is exquisite as she brings to life four women and a host of characters who help us understand why discussing HIV is still an urgent and important conversation we need to be having as a community. Because often shame causes us to keep silence on issues that matter and this show breaks all those fears and taboos. Because this show hits you right in your gut in all the necessary ways that only theatre can do. Because Black women have been disproportionately affected by HIV in the United States, accounting for 54% of new HIV infections in women despite making up less than 15% of the female population. Because Black women are also 15.3 times likely to die from HIV infection as White Women. Because every 35 minutes a woman is diagnosed with HIV.
Because this solo show was a source of entertainment but also a tool for educating that will live outside the theatre and transform lives in ways still unseen. Because I lost a dear friend to HIV and still have not healed from the fact that he could/would still be alive if silence and shame had not won. Because this show calls for us to have love, grace and respect for anyone battling or living with HIV. Because 20% of Americans are living with HIV and don’t even know they have it. Because I walked into Rahvaunia’s show one way and left a completely different person. Because this one woman show deserves to be uplifted and supported and I hope to see it on PBS!
This is a powerful and very important show not to be missed. Please, catch this wonderful one-woman show and watch Rahvaunia give a voice to health issue we often turn away from and she is doing it with dignity and love.
WHY: To see this beautiful brown-skinned girl walk onstage and break cultural expectations is a gift of the times. Christina has this magical way with words; an ability to reach right out into the audience and relate to us in a way that is familiar and friendly. We know her.I Hope You Heal is a funny, personal, intimate and painful exploration of betrayal that is both thrilling and devastating. Through a series of chapters we are taken on a beautiful ride as we witness Christina come to discover her own worth, finding self-love by realizing that who she is and where she comes from is what makes her unique. To see her inhabit her own authentic story within those truths is a lesson to us all. Ultimately, this show is an invitation to the audience to heal any parts of ourselves that are in pain, denial, and blocking us from becoming our truest selves. It is an offering to take any heartbreaks and turn them into beautiful visions of a life you can walk through proudly. Don’t this miss this fabulous show and catch this beautiful artist who you will soon see writing some of your favorite television shows.
WHY: The Fairy Who Cried Gems filled my spirit and took me away in ways that I didn’t see coming. Lily is a magical storyteller who seamlessly weaves heartbreak and doubt into a triumphant collection of folktales which are inspired by the real experiences of Indian women who grew up in the United States. She boldly and bravely blends her mixed heritage, the oral history of Desi-American girlhood and female stereotypes into new realities with the hope that her younger sisters will have the opportunity to exist in a world where they can become or do anything they imagine, and never doubt that their voices matter.
The Fairy Who Cried Gems questions how women are seen or erased when stories are passed down from one generation to the next. What stories are being told and whose stories are being left out of the canon? How does one see their own story and is it a true reflection of who they are or how someone else sees them? Lily is not afraid to ask these questions of us or herself. With beautiful direction by Simran Fulton, Lily transitions seamlessly from one story to the next captured in a beautiful light where I even start to believe she is a fairy. Lily’s vulnerability and presence onstage are contagious. You can’t help but fall in love with her when she ends up wrapped in a traditional Saree/Sari and places a Bindi on her forehead – it took my breath away.
You have four more chances to catch this delicious show. Don’t miss 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 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!
