THE YEAR THAT CARRIE FISHER DIED World Premiere to be Presented at the 2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival

"The Year That Carrie Fisher Died", written by Scout Storey (He/Him), directed by Lauren Sperling (She/Her) and Silas Jean-Rox (He/Him), and produced by Make Believe Stage Productions (MB Stage Productions) will have its world premiere at the 2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival on June 4th, 2023.

"The Year That Carrie Fisher Died" encompasses the story of Lukas, a proudly out Transman, and his pansexual best friend Quinn as they navigate the year 2016. A look at the progression of the infamous year through the eyes of two genuine nerds as they process the inevitable future and the ordeals that come from a historical Election season.

"The Year That Carrie Fisher Died" is staged to take place through isolated moments in 2016, all cataloged by the passing of individuals that were the staple of the nerd culture, culminating at the end of the year with the tragic passing of Carrie Fisher.

Director, Lauren Sperling, looks forward to bringing to life Storey's vision through video elements that transcend normal theater mediums. There will be a little bit of everything to embrace the variety of nerd that encompasses such a wonderfully diverse community; from anime and video games, to science fiction and comic books.

A dark comedy that promises a little bit of laughter, some tears, and a truthful look at the queer experience.

About the Writer - Scout Storey started theatre late, well into undergrad, coming from a creative writing and literature background. Immediately becoming inducted into a world of playwriting, drag, musicality, and performativity, while also dabbling in performance and directing, Storey's primary interest remained fixed in writing and lyricism. This interest eventually led him into Tisch School of the Arts at NYU's MFA program in Musical Theatre Writing. In New York he discovered his greatest theatrical passion through the queer play She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen. The concept of "Geek Theatre" would then inform his MFA thesis, a musical titled "Headshot! A Geek Tragedy".

A Note from the Playwright - Geek Theatre as a rule is a consciousness of embodiment, voice, representation, and casting practices. As I looked into companies such as Vampire Cowboys, Otherworld, EDGE of Orion, Raks Geek, and Dad's Garage, I found that many theatres and performance groups presenting geeky genre work also consciously work toward diversification of the stage from myriad perspectives, with eyes toward gender, sexuality, race, ability, neurodiversity-often in deeply intersectional ways. This phenomenon drew my interest until I ultimately developed the subject as my area of specialization and built my doctoral dissertation around diversity in Geek Theatre. I argue that much of the work is exemplary not only in creating space for minority characters and actors on the stage but in redefining methods and approaches theatre can embrace in pursuing a more democratized artistic field.

Taking cues from creative and sometimes even ironic methods of diversifying casts of characters and subject positions explored in Geek Theatre and other types of fandom-based performance, I have merged my research with my artistic work. Integrating my own experience as a trans-identifying queer geek, much of my work focuses on intersectionality, gender, fandom, and camp aesthetic. My work as an artist likewise fuses my background in research and musical/playwriting with my geek and queer identity. My doctoral dissertation, Infinite Identities: Staging Fandom and Diversity in Geek Theatre, articulates the ways in which the crossover of live theater and fandom affinity spaces facilitates nuanced intersectional diversity on stage.

The Origins of "The Year That Carrie Fisher Died" - Storey had several things in mind when this play was formulated. As he was teaching playwriting, he began specifically assigning plays that feature only two actors. Plays meant to showcase examples of practically producible plays with a tight focus on interpersonal character dynamics. In addition to researching "Geek Theatre" and wanting to implement more of his own deepening understanding of techniques into personal work, he wanted to write a story featuring a trans lead that did not focus on coming out or transitioning.

Moreover, the 2016 election was still very fresh-in both his own and the culture's psyche. Storey recalled joking in early 2016, after David Bowie and Alan Rickman passed away, that the year already sucked and perhaps we should reboot it. "I had no idea at the time how much the year would suck, as if consciously striving to outdo itself as it went along. After the election-which I refer to as post-11/9 America-the shock of the situation did not immediately settle in, as though the world existed in a surreal mirror universe and, at any moment, we might find a way to fix the bizarre transporter malfunction and beam back home. When the news of Carrie Fisher's hospitalization hit, I declared, 'No! 2016 cannot have her too!'"

Fisher was an individual Storey had admired not only as an artist but as an outspoken advocate for mental health. "When she passed", he stated, "my bubble of denial popped. While I had looked forward to New Year's as "the death of 2016," I began to reconsider it as the genesis of the new normal."

With these events in mind, Storey began writing the characters Lukas and Quinn-a trans man and his found-family bff, written to be castable as any gender-two geeks who would communicate in Star Wars references, right down to the drinks they mix. While Storey feared a play chronicling the 2016 primaries and election-however fun it's nature suggests-would quickly become irrelevant, like these two characters who have no idea what the year has in store for them, the world as a whole had no idea that its relevance would become even more significant as right wing rhetoric and agendas over the subsequent years zeroed in ever more tightly on trans people-the "genesis of the new normal"

The disconnection these two characters feel from their reality is one many still experience, which continuously teeters between the danger of denying and escaping too much fear and its great potential for creating found-family connections and community and for navigating a difficult socio-political landscape while retaining needed sparks of joy and hope.

About the Director

Theater has always been in Lauren's blood and for the last eight8 years she has been performing in theater shows all over LA, many of which have won awards at the Ovation Awards and the Hollywood Fringe Festival. She is excited and honored to make her LA directorial debut with "The Year Carrie Fisher Died"!

In addition to live performances, Lauren has brought her comedy chops to the screen in new media projects such as 'Buffy Kills Edward' & 'Scared Houseless'. Being a lover of genre films, Lauren was very excited when she got to star in a CryptTV short that was released on Facebook & when she recently performed on green screen in an exciting mega-meta-tribute to 80s/90s action-comedy, 'The Dawn of Don Damage', currently in post-production.

Lauren trained at The American Musical & Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in Los Angeles, and then worked under the guidance of "Tutor to the Stars" Rodney Cottier to receive a Masters degree in Classical Acting for Contemporary Theater at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA). At both academies, she trained with some of the leading industry professionals in acting, improv, and stage combat. Lauren has 20 years of dance training in various styles including ballet, jazz, & musical theater. She is also a trained singer.

Lauren would like to give a huge thanks to the MB Stage family for inviting her back and trusting her with this show! #VG03

A Note from the Director - From the moment I read the title The Year that Carrie Fisher Died, I was intrigued. The further I got into reading the script, I just knew I wanted to figure out how to bring this show to life with MB Stage Productions. I've worked with the MB team in the past on another geeky show, The Video Games, but this was a different kind of geekery. On the surface, TYTCFD could be seen as a celebration of many fandoms, but it's so much more than that and, as it turns out, a show I relate to even more than I initially thought.

TYTCFD is about owning your identity, whatever that looks like. The characters of Lukas and Quinn are so unapologetically themselves. They own their love of all things nerd as well as their sexual identities and orientations. This is how I too strive to live my life whenever possible.

It's about finding ways to cope with the horrors of real life. What do we use to help us escape in a world that's falling apart around us? These characters not only use video games and media to distract themselves, but they also frame real-life scenarios as if they themselves were in one of their various fandoms as a way to help better understand how to deal with each horror; something I also find very relatable.

Most importantly, perhaps, it's about acceptance. Acceptance not only of ourselves, but of each other. While we see our characters struggle with acceptance from the outside world, what's incredibly obvious, even in their bickering, is that neither would survive the bigger picture if it wasn't for the acceptance and love they have for each other.

Bringing this show to life has been a big, but exciting challenge; one I could not have done without the collaboration of all of the amazing artists involved in every aspect of this journey.

Our first challenge was figuring out how we wanted to bring these characters to life through our cast. Myself and the creative team agreed that we wanted a trans/non-binary person for the role of Lukas, no questions. We were so pleased when the amazing talent of Silas Jean-Rox stepped up to the task! Casting for Quinn was much harder, to be honest, but ultimately Zoya Ray won our hearts with the sass that she brought to the role, while also bringing a warmth and sweetness in the moments that call for it.

Finding ways to interpret Scout Storey's vision through the technical aspects and limitations of the Hollywood Fringe Festival was also quite the challenge! One that, to a certain degree, I felt out of my depth on since I'm not much of a tech wizard. If we had a full broadway budget and timeline, we'd absolutely be able to accomplish everything he's noted in the script; but what's more "Fringe" than experimenting? I feel that the technical elements we accomplished are such a fun addition to classical theatrical storytelling that compliment and add another layer of color to our actors' brilliant performances.

Perhaps the biggest challenge though was finding the balance of reality and fiction within the world of our show. We are tackling very real issues while living within a fantastical world. Issues and fears that completely took over America in 2016, but also issues and fears that are still looming large in real life all of these years later. We've had to find the balance between the bright, flashy elements of the show, while also tackling a tumultuous time in history and, by proxy, the aftermath and struggles that certain decisions have left us all with today.

Ultimately, the success of this show comes down to the truly collaborative process we've had along the way. As an actor, I always appreciate when my directors give me a chance to play, explore, and discover my character and relationships for myself beyond what's on the page, so I tried to foster that same environment not only for our actors, but for the creative team as a whole. Big picture, I of course have to make sure all of the parts will be cohesive in the end, but each person involved is their own artist and I want to give them all the chance to shine.

I'm grateful for all of the ideas that were brought to the table and I think they've all helped shape this show into a piece that I am truly proud to call my Los Angeles directorial debut!

About MBStage Productions - MB Stage Productions, LLC specializes in nerdy, experimental theatre. With a foundation in interactivity and nerd aesthetics, MB Stage Productions strives to be on the leading edge of theatre. MB Stage achieved success with their 2015 Hollywood Fringe production of THE VIDEO GAMES, an audience-interactive parody of the Hunger Games book series and the Super Smash Bros game franchise. The production company has participated in the Hollywood Fringe Festival every year since 2014 with a focus in workshopping nerdy and queer productions ranging from TTRPG musicals to coming-of-age autofictions. This year, MB Stage will be workshopping two productions with trans-centric stories and a sapphic supernatural one act. In addition, MB Stage Productions will be entering their eighth year of running a performing arts and youth summer camp in conjunction with Edutainment Arts and the Torrance YMCA. MB Stage has two theatre divisions: Nerdy Theatre, a division for all things interactive, immersive, and experimental; and Nerds Gone Deep Theatre, a nerdy take on serious, hard-hitting issues and themes.

Performance Details:

"The Year That Carrie Fisher Died" premieres at The Actor's Company on June 4th at 3:30 PM

Lukas played by Silas Jean-Rox (He/Him)

Quinn played by Zoya Ray (She/Her)

Show dates are June 4, June 10, June 16, June 1, June 22

Tickets can be found at https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9731 or at {https://mbstage.com/tickets/}

Tickets start at $15; Offer of Pay It Forward, MB is offering a pay it forward ticket price. For $25, you enable a discounted rate of $10 off for another individual to see the show without worrying about breaking the bank. Help us support theater by making it accessible to everyone.

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