Tag Archives: Constance Strickland

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Estrawberry Fields Forever

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF21’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Verenice Zuniga

WHAT: Estrawberry Fields Forever

WHERE: The Broadwater Black Box 6322 Santa Monica Blvd (+ Live-Stream)

WHY: As soon as Verenice appears upon the stage you know you are in the presence of a truly special artist. Verenice has the rare ability to spin language into poetry, and the way she attacks the stage with her body steals your heart from start to finish of her beautiful solo show. I caught myself holding my breath as Verenice confessed personal truths of family obligations, and stories of facing generational traditions while chasing dreams filled my soul with gentle familiarity. The vulnerability of this young artist makes you feel as if you’re witnessing a sacred rite of passage. After the show, as I got in the car, I sat and sobbed and the only way I could express that overwhelming feeling in my gut was to ask myself, “Have you ever seen a Brown girl fly?” I have no doubt the sensation this show leaves in the body is the spirit of the Fringe. This is what the future looks like in the theatre when artists are uplifted and supported. Go see this beautiful Brown girl manifest her future on her own terms!

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/7092

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe”

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Naturally Tan

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF21’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Tanya Thomas

WHAT: Naturally Tan

WHERE: The Broadwater Black Box 6322 Santa Monica Blvd (+ Live-Stream)

WHY: It’s hard to believe as you view Tanya physicalize thirty-five characters onstage – free, beautiful and vulnerable with the lights shining on her – that she was ever uncomfortable in her own skin. Tanya takes us on a global journey into Singapore’s culture as we find a woman battling for her identity, self-acceptance, and self-love… while discovering that colonialism has terrorized, infested and affected beauty standards around the world.

Watching Tanya’s solo show, I was reminded of the magic and necessity of sharing world dialogues onstage. Naturally Tan is a potent testament to how having a variety of bodies – different colors and forms – grace the stage as storytelling vessels expands the scope of American theatre. Multifaceted and multicultural theatre is essentially human and reminds us all of our similarities rather than our differences.

HOW: http://hff21.co/5740

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe”

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Black Woman In Deep Water

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF21’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Makena Hammond

WHAT: Black Woman In Deep Water

WHERE: Actors Company (LET LIVE THEATER) 916 N. Formosa Av (+ Live-Stream)

WHY: Black Woman In Deep Water was a breath of fresh air. As Makena floated onto the stage I was immediately transported to another time when choices came hard, in harsh conditions, for Black bodies. Makena brings us the powerful and heartbreaking story of Margaret Garner, a woman forced to make a horrific choice between a life of slavery or death.

It was the way Makena took what could be a tragic story but instead made space for love that became a lesson for the heart. It was the way music came from Makena’s voice that turned pain into poetry. It was the way she made room for silence while allowing us to take her in. It was the way she bridged the gap from Africa to America as she began to speak in the mother tongue that stirred old emotions and the everlasting old questions many Black Americans hold in the back of their mind and hearts: Where do I come from? What part of Africa am I birthed from? Ghana? Nigeria? Sudan?

Yet as I watched Makena onstage, the feeling of being lost began to fade. In her performance I found a connection to the past and it was not a reminder, but a memory of my ancestors’ perseverance and the whisper of Dr. Maya Angelou’s words: “I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise.”

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/7013

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe”

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Comedy Hoe

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF19’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Jil Chrissie

WHAT: Comedy Hoe

WHERE: Hudson Theatres (Hudson Guild) 6539 Santa Monica Bl

WHY: Because black women producing changes the game – it raises the bar! Jil Chrissie creates a new genre, while giving fellow comedians of color a platform to share their material and have a louder voice.

Comedy Hoe is stand-up comedy meeting high art. You will not find many who would say these are a good match but after seeing Comedy Hoe I saw the possibility, the magic of combining spoken word, fictional storytelling and stand-up into a compelling and powerful piece of new theater. This is a fantastic, innovative show which also features comic Angelica Mackey, who is hilarious – a true comedian with a simmering presence on stage. And Jil can bring a room from uncontrolled laughter to stillness, where reflection takes hold. As an audience member you sense you are witnessing something special, that you are a part of the future. Comedy Hoe belongs in galleries and clubs from the U.S to Europe.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/5605

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe” in Encore Performances

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: The Living Room

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF19’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Amrita Dhaliwal + Gemma Soldati

WHAT: The Living Room

WHERE: Theatre of NOTE, 1517 North Cahuenga Bl

WHY: A woman in a black dress with her face hidden from the audience marks lines on a chalkboard. Silent. We see only the bounce her body makes as she writes on a small board. There’s something about this action that becomes unsettling but, but your fears are set aside as an abrupt entrance brings  the room to immediate laughter. This Dynamic Duo’s energy, chemistry and timing are a theatrical treat that will take you outside yourself and on an unexpected emotional journey with a room full of strangers. The Living Room is a place where many families gather together in joy and sorrow. A room of memories.

This show is a wonderful examination and celebration of life and death. By the end of the show you won’t quite understand how, but you’ll find yourself speaking aloud.

HOW: https://www.dhalidati.com/thelivingroom (The HFF19 show has closed but The Living Room will be performing as part of the Edinburgh Fringe)

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe” in Encore Performances

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: No Child Left Behind

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF19’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Mathka Mthembu

WHAT: No Child Left Behind

WHERE: Thymele Arts (Kansas Room) 5481 Santa Monica Blvd

WHY: As soon as you enter the theatre you’re immediately swooped into a classroom. What occurs after the teachers enter the space is a whirlpool of unexpected emotions as you begin to understand the heartbreaking realities of Apartheid. We all have heard the legend of Nelson Mandela, but not so familiar is the story of the children of Apartheid who grew up trying to understand how their country was not theirs, and maneuvering in their world with white voices echoing around them and stealing their rights. In a short amount of time, you learn many South African truths, you hear history in Mathka’s voice, and you begin to see just how funny the absurd can be… if it didn’t want to make you cry.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/6252

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe!”

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Fight or Flight

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF19’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Maty Cameron

WHAT: Fight or Flight

WHERE: Underground Annex Theater 1308 N. Wilton Pl.

WHY: Marty writes as well as directs Fight or Flight, a bold play showcasing a young girl full of grit. It’s not an obvious play but it is a play of the times. We discover Zoey Jones, a young female fighter, looking for a gym to train at. Through Zoey – who is about to have her first professional boxing fight – we get an interesting look at female fighters finding support in/out of the ring, how much it takes mentally to fight with your fists in a ring, and how we build bonds and friendships with the coaches in our lives. This is a unique new work full of heart!

HOW: http://hff19.org/5806

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe!”

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Catharsis

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF19’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Megh Gwinn

WHAT: CATHARSIS

WHERE: Actors Company, 916 N.Formosa Ave

WHY: CATHARSIS is a meditation on the (de) stabilizing effects of adoption. With paint, a canvas, a hammer and a wood board, CATHARSIS captures the spirit of the Fringe!  Megh will steal your heart with her carefree dancing and the way her voice crawls up behind your neck as she sings, like a secret you’ve been hiding. The time she takes within the space – no rushing, using pauses as action – will stir your soul. And when she begins to break the comfortable use of language while reading a letter from her birth mother, you, too, will never quite understand why she Meg was given up for adoption. But you do see a magical, beautiful artist who will thrive and who wasn’t afraid to say aloud in a room full of strangers, “Why me?”

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/6235 (Fringe performances have ended. One can only hope Megh Gwinn extends this show then expands this show!)

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe!”

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Drought

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF19’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Kate Radford

WHAT: DROUGHT

WHERE:  Asylum @ Studio C, 6448 Santa Monica Blvd.

WHY: Kate will take you on a spiritual journey, using mythological narrative to examine violence women have suffered and will suffer at the hands of men. It is not an attack but a look at old truths rooted in ancient and modern day storytelling. Even Kate’s use of her foot to control the electronic music becomes its own form of poetry as her voice soars and roars through the dark space. Watching footage of old ruins swell the tiny theatre, DROUGHT became a new religion. You have one more chance to this regal being. GO!

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/6025

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe!”

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Sugarfree Foster Care Cognitive Dissonance

Fringe Festival, playwriting, , , , , , ,

by Constance Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF19’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

Fringe Femmes

WHO: Shari Walker

WHAT: Sugarfree: Foster Care Cognitive Dissonance

WHERE: studio/stage 520 N. Western Ave

WHY:

Shari’s story will sneak up on you and blow your heart away. You’ll find her ability to smile and persevere – through obstacles that no child should face – to be more than inspirational. It will cause you to take action.

I love that Shari is not only an actress but an activist who has something that needs to be said in a theatre. As you go on this journey with her, you’ll see how she gained such a contagiously bright laugh, despite her trials and tribulations. You’ll find that pain can be used as fuel, that what makes us angry can also be released through love and support, that anything is possible if you give yourself a chance to thrive. Shari has done just that and has become a resource and beacon of light for the foster care community, using her voice to create change on a Federal level. Go support this persistent young lady!!

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/5839

Click Here to Find More “Women on the Fringe!”