Award-Winning FERTILE Returns to Solofest This Year!

Since the debut of Fertile at the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival, writer and performer, Heather Dowling, has been recognized repeatedly for the show's powerful impact on audiences and now Fertile will be part of the 10th anniversary of the largest solo-performance festival on the West coast, Solofest, streaming from the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks, CA.

"Back when I was just beginning to write my first solo show, Unemployed. Finally., the Whitefire Theatre quickly became a home for my creativity," says Dowling. "This is where my solo performance education with my coach and director, Jessica Lynn Johnson began, in her free Soaring Solo workshops. And it's a joy to be presenting my second show from my second home - and supporting this amazing venue that Artistic Director Bryan Rasmussen has built."

In 2020, Dowling was nominated for Performer of the Decade by Broadway World - LA based on the success and accolades for Unemployed. Finally. and Fertile. At the 2019 Hollywood Fringe, Fertile was awarded the festival's Producers' Encore Award and Dowling was nominated for Best Solo Performance out of 101 solo performances that year. The show has since gone on to be awarded Best of Fest for Solofest 2020 at Whitefire Theatre, selected for the curated 28th Annual LA Women's Theatre Festival and selected for Binge Fringe at the Santa Monica Playhouse. The show was also recognized by theatre audiences in Los Angeles, winning Better Lemons "Double Sweet" Award for 2019.

During the two-year run and tour of her first show Unemployed. Finally., one of the stories that audiences responded to most was when Dowling shared her personal challenges with infertility. Driven by the heartfelt response, she decided to share her story more completely and interviewed dozens of women (and men, too) to discover, uncover and encourage a conversation about procreation as an empowered choice.

"What I went through personally with infertility opened my eyes. I was shocked to discover how many women, how many couples had been through some version of what I went through...and they weren't talking about it!" she said. "I felt that writing this show, sharing my story and the stories of the people I interviewed about fertility and parenthood, would support others - encourage them and even give them a chance to laugh about it, and maybe cry a little, too."

For more information visit FertileConversation.com.

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