Hometown: Toledo, Ohio (NYC for 18 years, tho!)
Education: School Of Hard Knocks
Favorite Credits: Won "Most Magical Moment Of The Festival" NY Funny Songs Festival, Named "Top 10 Women Who Rock Comedy" on www.funnynotslutty.com
Why theater?: Though I perform in bars, art salons, galleries, rock clubs, comedy clubs, restaurants, subway cars, house parties, bathrooms, online and in line, an audience cannot fully experience what I do, and I cannot wrangle their full attention unless they experience my work in a theater. The lyrics to my songs, the layers and weaving of loops of music and sound, the audience interaction and improvisation, the subtle silly or serious moments work best with a Stockholm Syndrome having, captive audience.
Tell us about My BoX: My BoX is dark musical comedy that incorporates non-traditional instruments, toys and modern sound technology combined with performance art and video submitted from artists around the world. The show has the structure and recall of my manic, moody memory so it has no walls, no rules and is constantly changing it's mind. It is being created and will continue to be created up to and right through the run of the show. In My BoX, I try to personalize the pop culture shock that I think we all feel, earnestly exploring themes like reality tv, botox, the female orgasm and God, hypochondria, gender identity pressure, money, fear and robots!!! It's an engaging, wild ride of a show. I refuse to believe that "it's all been done" and with My BoX, I think I've reinvented the way a story can be experienced.
What inspired you to create My BoX?: I was fed up yet inspired by the trending “love to hate” mentality of our increasingly cynical society - hell, with my OWN cynicism. Ha! I was inspired by my cynicism. Now THAT is comedy. And COMEDY! Ugh. I have done it. All kinds of it. I love it, but I want to provoke something more than just laughter. I feel that we are disconnected and connected at the same time and I feel it…or don't feel it…I feel…wait…WHAT DO I FEEL?!! I don't think we yet have a word for it, but isolated seems like closest definition, I guess. I think we are lost in a technology coma - a community communicating our life stories in carefully edited tweets and meaningless memes. We have lost the experience of being in the moment. I want to shape the moment with the audience so we can transcend the isolation and connect to create a unique experience every night.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Penny's Open Mic, Black box/underground theater, alternative clowning, outsider music, puppets, reality, imagination, the subway, anxiety, fear, robots.
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Wes Anderson, Christopher Guest, Tina Fey.
What show have you recommended to your friends?: I'd recommend any other show in the Frigid Festival, but especially M.L. Godin's The Spectator & the Blind Man: Stories of Seeing & Not-Seeing
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Miss Piggy in “Phat Bitch”
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: I sleep-eat tubs of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I don't even get to really enjoy it because I'm sleeping! I wake up and find a empty pint of ice cream in the bathroom with no memory of it. Skip the pleasure, straight to the guilt.
If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: A brain surgeon or a rocket scientist
What’s up next?: More mock rocking with my band KILL THE BAND. Check out our album Mock Bottom at www.KILLYTHEKID.com or on ITunes/Amazon/Spotify/Pandora
