Interview: Francesca DiFrancesco of MAE WEST AFTER DARK at Abbey Theater Of Dublin
One-woman show is 'celebration of the life' of iconic filmstar
If Francesca DiFrancesco messes up a line in the show Mae West AFTER DARK, the playwright will know it instantaneously but will easily forgive her.
After all, DiFrancesco is the one who wrote it.
DiFrancesco came up with the idea for the script and workshopped the one-woman show about the American actress/singer/icon while at Denison University. The show will make its full debut Feb. 6-Feb. 9 at the Abbey Theater of Dublin (5600 Post Road in Dublin).
“There’s a lot to take on,” DiFrancesco said. “I’m still in the midst of getting familiar with the flow of the show but I know the story and I’m very familiar with her career.
“That’s the beauty of this: It’s my show. I know if I forget the exact wording, I can cover it. Honestly, it excites me more than it makes me nervous.”
Abbey Theater Supervisor Joe Bishara, who is working with DiFrancesco as a producer and director, said he’s excited to offer the world premiere of Mae West: AFTER DARK at the Abbey.
“Highlighting local playwrights, especially ones with such impassioned projects, exemplifies our mission to serve as an incubation space for new works created by local artists for local audiences,” Bishara said.
DiFrancesco, an Orlando, Fla. native who was drawn to Denison because “Office” star Steve Carell attended there, has been in over 45 plays, and has written a handful of plays including DEAR BERNARD (2016), THE CALL (2018), and her upcoming work, THE WONDERFUL MERMAIDS OF WEEKI WACHEE SPRING. She said Mae West is “a celebration of the life” of the old Hollywood starlet.
“When I say her name, most people either don’t know who she was, or they quote one of her one liners and start walking and talking like her,” DeFrancesco said. “And that is a big problem for me.
“I’m a fan of Old Hollywood and I love a lot of the stars from that age. Mae has always stuck out to me as an unapologetic, feminine icon. Her attitude could resonate with people today. That’s why I wrote it and why I love it.”
DiFrancesco can’t pinpoint the moment she fell in love with the Old Hollywood era but credits her parents, Gina and David Mouery, who are huge fans of older movies.
“They were the gateway to things that came before me,” she said. “I’d be in the car with my mom and she would mention a movie. I’d say, ‘Who’s Cary Grant?’ (She’d respond) ‘You don’t know who Cary Grant is?’ as if an eight-year-old born should know him.
“My dad’s the one who got me interested in Mae West. He said, ‘You should look into who this woman was. She was very powerful and very iconic.’”
One could argue West, who died in 1980, was to the 1930s what Madonna was to the 1980s. West applied a brash, funny style to movies like “My Little Chickadee (1940)” with W.C. Fields, “She Done Him Wrong (1933),” and “I’m No Angel” (1933).” Her first play, SEX, achieved a certain amount of notoriety after it caused West to spend eight days in jail for “corrupting the morals of youth.” She quipped afterward, “I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.”
West was so famous the Marine Corps named its floatation devices after her because the life preservers gave their users a buxom appearance.
Even though West has been gone for over 40 years, DiFrancesco believes her presence still can be felt today.
“Her influence is like the threads in the tapestries of many different artists today,” DiFrancesco said. “The idea of a woman taking things into her own hands, using her voice unabashedly, and being funny and sexy at the same time really resonates with me.”
Like West, DiFrancesco said acting helped her find her voice.
“I used to be extremely shy when I was young,” she said with a laugh. “I’d hide behind my mother when people spoke to me.
“When I was in kindergarten, I became very bubbly. But you know how little kids are. They can be very judgy and told me I shouldn’t be so loud. So, I just shut up for a while.”
However, when a school was looking for actors for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, DiFrancesco jumped at the chance to audition.
“Theater got me to open who I was inside. And I've never gone back,” she said. “Acting as someone else allows you to explore who you are. It gave me the confidence, the fearlessness to be bold.”
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