Tennessee Playwrights Studio to Present THAT WOMAN - THE MONOLOGUE SHOW at KC Fringe

Tennessee Playwrights Studio will present That Woman - The Monologue Show at KC Fringe. Performances will be held at The Arts Asylum at 10:30 PM Friday, July 19, 6:00 PM Saturday, July 20, 3:00 PM Sunday, July 21, 7:30 PM Tuesday, July 23, and 6:00 PM Wednesday, July 24. For tickets, visit the button below.

The history you didn't learn in school. Broken dreams. Deportation. Murder. Courage. Resilience. That Woman - The Monologue Show is a series of stories imagined from the perspectives of women involved with President John F. Kennedy - stories that in the past have often have been dismissed or deliberately silenced, including those of Ellen Rometsch, Blaze Starr, Mimi Alford, Mary Meyer, Judith Exner and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Co-created by Molly Breen, director of Tennessee Playwright Studios and Angela Gimlin, COO of Inebriated Shakespeare Theater Company, along with eight fellow Nashville playwright/actors, the full production of this work originally premiered at the Darkhorse Theater in 2022 - in tandem with THAT WOMAN - THE DANCE SHOW - and was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. Now we look forward to bringing the festival version of the show to Kansas City, with Breen as Mimi Alford alongside local Kansas City actors, including: Kisha Banister as Ellen Rometsch, Jessie Paxton as Blaze Starr, Lauren Smith as Mary Pinchot Meyer, Brioni Garvin as Judith Exner, and Jessica Whitfield as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

"I'm so thrilled to bring this show to Kansas City," says Breen, "where I was born and spent many summer weeks at Lake Quivira with my extended family while growing up. I'm so impressed with the amount of talent in Kansas City, not only the actors who are in this show, who are sure to impress with their depictions of these women, but also the enire pool of auditioning actors who I wasn't able to cast, but who were also incredibly strong. I look forward to seeing more local talent as an audience member during the festival. (Coincidentially, my nephew, Everett O'Rourke, will be making his stage debut as Chip in Beauty and the Beast at the Kauffman Center in July, so I'm excited to see him perform while I'm here.)"

Additional stops on the THAT WOMAN fringe festival tour include: St. Lou Fringe (with Kansas City actors Brioni Garvin and Jessie Paxton reprisng their roles), MN Fringe, Philly Fringe, Rochester Fringe, Elgin Fringe and more to come! Nominated for three Nashville First Night Awards, including Outstanding Original Work, Play and Ensemble, THAT WOMAN - THE MONOLOGUE SHOW will provide a fascinating night of theatre that will have audiences discussing long after the curtain falls.

About the Actors

Kisha Banister (Ellen Rometsch) is thrilled to be a part of this amazing production! The native Kansas Citian is a former news anchor/reporter now living out her childhood dreams as an actor/model. She studies at The Actor Training Studio and is represented by Voices and Models in KC, and West Talent in St. Louis. Her resume includes a host of commercial work, some short films & a feature. She is honored to make her theatre debut in this female-driven production!

Molly Breen (Co-Creator/Director/Mimi Alford) directs Tennessee Playwrights Studio a theatre production company and playwright development lab in Nashville. As an actor, she has worked with Nashville-area theatre companies in over 40 productions, as well as performing in plays in New York, DC, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. She loves originating roles in new plays and working on projects that have social impact and/or contain challenging material. As a writer, she has received fellowships to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Mary Anderson for the Arts. She is represented by the McCray Agency for film, tv, and commercial work.

Brioni Garvin (Judith Exner) is thrilled and honored to be part of "That Woman - The Monologue Show" for the KC Fringe Festival. As a former Theatre Performance and Psychology major at William Jewell College, it's been her goal to participate in the Kansas City theater community as much as possible, and being involved with the Fringe Festival is a dream come true. Brioni is thankful to Molly Breen and the rest of TPS for this opportunity. She'd also like to thank her former professors and mentor, Nathan Wyman, Chris McCoy, and Mikhael Sublett for helping her improve her skills and confidence to pursue her dreams. But most of all, she'd like to thank Brigitte Garvin, her mother, for supporting and believing in her. This is the first time Brioni will be playing a real life person. She hopes to humanize Judith Exner the way she deserves and her story so she can be heard. Enjoy the show!

Jessie Paxton (Blaze Starr) (She/They) is an independent theatre artist with a B.A. in Theatre from Southwest Baptist University, a certification in the Stella Adler technique from The Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and is a 2nd year graduate student at the University of Central Missouri. Previous credits include Professor Baxter in Radio Plays for the Holidays, Catherine in Proof, By My Side Soloist in GODSPELL, and Betsy in As It Is In Heaven. (@pbandjess22)

Lauren Smith (Mary Pinchot Meyer) is elated to make her KC Fringe Festival debut with That Woman. Lauren studied Theatre Performance at the University of Kansas and received her degree in 2023. Since then, she has been working in Kansas City on various theatre and film projects as an actor, stage manager, production manager, and everything in between. She would like to thank her parents and wonderful friends for their support. @laurennksmithh

Jessica Whitfield (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) is a Kansas City actor. She earned her BFA in Theatre from Drake University where she was an Irene Ryan nominee. She has also trained locally with Richard Alan Nichols, Andy Garrison and Heather Laird. She was recently named Best Local Actor by The Pitch. Steve Wilson of Broadway World calls her, "Marvelous," and says, "She has a good sense of comedic timing, utilizing humorous facial expressions, body language, and accent to keep the audience laughing." She has previously been in Gutterthief, Shapes of Love, Striking Beauty and Beginnings from an End with KC Fringe Festival. She has been seen on the KCMPT stage in Barbecue and the Molière adaption Secrets & Lies.

To post a comment, you must register and login.