Tag Archives: Actors Company

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Two Be

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , ,

by Thea Pueschel

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO: Keri Blunt

WHAT: Two Be

WHERE: Actors Company, 916 N. Formosa Ave.

WHY: : What happens when two performers find themselves aging out of their niche? A 42-year-old actress (Keri Blunt) struggles to meet the deadline of her taped audition for Hamlet. She laments her aging skin, and her AI avatar threatens to take over. A 35-year-old actor (Dino Petrera) is cued to be “gayer” when reading for Hamlet. His agent hits him with the gut shot: he’s no longer marketable as a teen, and the agency drops him. He finds drag and holds a funeral as Trita Wright for his career as a high school student. Each actor takes the stage to ask the question, to be or not to be. Because identity, aging and reinvention sit at the edge of every actor’s mind. Keri Blunt has crafted a funny, touching and quietly defiant two-part short play and Dino brings the wow factor with his drag performance. A perfect mixture of drama and drag.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14370

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Confessions of a Mulatto Love Child

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , ,

by Thea Pueschel

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO: Bellina Logan

WHAT: Confessions of a Mulatto Love Child

WHERE: Actors Company (Other Space Theater), 916 N. Formosa Ave.

WHY: Because a biracial daughter raised by an acerbic, “lioness” of an English mother with a flair for the dramatic in the 1960s Los Angeles/New York/London is a story that needs to be told. Let Bellina Logan take you by your little hand and walk you through her “Parisian adoption,” the chaos of her childhood, and the stability of her adulthood through humorous vignettes, genuine moments and heartbreaking reveals. Logan floats effortlessly about the stage, embodying every character she encounters with reverence and mischief. When the reveals hit, they hit hard. It’s a lovely night of solo theatre.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14384

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Midnight Cowboy Radio

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , ,

by Thea Pueschel

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO: Ally Ibach

WHAT: Midnight Cowboy Radio

WHERE: Actors Company (The Little Theater), 916 N. Formosa Ave.

WHY: What happens when a conservative late-night radio host in an abusive relationship finds herself pregnant? Writer/performer Ally Ibach’s Kentuckian DJ bounces hyperactively between playing the same song in different versions, Instagram selfies with loads of props, and humorously doling out bad advice to callers, all while using off-air breaks to call Planned Parenthood and schedule an illegal abortion. Ibach doesn’t flinch as she pushes the audience further into discomfort with each reveal. The stakes are real and the gap between what her character preaches and what she does is the whole point. This solo show is a mirror of the times.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13720

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Adult Baby Doll

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , , , ,

by Eloise Coopersmith

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO: Harper-Rose Drummond

WHAT: Adult Baby Doll

WHERE:  Actors Company (Let Live Theater), 916 N. Formosa Ave.

WHY: … Much of the fun in ADULT BABY-DOLL comes from the fact that [Harper-Rose] frequently ventures into territory that polite conversation suggests we should avoid. Yet rather than feeling shocking for its own sake, her humor works because she approaches these topics with candor, self-awareness, and a willingness to make herself the punchline….

Go Here for more of Eloise’s Review on Gia On The Move!

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13926

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: THE BOMB

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , ,

by Shannon Corbeil

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO: Dana Schwartz

WHAT: THE BOMB

WHERE: Actors Company (Other Space Theater), 916 N. Formosa Ave.

WHY: It isn’t easy to pull off a play about stand-up. The built-in trap is that the characters’ set needs to be funny in order for the audience to buy in. Luckily, Dana Schwartz is effing hilarious. THE BOMB is a two-person show about an unlikely duo of comics at very different stages in their careers who team up to help one another find their voice. This script is incredibly sharp — every other line is a punchline that absolutely hits. What makes it especially fun is Dana plays a stand-up who is (GASP) female and (DOUBLE GASP) in perimenopause! Her jokes explore the unsung experiences of women with a self-assured confidence that we need oh so much more of.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14058

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Perimenoparty

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , , , ,

by Thea Pueschel

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO: Irene Serrano

WHAT: Perimenoparty: The Welcome Party to a Stage of Life You Can’t Escape

WHERE: Actors Company (The Little Theater), 916 N. Formosa Ave.

WHY: Because there’s too much noise around perimenopause and not enough laughs. Irene Serrano has crafted a hilarious, tender Spanglish world premiere solo clown show. It is rooted in the traditional European circus archetypes of Augusto (Irene’s period) and Carablanca (Irene’s wait for menopause). She physically embodies the mischievous nature of menstruation, from the first to the last, so well. Dressed in a red unitard and red nose, Irene moves around a hospital bed pad with the agility of a wayward period. Splatting off to the side upon occasion. She punctuates the humor of her clown work with projections, puppetry and karaoke while dressed in a tea-length party dress. The jokes and physical comedy are emotionally complex and hilarious. You will laugh so hard  that you can skip core work for a week.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14266

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Rosie’s Brain

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , ,

by Samantha Bowling

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO:  Evelyn Rose

WHAT: ROSIE’S BRAIN

WHERE: Madnani Theater, 6760 Lexington Ave

WHY: Because Evelyn’s song writing is clever and moving (if “Help Me” doesn’t get you in the gut you might be a robot 🤷🏽‍♀️), and the show is a really important coming-of-age story told through a mental health lens that deftly navigates the balance between being entertaining and brutally honest. Oh and also Evelyn Rose’s voice is so so pretty. 

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13669

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Wedding Party

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , ,

by Samantha Bowling

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO: Adriana Martínez Barrón

WHAT: Wedding Party (Or, why you should not invite former friends to your wedding)

WHERE: Actors Company (Let Live Theater), 916 N. Formosa Ave.

WHY: Because we don’t talk enough about how much friendship breakups hurt and literally every woman I talk to agrees that they are WAY HARDER THAN ROMANTIC BREAKUPS but nobody talks about it!  I’m glad someone finally made a show about it.  Not only is it important discourse but also the acting is really top notch—committed, honest, brave… well done! 

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14105

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Follower

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , ,

by Samantha Bowling

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO: Katheryn McGaffigan

WHAT: Follower

WHERE: Actors Company (The Little Theater), 916 N. Formosa Ave.

WHY: Because it’s an incredibly funny, confessional account of a young woman clinging to an obsessive crush as an attempt to ground into an identity she hasn’t found for herself yet.  See this show if you wanna laugh while squirming in your seat.  Fascinating.  

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14396

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Rise

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , ,

by Eloise Coopersmith

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO: Diana Varco

WHAT: Rise

WHERE:  Actors Company (Other Space Theater), 916 N. Formosa Ave.

WHY: … At a time when conversations surrounding mental health, healing, and lived experience are becoming increasingly important, Varco’s voice offers both insight and compassion. Through storytelling that is honest, vulnerable, and unflinching, she creates space for audiences to witness experiences that are often hidden from public view…

Go Here for more of Eloise’s Review on Gia On The Move!

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14443