Tag Archives: Thea Pueschel

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Inside the Box

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: Clara Rodriguez

WHAT: Inside the Box

WHERE: The Broadwater (Studio), 1078 Lillian Way

WHY: Because there comes a point where each of us questions our life choices. What do a mouse, a mature woman named Alice (Clara Rodriguez), an aged mother-in-law (Seemah Wilder Idelson) and a clueless husband (John Combs) have in common? A release-seeking a road trip. Writer/director/performer Clara Rodriguez has crafted a hilarious feel-bad comedy that pokes at the soft, sensitive underbelly of aging and the human desire for purpose. Alice feels trapped after attending her high school reunion and running into her former best-friend-turned-meteorologist. She questions her 50-year career as “just a receptionist” and 43-year marriage. This three-hander is expertly crafted and performed. Find out if Alice finds the freedom she craves.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13481

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Nilbog! The Troll 2 Musical

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: Kristin Boulé, Tiffany Asta and Juan Lazano

WHAT: Nilbog! The Troll 2 Musical

WHERE: The Cat’s Crawl, 660 N. Heliotrope Dr

WHY: What happens when you take the worst movie ever made and turn it into a musical? Kristin Boulé (co-creator/producer/director), Tiffany Asta (co-creator/Joshua) and Juan Lazano (co-creator/composer) have created a pure, unhinged, hot mess of an adaptation. The ensemble and creators have used their crafts to weave a sweet, absurd homage that the best worst movie deserves. It is replete with goblins, ghosts, sexy Stonehenge, ballads, conditional love, vegetarians, green goo and a ludicrous lack of trolls. Even if you are not a fan of the movie, you’ll leave a fan of the musical. If you crave a non-stop evening of laughter, this musical delivers.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13950

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: I Am Not A Spy. This Is A Magic Show

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: Katrina Kroetch

WHAT: I Am Not A Spy. This Is A Magic Show

WHERE: Madnani Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave

WHY: What happens when you go to a magic show, but it is actually a spy convention? The spy, no… the magician/writer Katrina Kroetch takes us on a comedic noir caper with magic, mentalism and a bit of spy craft. What better cover to infiltrate secret organizations than magic? As an audience member you might be the sleeper agent, but you are definitely a world-famous spy. This is a clever, funny, impossible-not-to-enjoy show. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: have fun, solve a mystery and laugh.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13348

#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: Hysterical

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: Jackie Skinner

WHAT: Hysterical 

WHERE: Skiptown Playhouse, 665 N Heliotrope Dr

WHY: What happens when a gorgeous woman has been trapped performing to an empty room for years, finally has an audience? Step into the parlor with Jackie Skinner’s clown-horror show and find out. She blends tension, silliness, burlesque and scream-out-loud terror in ways you would never expect. She has created the best chase scene between a gorgeous woman and her faceless doppelganger in the history of Fringe. Because sometimes what haunts us is our inability to stop repeating patterns. Who knew a clown could do all this?

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13805

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Justice

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: Tiffany Esteb

WHAT: Justice  

WHERE: Lounge On Melrose (Studio D), 7551 Melrose Ave

WHY: What happens when a high-profile freedom of speech lawyer who defends tech companies against online harassment claims becomes a victim of cyberstalking? Sara, a constitutional lawyer, has built a career defending tech companies from accountability and just scored the biggest victory of her life. She feels like a celebrity. While riding the high of victory, she decides to give online dating a try. Things seem great until one victim from the cyberbullying case commits suicide, and her personal and professional life starts to unravel. Tiffany Esteb’s solo show masterfully makes it personal. She pulls off the blindfold of Lady Justice and exposes the actual harm of cyberstalking, AI-generated porn and a slow-moving legal system. The show is smart, timely and refuses to let you look away.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13648

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Alps, Adeiu!

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: Jenna Covarrubias

WHAT: Alps, Adeiu!

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

WHY: What happens when a terminal young woman invites her family to a secluded Swiss cabin (that used to be a mental hospital) to drop an end-of-life bombshell? A lot of awkwardness, denial and spilled family tea. Augustine (Michelle Deshazo) takes a lethal dose of medication before her loved ones arrive with the help of her girlfriend/nurse Yara (Sara Bunge). With Swiss precision, Yara drops assisted suicide facts on the arriving family, one uncomfortable truth at a time. Writer/Director Jenna Covarrubias has crafted an absurdist dark comedy about voluntary assisted dying. The ensemble is grounded and has so many comedic twists and turns that you won’t see what’s coming next. Covarrubias’ tight writing, clear directing style and roaring sense of humor are on full display. The prognosis is that it’s a delightfully funny night at the theater.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13774

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: The Body

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: Janna King and Genah Redding

WHAT: The Body

WHERE: The Hobgoblin Playhouse on Gardner, 1516 N. Gardner St.

WHY: When one mysterious death connects four groups of neighbors, what could go wrong? Writer/producer Janna King and writer/actor Genah Redding have crafted four darkly comedic short plays that each question what is right, what is moral and what sells. The body connects them all. Janna and Genah humorously put grief, infidelity, addiction, social media obsession, OnlyFans and corporate greed on the table. Who the body is isn’t as important as what it reveals about the witnesses in each vignette. The ensemble cast of Allen Barstow (co-producer/director), Alyssa Berkowitz, Ted Coonradt, Leah Frires, Dom Johnson, Kara O’Connor and Peter Schiavelli deliver performances that will leave you thinking and laughing at the same time.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13592

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#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: The House Always Wins

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: Carli Wright

WHAT: The House Always Wins

WHERE: The Hobgoblin Playhouse on Gardner, 1516 N. Gardner St.

WHY: Because a folk-horror rom-com ensemble musical is what you need to soothe your existential dread. Meredith (Carli Wright) is murdered by her ancestral home (Catherine Mack) and cursed to haunt it, unless she finds true love. The catch: anyone who hears her song and doesn’t belong perishes. After killing a few wayward folks, she forms a friendship with a haunting enthusiast and podcaster (Sean Faye) and finds a potential love interest with singer-songwriter Denis (Travis Cox). As writer/Director, Carli has crafted a snappy and darkly funny show with beautiful acoustic music. The house always wins, and so does the audience.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13373

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#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