I Was a Sixth Grade Bigfoot Press Kit

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Jan 7th 2015
Nefarious Laboratory: Cyndi Freeman / [email protected] / 617-686-1709
Horse Trade Theater: Emily Owens PR / [email protected] / 917.408.3677
FRIGID New York presents a Nefarious Laboratory production
I Was a Sixth Grade Bigfoot
A story about bullies, monsters, and hoaxes.
Written and performed by Cyndi Freeman / Directed by Sara Peters
UNDER St. Marks
94 St. Marks Place
Between 1st Ave and Ave A
Thurs, Feb 19, 7:10
Sun, Feb 22, 3:30
Sat, Feb 28, 10:30
Wed, March 4, 8:50
Sun, March 8, 5:10
Tickets ($10 / $8 students & seniors)
Available online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info
For more on Nefarious Laboratory go to: www.heroicsinhotpants.com
When she was 11 years old Cyndi Freeman became obsessed with the Bigfoot
phenomenon, the hunters, the hoaxes and the true believers. That same year, her
homeroom classmates perpetrated a hoax of their own. They convinced the faculty that
Cyndi was a thief, an instigator of fist fights, an agent of mayhem. It had all been lies
and, by their high school years, the kids who had participated apologized and Cyndi
forgave them. But the teachers still believed the legend that Freeman was a violent
pathological liar. Friendships were lost, parents lived in fear and only the children knew,
and accepted, the truth. Weaving together fun trivia about the Bigfoot myth and darker
tales about the fiction that surrounded her during her formative years, Freeman talks of
truth and lies, motivations both hidden and obvious, and the resilience it takes to survive
childhood.
Cyndi Freeman (Writer, Performer) is a two-time NY Fringe Festival award winning
solo performer. She has been performing as a storyteller for 20 years, credits include: The
Moth, The Liar Show, Adam Wade’s Super Stories, Seth Lind’s Told, Risk, Stripped
Stories & And I Am Not Lying. Her solo shows have been presented in Boston,
Amsterdam, Ireland, The UK, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Festival and in NYC. Ms
Freeman is a recipient of a 2015 SPARC grant (Seniors Partnering With Artists City
Wide), which will enable her to partner with the Brooklyn Arts Council, in leading a
program that teaches storytelling to seniors. She has worked for 5 years as a lead
storytelling instructor with The Moth Community Outreach Program where she has
coached people from all walks of life including docents at the 9/11 Tribute Center, adults
with disabilities at Self-Advocacy Association of New York State and AHRC New York
City, nurses at Montefiore Hospital and residents incarcerated at The Metropolitan
Correctional Center, New York. Currently she is also the producer and host of Nefarious
Laboratory Variety Show. A winner of a Grand Prize Playwriting Fellowship Award
from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, her other credits include The Colbert Report on
Comedy Central, Campus Comedy on HBO, and Compromising Situations on Showtime.
She also performs burlesque in NYC as Cherry Pitz and produces Hotsy Totsy Burlesque
monthly burlesque show with Joe The Shark. www.heroicsinhotpants.com
Sara Peters - Director
is a storyteller who has been featured at TEDMED, on The Moth podcast, and on stage at
The Liar Show, Bare, and Super Stories. She has worked as both a actor and a director
with Alliance Repertory Theater Company. Currently she is a featured columnist for
Bleacher Report, covering the New York Knicks. She was once called "badass" by Mobb
Deep and she occasionally performs burlesque as Legs Benedict.
What the press has to say about Cyndi Freeman
Cyndi Freeman elegantly mixes confession with impressions. - New York Times
Freeman's performance throughout is charged with electricity – Backstage
**** Packed choc-full with the sort of observational humor and delicious wit that
renders resistance useless. - The Evening News Edinburgh
Freeman wins us over ... we are engaged completely ... marvelous. – Boston Herald
Freeman is fearless ... an impressive actress - Boston Globe
Insightful and heart-wrenching as well as hilarious, Freeman has a knack for making a
connection with her audience and making them feel as if they’re having a private
conversation with her. - The Happiest Medium
Freeman has a vivid comedic personality, and her story is absolutely delightful –Lively
Arts
Photos of Cyndi Freeman By Ben Trivett
High Resolution photos are available on the enclosed CD
What the press has had to say about Cyndi Freeman
Just Do Art, Week of Feb. 19, 2015
Elusive truths and hidden agendas abound, in Cyndi Freeman’s look back on
the high price of tall tales. “I Was a Sixth Grade Bigfoot” plays the Frigid
Festival, through March 8.
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | I WAS A SIXTH GRADE BIGFOOT Whether prowling local
burlesque stages as slinky and sweet alter ego Cherry Pitz or exposing her
true self on the storytelling circuit, Cyndi Freeman has an uncanny knack for
coaxing epic images from intimate moments. The two-time NY Fringe Festival
award-winning solo performer — whose work as an instructor with The Moth
Community Outreach Program has empowered disabled adults, nurses and
the incarcerated tell their stories — has a brand new tale of her own, inspired
by the long shelf life of radioactive lies.
A world premiere in Horse Trade Theater Group’s annual Frigid Festival, “I
Was a Sixth Grade Bigfoot” draws upon the myths, misunderstandings and
outright lies that define an 11-year-old’s public image. Obsessed with the
Bigfoot phenomenon, Freeman discovers that her homeroom classmates are
far more adept at telling whoppers than those grown adults roaming the
forest with footprint-shaped show shoes. By convincing the faculty that she
was a violent pathological liar, parents lived in fear and only the bullies knew
the truth. Writer/performer Freeman peppers this true tale of malicious
falsehoods with fun Sasquatch trivia, perhaps arriving at some conclusions
about what motivates us to spin yarns that can’t be controlled once that ball
gets rolling. Occasional basketball columnist and burlesque performer Sara
Peters directs. And that’s the truth!
At UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place, btw. First Ave. & Ave. A). Feb. 19 at
7:10 p.m. Feb 22 at 3:30 p.m. Feb 28, at 10:30 p.m. March 4 at 8:50 p.m.
March 8 at 5:10 p.m. For tickets ($10, $8 for students/seniors), visit
FRIGIDnewyork.info. For info on the artist, visit heroicsinhotpants.com.
http://nytheatre.com/showpage.aspx?s=wond12115
Wonder Woman: A How To Guide for Little Jewish Girls
- Ed Malin
Wonder Woman really is a feminist icon, Cyndi Freeman points out in her onewoman show. And after you see Wonder Woman: A How To Guide For Little Jewish
Girls you will probably agree.
Freeman relates how in the ‘70s she learned to assert herself despite a loud family
not interested in what she had to say. The TV show of Wonder Woman starring
Lynda Carter set an example. To set the record straight, the first season of the show
was set (like the original 1940s comic books), during World War II. Wonder Woman
routinely got herself out of trouble and showed the Nazis who was boss. Only later
was the TV show moved from CBS to ABC and set in the present, with a quite
different feel. Freeman tells how Wonder Woman got her on the path to founding a
feminist theater company and celebrating her body through burlesque performance.
Equally fascinating for me was the section on Wonder Woman creator William
Moulton Marston. He is also known for creating the polygraph test (not so different
from Wonder Woman’s “lasso of truth”), which he believed would show people how
to live life being more true to themselves. Wonder Woman (modeled after the
ancient Amazons but violent only when pursuing justice) was an idea of how women
could lead the world better than the men who had recently caused two world wars.
And, should anyone say that a man can’t be a feminist, Marston lived with two
women in a polyamorous relationship and created his heroine in tribute to his
indomitable wife Elizabeth (who lived to be 102). Interviews with Marston’s family
provide some more wonderful anecdotes.
Freeman’s performance is inspiring, uplifting, and ends with a little burlesque. She
relates how a history of breast cancer in her family has led doctors to suggest a
double mastectomy and hysterectomy, despite her not having cancer. Why would I
want to cut out everything that makes me a woman?, she asks. A profoundly moving
question indeed. Hats off to accomplished playwright/performer David Drake for
directing this show with so much unapologetic love for life.
StageBuzz.com
http://www.stagebuzz.com/2011/03/frigid-new-york-festival-roundup-part-2.html
Wonder Woman: A How To Guide for Little Jewish Girls
- Byrne Harrison
Wonder Woman. Looking at her costume, it’s hard to believe that she
StageBuzz.com.weblocis a voice for female empowerment. She could quite easily be
ignored as another example of unrealistic male fantasy.
Well, once you’ve seen Cyndi Freeman’s one-woman show, featuring excellent
direction by Obie Award-winner David Drake, you’ll see Wonder Woman for what she
is, an empowered woman and feminist icon who has helped generations of women,
including Cyndi Freeman, become empowered themselves.
Part history lesson (did you know Wonder Woman’s creator invented the
polygraph?), part coming-of-age tale, with just a touch of burlesque to shake things
up, Freeman’s show is fun and inspirational. You might find yourself spinning in place
(a la Lynda Carter) just to see if you can transform into a star-spangled Amazon.
http://lively-arts.com/theatre/theatre.htm
-Richmond Shepard
Wonder Woman written and performed by Cyndi Freeman, well directed by David
Drake, is a charming piece about her lifelong relationship with the comicbook
character, filled with autobiographical stories about her adventures with her family
and about the life of her breasts.
Freeman has a vivid comedic personality, and her story is absolutely delightful,
including her segue into Burlesque, with a final super strip to the skimpiest Wonder
Woman costume on earth. She’s a fearless, charismatic real entertainer with a
twinkle in her eye.
http://thehappiestmedium.com/2011/03/wonder-woman-a-how-to-guide-for-little-jewish-girls-–-beingverklempt-was-never-so-much-fun-frigid-new-york-2011/
Wonder Woman: A How To Guide For Little Jewish Girls – Being Verklempt
Was Never So Much Fun (FRIGID New York 2011)
- Dianna Martin
When you were growing up, did you ever have characters from TV or film that you
looked up to and felt that if you could be like them, you could do anything? Cyndi
Freeman sure did, and she didn’t pick any run-of-the-mill hero…she picked THE
woman…you know…the awesome chick in the invisible jet who could tie up any creep
with her golden lasso and bounce bullets off of her groovy bracelets…all while
wearing practically nothing in red, white, & blue.Wonder Woman: A How To Guide
for Little Jewish Girls is part feminist hero worship and trivia; part life story of
growing up more geek than hero with family dysfunction; and part tale of using the
strength within to battle some of the scariest nemeses of all: life’s curve-balls.
Freeman, no stranger to one-woman shows and a regular performer on the theatre
festival and burlesque circuit (the latter under the name of Cherry Pitz), opens up
about everything from a gun-toting father going after an AWOL son – to the
realization that our human mentors can be disappointingly human.
Insightful and heart-wrenching as well as hilarious, Freeman has a knack for making
a connection with her audience and making them feel as if they’re having a private
conversation with her. With each section of the show, you feel more and more
intimate with Freeman; what starts out as an interesting history of one of the most
iconic female figures of the 20th century slowly becomes a more introverted
perspective on how Freeman’s life was shaped. Her flair for comedy and the
outrageous intersperses with moments when she reveals current personal battles
that can only be dealt with by sheer will, inner strength and the confidence in
yourself that you learned from your TV heroes…or maybe a rejuvenating jaunt on
Paradise Island of the Amazons.
Not one to miss!
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/03/how-heroes-keep-you-sane-a-review-of-a-one-woman-wonderwoman-show
How Heroes Keep You Sane: A Review of a One-Woman Wonder Woman
Show
– Emily Asher-Perrin
Most theatre critics will state for the record that your typical one-(wo)man show is
about one person; the person who’s performing it. It’s hardly a point that needs to
be argued, especially when the piece is created from autobiographical material.
Okay, maybe I will argue the point. I think, more often, it’s about two people.
Someone on the periphery, someone important to the performer who takes up all of
their attention, even while they’re speaking directly to you for an hour or more.
You’re invited in to hear about this ephemeral figure who you’ll never see. They’re
just offstage, or lurking in the corner of your eye. It’s usually a love interest, or a
family member, maybe a teacher or a friend.
But for Cyndi Freeman, it’s Wonder Woman.
Freeman’s show, Wonder Woman: A How To Guide For Little Jewish Girls, chronicles
her development from timid Bostonian girl to NYC burlesque diva and how the lady in
red, gold and blue helped her get to where she is today. It’s a story about growing
up and staying young, about loving yourself on your own terms and remembering
that it’s always cool to fight Nazis. In short, it’s about life and the things we do to
flourish and enjoy every minute of it.
Freeman’s love for the Amazon woman is infectious, even for those who may have
never found themselves impressed by the crowned superheroine. The audience is
treated to hefty doses of unlikely (yet entirely true) background on the franchise;
that William Moulton Marston, the man who created her, truly believed women were
superior to men, that he lived in a polyamorous relationship with two women who
continued their relationship after his death. Freeman tells us of how she went to the
Wonder Woman Museum, owned by Marston’s family, and how they reverently talked
about his wife Elizabeth, a clear inspiration for Diana’s character.
We are given a special pass into stories of childhood, the creation of Freeman’s own
Amazon character who would fight alongside Diana. The dreamed up self-insert was
aptly named Moon Goddess and she sounded like she would have been much cooler
than Diana’s actual screen sister, Drusilla. It’s more comical for the fact that stories
like these are rooted in memories we can all likely relate to. Be honest, haven’t we
all done that as children? I imagined I was Indiana Jones’s daughter as a wee bairn.
(And then he ended up with a son. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed.)
But what touched me the most during that performance had nothing to do with the
history of Wonder Woman or childhood antics or even the empowering tale that
tracked Freeman’s rise as a burlesque queen. Instead it was the point where she
talked of her quest for a mentor, a guiding presence who she could look up to. We all
know the saying “never meet you heroes,” and Freeman’s personal experience in
meeting one of hers only proved the point. Which is why she came back to Wonder
Woman, the only figure in her life who had been capable of consoling her in times of
need, of encouraging her to take on the world when it looked the most bleak.
She pointed out that when your heroes come from the pages of a comic book or
through a television screen, they can never let you down. They stay forever, in your
mind, that same pillar of whatever-you-need-most. They are unchangeable and
steadfast and true.
How true that is.
Which is why, whenever I see a child accused of being “escapist” or “out of touch” in
their love for this book series or that movie, my heart breaks a little and I rush to
defend them. It’s not the place of well-adjusted adults to deprive anyone of solace in
the imagination. We all need our hero. For Cyndi Freeman, it’s Wonder Woman.
Who’s yours?
Wonder Woman: A How To Guide For Little Jewish Girls has just finished up at the
Frigid Festival, but there might be more performances in the works. We’ll be sure to
keep you posted.
Fuse Stage Interview: Eclectic Storyteller Cyndi
Freeman Comes Home in “And I Am Not Lying Live
“Why has it taken so long for me to come back home? I don’t know. I have been thinking
about it for years and it just never quite seemed like the right time until now.”
By Bill Marx. Sept. 04, 2012
http://artsfuse.org/68358/fuse-stage-interview-eclectic-storyteller-cyndi-freeman-comes-home-in-and-i-am-not-lying-live/
Some stage performers start their careers in Boston and vamoose after their rookie failures and successes, never to return.
Flying the coop is understandable, but there are those local thespians who, after they exit town, leave you wondering over the
years—how have they developed their stage talents? It has taken over a decade, but Cyndi Freeman is coming back home
(courtesy of WBUR) in the show And I Am Not Lying Live at the Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA on September 13th.
I will be good to see Freeman again because, after her work in the ’80s and ’90s with Planet Girl and her one-woman
performance pieces (I Kissed Dash Riprock), she has put together a striking career in New York, creating and performing in
storytelling-based variety shows, innovative, catch-as-catch-can amalgamations of yarn-spinning, music, and sideshow antics
that smooch together confessional narrative, vaudeville, and burlesque. At the Middle East, she will be appearing with a quartet of
other veteran storytellers—Dawn Fraser, Adam Wade, Brad Lawrence, and Jeff Simmermon.
From what I can glean of Freeman’s contribution to And I Am Not Lying Live, her signature combination of sexuality, confession,
and farce is moving into deeper emotional territory. She has become an actress of many (maybe not a thousand) faces—her
curvaceous female-to-the-max personae include Wonder Woman and the glamorous vamp Cherry Pitz, the inspirational tasselspinning center of the Hotsy Totsy Burlesque troupe, whose upcoming New York shows are Cherry Pitz: Vampire Hunter, A
Charlie Brown Burlesque Thanksgiving, and Hotsy Totsy Tribute to the Star Wars Holiday Special!
I sent Cyndi some questions via e-mail—here are her answers.
Arts Fuse: You are coming into town for
a show called And I Am Not Lying Live.
What is the evening like?
Cyndi Freeman: And I am Not Lying
Live is a storytelling show with elements
of variety entertainment thrown in to
shake things up. The Boston show
features the founding member of the And
I Am Not Lying troupe, Jeff Simmermon,
and the two co-producers of the show,
Brad Lawrence and myself, plus we are
bringing our good friends, Adam Wade
and Dawn Fraser.
We present stuff that we enjoy. We are
influenced by storytellers that resonate
with us as well as by variety performers
that tickle our fancy. In this show, we
have selected a great bunch of stories
dealing with a broad array of subjects,
Storyteller Cyndi Freeman in AND I AM NOT LYING LIVE.
yarns told by fun and funny people who
Photo: Ryan Collard.
have a solid knack for the form. Plus we
have the Boston Typewriter Orchestra
banging out some tunes to add that extra element that makes us more than your average storytelling show.
When promoting a show, credits are an important selling point, so let’s get that out of the way. We are considered one of New
York’s most innovative and eclectic storytelling-based shows. Our storytellers have appeared on This American Life and the
Moth Podcast. They have won multiple Moth story SLAMS and they have been onstage with Amy Poehler at the UCB Theatre in
New York and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. And I Am Not Lying has enjoyed audience and critical success in
Washington DC, Philly, and at SXSW in Austin, where we were seen by WBUR who, in turn, chose to help us out by presenting
us to the Boston audience.
To get a feel for our sensibility you can visit our blog.
AF: Although you are in New York now, you spent a number of years performing in Boston. Your hometown is Newton. What
memories do you have of acting here? I believe your one-person shows Greetings From Hollywood and I Kissed Dash Riprock
premiered here, though I could be wrong. And why has it taken 10 years for you to perform in the city?
Freeman: What memories do I have of Boston; goodness, it is where I found my voice.
I remember a lot: doing musicals in the basement of the Elliot Church in Newton Corner with a youth community theater program
and being so shy that I would bomb at auditions in high school, and thus rarely get cast. Because of that stage fright I chose (at age
15) to take professional acting classes at the Lyric Stage—where I wrote a monologue that three years later (at age 18) booked
me a slot on an HBO TV show entitled Campus Comedy: The Future Kings and Queens of Comedy. But the show’s producers
rewrote the piece in such a way that it made no sense. I bombed so completely—while being filmed for national television—that
my Dad was never able to see me perform comedy live again. He would only watch me perform on video where there was no
risk of watching his youngest daughter fail.
And that is just up to age 19.
I was at Emerson College during the stand-up comedy boom of the early ’80s. I took comedy writing from two amazing teachers,
comics Mike MacDonald and Denis Leary. I hung out at stand-up clubs every night and received most of my arts education from
this scene rather than in college.
I worked at the Mystery Café doing interactive dinner theater for 10 years and credit this experience for what finally got me over
my shyness. It also taught me how to work a crowd: everything I use in creating and hosting burlesque shows comes from this. In
fact, it was at Mystery Café that I received my first professional positive review. It was from you in 1988.
I worked a bit in legit theater in town, Triangle Theater, Back Alley Theater, Merrimack Rep, B.U. Playwrights’ Theater, and a
stint as an understudy at the Huntington Theater.
Then I moved to LA, which was just not my cup of tea. In LA, during every project I was involved with the cast and crew were
angling on how the job at hand would lead to bigger and better things. From this I learned that the luxury of performing in a city like
Boston, which is not a show-biz company town, is that the shiniest thing is always the project you are involved with at the
moment and the crowd you are playing to right then. That is what’s important. There is integrity to that, an integrity that LA lacked,
and I missed it desperately. So I came home to Boston and continued to work in legit theater, but I also started writing my own
material, shows that combined what I had learned in theater and stand-up. Lacking a place to present this work, I created a troupe
with several colleagues, we called it Planet Girl, and it was there that I found that my passion for creating the words was stronger
than my desire to simply be on stage.
I started writing one-woman shows (Greetings from Hollywood & I Kissed Dash Riprock) and the response from the audience
was palpably different. After a show, I would not only get compliments on my talent or my writing, I would also get people waiting
for me backstage, wanting to talk to me about their own lives, needing to share with me their personal stories. The solo work and
confessional shows created a dialogue with the crowd, a sense of community that was just so warm and human. I took these
shows out of Boston to New York, London, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Amsterdam.
Then I moved to New York, mostly because I needed to grow, Boston is a warm place and a friendly place, but I knew if I was to
continue learning I needed to move out of my comfort zone. It broke my heart, but I needed to step out. New York may be a
company town, but unlike LA, it is a town that also has a vibrant experimental arts scene and it was exactly where I needed to be.
Why has it taken so long for me to come back home? I don’t know. I have
been thinking about it for years and it just never quite seemed like the right
time until now. In fact, one of the reasons why I am happy to be coproducing And I Am Not Lying Live—the storytelling and variety show—is
that my co-producers Brad Lawrence (also my husband) and Jeff
Simmermon share my desire to take what we have created in New York
and to bring the fun out into the rest of the country.
AF: How does And I Am Not Lying Live fit in with your earlier shows?
Most of them dealt with autobiographical material, usually taking it in a
satiric direction.
Freeman: I think that what I am doing with And I Am Not Lying Live is an
evolution of what I was doing with my earlier shows. When I discovered
the storytelling scene in New York, it was like coming home. I was doing
creative memoir in a bubble, now I became one of many, and a number of
my colleagues are so wonderfully gifted. I learn something about
performing and audiences at every show, but what’s even more fun is
learning about and from my fellow performers. Storytelling is an art form
that builds community, a community of smart, thoughtful, and interesting
people.
Cyndi Freeman as her favorite superheroine
— Wonder Woman. Photo: Burke Heffener.
Comedy is big in the storytelling scene, but we are not doing stand-up.
The goal of stand-up is to make the audience laugh; the goal of storytelling
is to bring the audience somewhere cool, or interesting, or not so cool,
and the humor comes from the fact that smart people tend to be funny.
Besides, if you want to tell a dark story without everyone listening wanting
to run out and slit their wrists once you have finished, it is probably a good to idea to add some levity to the presentation.
AF: Besides finding the comedy in reality, you have had a keen interest in fantasy. One of your recent shows Wonder Woman: A
How To Guide for Little Jewish Girls deals with “a little suburban Jewish girl obsessed with Wonder Woman who becomes a
glamorous burlesque Queen in NYC.” What is the appeal of superheroines for you? They are also an inspiration for your recent
burlesque shows as well.
Freeman: The superhero genre was created in the late ’30s out of the ashes of the Great Depression and on the cusp of World
War Two (and mostly by first generation, Jewish American artists). It came from a very pure place; it was a gut response to the
evil that was gaining power in the world. The fantasy is that there are people with super powers who can defeat the evil. That hope
is what drives the popularity of superheroes. The form resonates strongly with people of all ages and backgrounds, and that is a
comforting reality: it is proof that people in general want to believe in truth and honor and benevolence.
Wonder Woman is the icon that I relate to most. She lives in my psyche, reminding me that it is okay to believe in goodness, and
that you can be both strong and beautiful. Many of my colleagues in burlesque are also huge superhero fans and their acts are
tributes to their favorite heroes and or villains, which is why my burlesque troupe (Hotsy Totsy Burlesque) thought it fun to create
a theme night for superheroes for our last show in August. If you want to see my Wonder Woman act—it is one of my biggest,
crowd-pleasing signature pieces—the video is below. (Warning: There will be tassels.)
AF: How did the character Cherry Pitz (Inside Cherry Pitz is the title of one of your one-woman shows) and the Hotsy Totsy
Burlesque come about? What is the appeal of burlesque in the twenty-first century? It seems to be making a comeback . . .
Freeman: Cherry Pitz is a character that first came about at the Mystery Café. It was a show called Death and Taxes and she
was named Trixi. I did the show for about 9 months. But I loved the character, so much that when the show ended I changed the
name to Cherry and I started doing stand-up as her in the late ’80s. Thing is, she didn’t go over in mainstream rooms, but the
kitsch quality of the material killed in gay clubs. So I have had her in mind for years, trying to find a home for her. I felt like a drag
queen trapped in a woman’s body until I found the burlesque scene in New York. Originally Cherry was only going to be a host—I
was not really interested in strip tease—but then I tested positive for the BRCA 2 genetic mutation (AKA the breast cancer gene),
and my doctors suggested a double mastectomy as a precaution. Instead, I decided it was time to flash the crowd. Actually this
episode will be what part of And I Am Not Lying Live will be about.
Hotsy Totsy Burlesque is my ongoing, monthly burlesque troupe. And New York’s only ongoing, burlesque soap opera. My coproducer Joe The Shark and I wanted to bring a more theatrical feel to the burlesque stage, so each show is a mini-comicmelodrama, with a lot of audience participation thrown in for good measure. The end result is a heightened experience for the
crowd as they get sucked into the ridiculous story lines and cheer us on in resolving whatever conflict we have created for the
show.
The appeal of burlesque is that it is sex positive. All bodies are beautiful, and sex is simply fun.
I Kissed Dash Riprock!
By Sarika Chawla | Posted Aug. 19, 2002,
Cyndi Freeman is sexy, neurotic and funny, and she's not afraid to show it. A 90-minute one-woman
monologue, "I Kissed Dash Riprock" follows the life of a struggling actress whose career takes her through
Hollywood, Boston, New York and London. She is a film extra who meets, lusts, kisses and falls for
international movie star Dash Riprock--at the very moment that her own success is just around the corner.
Broken into four scenes, Freeman tells the ups and downs of this woman's relationship with Dash Riprock,
a superstar with a very public personal life. Over the course of several months, she obsesses over him and
their relationship, all the while finding reasons to push him away (i.e., his girlfriend). In the meantime, her
career takes her to the stage in a one-woman show, receiving great acclaim despite her still-lowly status in
the acting world.
The story crackles with such emotion that it seems less like a play and more like having a hyperactive
woman in your living room. Freeman screeches with abandon, flails her long limbs and scampers around
the tiny stage, relaying the enthusiasm of a woman whose dreams could come true, if she'll let them. Quite
often, the performance is so real that there is virtually no distinction between Freeman and her character.
She gesticulates wildly, tucking her hair behind her ears and tugging at her slinky dresses, so much that it
seems to be Freeman's self consciousness, not her character's, that drive these motions.
Some of the strongest moments occur when she articulates voices that are not her own, but that reside in
her head; namely, a 14-year old romantic named Juliet, and a 90-year old wheelchair-bound woman. But
Freeman's performance throughout is charged with electricity and her story is well-crafted and engaging. In
the end, the only question left unanswered is? just who is Dash Riprock?
A romantic confession
I Kissed Dash Riprock
Assembly Rooms
Elizabeth Mahoney
The Guardian – 2000
One grrrrl's confession of her romance with a Clooneyesque film-star hunk: this sounds light, and it is.
Cyndi Freeman's performance is of the women-in-Friends school: sassy, kooky, skinny, shiny-haired and
slightly over the top.
For all that this is a likeable show, rescued by sharp writing. When Dash calls her, she almost sobs for joy
that he calls her "pal"; when he invites her to visit his ranch in Montana she goes into imaginative overdrive
("my own personal beer commercial: Montana"). Even when the material veers too close to chick-lit
staples, it does so knowingly. She has a 14-year-old Juliet (as in Romeo) part of her subconscious guiding
her towards romance, but also a 90-year part telling her to get out and have fun. That voice would
recommend this heartily.