Tag Archives: Thea Pueschel

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: The “It” Girl

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: Indra Manuela

WHAT: The “It” Girl

WHERE: Art of Acting Studio, 1017 North Orange Drive

WHY: Because why should you be a good girl and let boys have all the fun? Clara Bow is tired of studio demands. She has “It” and knows it. But what happens when “It” isn’t enough? Writer/actor Indra Manuela’s solo show takes us behind the scenes of the “It” girl’s first talkie. A flubbed first line triggers memories of an abusive, loveless childhood and her rise to fame. Clara is frustrated with sound and know-it-all studio men. She is a complex woman who at her heart is a wounded little girl facing her biggest role: surviving the transition to sound while trying to hide her Brooklyn accent. Find out if Clara survives Hollywood or if Hollywood survives Clara.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14051

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Matt & Lilly Get Together

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: Lily Kerrigan

WHAT: Matt & Lilly Get Together

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

WHY: Because being trapped by a threesome is a great way to start a meet-cute and a Fringe show. Comedians Lily Kerrigan and “her straight boyfriend” Matthew Marcus deliver in tandem the hysterical history of their 10-year relationship, starting with a production of A Klingon Christmas Carol, his pining, the besmirching of Gaston’s (from Beauty and the Beast) name and Matt’s evolution beyond vanilla. Together they share stories from the deeply personal anecdote of Matt getting his testicles slapped accidentally by the third in a threesome to his mother’s “closeted” subtle homophobic remarks toward Lily’s bisexuality, a pant-less Pan ruining their scene at a Disney-themed dungeon party and so much more. The raunchy humor is sharp, fearless and honest.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13964

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Bean vs. The Robots

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:  Michelle “Midge” Lema

WHAT: Bean vs. The Robots

WHERE: Hudson Theatres (Hudson Backstage) 6539 Santa Monica Boulevard

WHY: Grief, like space travel, thrusts you into the unfamiliar, where time and gravity cease to exist. You are invited (trapped) onto “Bean’s” spaceship and taken against your will into space and back through time. Worry not, intrepid space/time travelers! “Bean” will sing you sad little songs, chat with her keyboard (named Keyboard), flirt with her Evil Robot Boss, and of course, sing and make goo-goo eyes at “Elijah Woooooood.” Don’t make eye contact with her; you might fall in love. Midge Lema has crafted an immersive and sweet, tender, wistful sci-fi musical that catapults you through space, time and grief. “Bean” shares stories of redacted and redacted, her fascination with doors and feet, and songs about time vampires. This solo show taps into childlike nostalgia. It is a hilarious, sweet and an enjoyable evening of solo theater!

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13683

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: I Totally Would’ve Had a Threesome with You

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: Ellen Relac

WHAT: I Totally Would’ve Had a Threesome with You

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

WHY: Because young adulthood is made of chaos, questionable life-choices and hormones. This is a teen comedy with a brain and heart. It navigates consent, trauma and the chaos of young adulthood with compassion, wit and precision. Every character has genuine emotional intelligence and depth, and the cast chemistry is electric. You can see the sparks. This funny, intelligent romp in the woods, directed by Ava Alexiades and penned by Ellen Relac, will take you on an emotional rollercoaster with heartfelt moments and a ton of laughs. A must-see at Fringe this year.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13685

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: What Survives

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: Rachael Meyers

WHAT: What Survives

WHERE: The Broadwater (Second Stage), 6302 Santa Monica Bl

WHY: In the demographic mosaic of Los Angeles, ICE’s tendency to grab first and verify later has created fissures. This socio-political one-act drama centers on a community’s struggle to come to terms with the disappearance of 10-year-old Isabella from school, under her principal’s watch. Told through a series of vignettes that move as seamlessly as the props between scenes. It is an exploration of contemporary culture, accountability, and denialism through the interactions of an ensemble of 10. Writer/director Rachael Meyers has crafted a thoughtful narrative with stunning performances.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14386

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Mother

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: Christine Dickinson

WHAT: Mother

WHERE: Madnani Theater, 6760 Lexington Ave

WHY: Because the mother wound is deep. In “Mother,” the words said by Daughter to Mother on her last trip home have led to a fracture in their relationship – silence is the only response Daughter has received from her countless phone calls and texts to Mother. So Daughter explores the unique pain she is experiencing through recalling trauma studies on rats, and must handle life’s challenges and womanhood alone. Producer/playwright/actor Christine Dickinson has crafted a psychological thriller that questions what role we play in our ancestral line and the trauma we inherit.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13347

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: In the Beginning

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: Kylee Q Robinson

WHAT: In the Beginning

WHERE: Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Avenue

WHY: Good is good, and great is better than good. In the beginning, Adam was simple and Eve was advanced. God gave her the gift of critical thinking. Because what is good if you don’t know why? God the Father changes his wardrobe as often as he changes his mind. Eve doesn’t trust God’s marvelous plan, she deliberately makes “a bad choice.” Writer/director Kylee Q. Robinson explores heartfelt inquiry, family dynamics, and the divine through quippy lines that pack a punch with hand puppets and the first humans.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13036

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: MaMa Does Dada: Absurdist Theatre

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: Jerilyn Paige

WHAT: MaMa Does Dada: Absurdist Theatre

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

WHY: Because you are disillusioned with late-stage capitalism and are ready to join the anti-bourgeois revolution. Because “MaMa” is ready to educate you with hostile silences, soft quiet moments, personal roasts, long stares, and ordinary tasks performed with extraordinary emotion and often extremely slowly. Because it is a blend of performance art, collage and assemblage, and audience participation. Because every performance is different and you embrace the random. Because Writer/Director/Performer Jerilyn Paige, with makeup akin to Raoul Hausmann’s The Art Critic will take you on an immersive, high energy chaotic, experimental journey with brutalist soundscapes and existential angst.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14530

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: The End of the World

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: Destiny Faith

WHAT: The End of the World

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

WHY: Because the world is collapsing and intrusive thoughts want to win. “Desiree” is hanging up her cape, kicking up her heels and lying down, because as a transplant she has failed to launch her writing career and isn’t going to the beach once a week. She’s “Going Live” to end it all, but first she must write a suicide note, and it needs to be good. Because they might make a movie out of it. Destiny Faith unflinchingly weaves news footage, intense emotional depth, dark humor, well-crafted spoken word and TikTok videos to challenge that Black women aren’t supposed to feel a certain kind of way.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13431

#FringeFemmes Check-Ins: Burn Scar

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: Christine Dunford 

WHAT: Burn Scar

WHERE: Theatre of Note, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd.

WHY: Because every Angeleno experienced or watched in horror the January 7 Palisades and Eaton Fires. Because Christine Dunford reveals the rawness of loss and the evolution beyond cynicism. Because she takes us on a harrowing journey up and down a one-lane road in the Palisades to PCH while the mountains around her home burned. Because “When you stand with your back to the apocalypse, you can see the beach.” Because tragedy reveals the helpers.

Because Christine crafts a dynamic emotional ride from grabbing her go bag, to waiting down the hill with her dogs for her husband who doubles back to their home to save it from the 40-foot pine tree that will destroy it and the neighbor’s home. Because she blends personal tragedy, moments of comedy, and the required humor and fortitude it takes to battle bubbly insurance adjusters on a mission to delay, deny, and defend.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14403