WHY: Miho! What a personality. Miho has that one-of-a-kind, contagious energy that makes you giddy and hyped. She has the natural ability to connect to the audience in a way that makes us all vulnerable and willing to follow her in any direction she wishes. Yet what stands out is her ability to let us in. To allow us to see that beyond the jokes, the arguments with a lamp (aka her father) and the silliness… there is depth.
This a show where a girl is dealing with the unconditional love she has for her father, while also holding a ton of grief for the emotional aftermath of that relationship. Their anger lingers from high expectations of what a woman – a Japanese woman – should look like, even how she should behave. Is this what makes up a woman’s worth? Who is she, if none of the expected is met? In the dark of theatre I observed Miho fight and wrestle off the residue that breeds, feeds inside the body, haunting our organs if we don’t brave the darkness… in order to allow ourselves to release old pains. Miho refuses to let the past hijack her future.
WHY: This is a show not here to entertain you. It deals with a societal topic that’s usually discussed in the quiet. There is no way around it – we immediately enter a tough conversation about being the child of rape.
I. We. Us poses a difficult question about identity and how a family handles an unspeakable trauma that has for years disrupted the lives of everyone involved. How do you make the hardest choice of your life while hanging by a thread? This is a story about fighting to protect and heal yourself. Do you ever actually move through and forward from trauma? At what cost do we use our intellect to ignore our heart? Is it too late to come to the realization that the acto of moving on hurt those you left behind? This one-act play asks hard questions. There are no easy answers, but the play serves as a reminder that with love, empathy and understanding family can always come together to face the toughest of challenges.
Well, this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival is over… although the energy is still palpable along Theatre Row, what with the great group of shows extended in Encore! performances through July.
And, yeah, there are SO many shows that I missed during #HFF18, which I swore I’d catch if they were extended but… Argh. July was supposed to be saner than June!
But enough of that. (Why are we always obsessed about what we don’t manage to do?)
This year during the Fringe, as in years past, the work and camaraderie of women artists was pretty damn impressive. Those amazing Fringe Femmes wasted no time kicking ass big time. So great seeing LA FPI badges and logos all over the place in June – thank you for all the love!
Also great to be able to give LA FPI’s “Most Wanted Awards” again at the HFF18 Awards Ceremony to venues who staged 50% or more works by women onstage during the Fringe. (Many thanks to fabulous presenters Fiona Lakeland and Katt Balsan, and Olivia Butaine and Lisa K. Wyatt who helped tally to find this year’s figures!)
Fiona Lakeland & Katt Balsan – Thx Matt Kamimura for this super shot!
And now, the numbers.
The “Most Wanted” Awards went to 12 venues this year: 2nd Stage, Actors Company, Art of Acting Studio, Assistance League Playhouse, Lounge Theatre, Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, Studio C, studio/stage, The Broadwater, The New Collective, Theatre of NOTE and Thymele Arts.
Also pretty pleased that 70% of the community-voted “Fringe Freak” Awards went to works created by women. And 53% of the Sponsored Awards were given to femme-penned projects, including “Fort Huachuca” by Ailema Sousa, receiving The Inkwell Playwright’s Promise Award.
And then there were the overall numbers. This year, 49% of the scripted Fringe shows were written by women.
So a big yay there, considering the year-round #LAThtr average is probably still around 20%.
But I was a bit bummed that we didn’t hit 50%, a bar we’ve reached for the last two years. Hmph. Sure, the percentage is up from 39%, when we started counting. And I don’t know if 49% vs. 50% is statistically significant; last year we did hit 52%. However, as far as I’m concerned, it’s an important reminder: We still have work to do, ladies… and allies!
Right. We, as theatermakers, must make a conscious effort to put more diversity onstage. And we, as artists, must take positive action so that untold stories are heard and celebrated, in all shapes and forms.
Because here’s another number: only 47% of the Producers’ Encore! Awards, with extensions, went shows by female playwrights. Grrr.
So who’s with me? We continue to spread the #FringeFemmes energy & support each other as a community throughout the year so that we get our voices out there, and our plays into the hands of decision-makers!
Aaron Saldana & Kelly Egan at Theatre of NOTE (proudly displaying a “Most Wanted” Award – love it!)
