DI Lady DI eschews the fairytale glamor of the People’s Princess to illuminate her struggles in a paternalistic society and dysfunctional family.
The Porters of Hellsgate have announced the extension of the world premiere of DI Lady DI, written and performed by Charlotte Munson. DI Lady DI was named Best Musical at the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival and was nominated for Fringe First and Top of the Fringe awards. DI Lady DI is a one woman, coming-of-age, powerhouse, new fairytale musical. Comedic and searingly innovative, DI Lady DI eschews the fairytale glamor of the People's Princess to illuminate her struggles in a paternalistic society and dysfunctional family. The show will add two performances, Friday July 22 and Saturday July 23rd.
Under pressure to sacrifice self and conform to oppressive external demands, the Queen of people's hearts bravely relinquishes illusory dreams to emerge from her crucible-chrysalis as an empowered woman of influence, transcending celebrity and transforming the monarchy. DI LADY DI reveals what is under the looking glass, taking an unflinching gaze into the heart and mind of an icon in turmoil, evocatively expressing lessons learned from her private journey. Through beautiful, multi-layered harmonies and incisive lyrics, DI LADY DI celebrates the transformative possibilities of looking inward, overcoming familial trauma, and the ineffable power of a woman's intuition.
Book / Lyrics / Music by Charlotte Boyce Munson
Charlotte is an LA based artist with professional credits spanning across the country, including Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Coachella Valley Repertory, Salt Lake Acting Co, Skylight Theater Collective, Cape May Playhouse, Musical Theatre of CT, Clarence Brown Theatre, Vermont Stage, Saint Michael's Playhouse, Lost Nation Theatre, New London Barn Playhouse, Big Fork Summer Playhouse, NE Shakespeare Ensemble, and Pacific Opera Project. As a playwright, her work has been produced in LA and NYC. Winner of the Blank Theatre's national Young Playwrights Festival. Emerson College BFA, Musical Theatre. MFA Acting, UTK. IG: @charlights www.charlottemunson.com
Music by Richard Munson
Richard Munson has performed his music with his ensemble in New York at P.S. 122, Carnegie Hall, and the Mudd Club. His dance works have been performed at The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, and the American Dance Festival.
Director Charles Pasternak is the Founding Artistic Director of the Porters of Hellsgate Theatre Company. His directing work with the Porters includes over fifteen productions, most recently Cymbeline (BWW nomination) and Pericles (Valley Theatre nomination). Pasternak is the Designate Artistic Director of Santa Cruz Shakespeare, where he will take over the job full time in 2023. Charles' regional work has spanned the country, including American Players Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, The Clarence Brown Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, The Denver Center, The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, three seasons with Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, and four seasons with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, among many more. www.charlespasternak.com
DI Lady DI is produced by Scott Golden for Porters of Hellsgate. Golden has been a part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival for a decade as a writer, director, producer and actor. He produced the 2018 Top-of the-Fringe-winner Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk and the 2017 Best Comedy Easy Targets as well as writing last years Best Immersive nomi-nee Welcome to the Neighborhood. Scott is the co-Artistic Director at the Sacred Fools Theater Company where he makes his artistic home.
The Porters of Hellsgate was founded in 2006 by Edward Castuera, Jack Leahy, and Charles Pasternak. Their inaugural production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar opened at the end of that year.
In total the Porters have now produced THIRTY of Shakespeare's plays. Their most recent productions were 2019's Romeo & Juliet, directed by Gus Krieger, and The Two Noble Kinsmen, directed by Will Block, which repped with their Hollywood Fringe Festival production of Double Falsehood, directed by Thomas Bigley and Alex Parker.
Apart from Shakespeare, the Porters have also produced Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, a world premiere translation of Sophocles' Oedipus the Tyrant by resident artist Jamey Hecht, and three original works by Associate Artistic Director Gus Krieger: Deity Clutch, Sherlock Through the Looking Glass and Breaking Bard. For the Hollywood Fringe Festival, they staged Larry Cedar's one-man show Orwellian and Jamey Hecht's one-man show Limousine, Midnight Blue.
WHAT: DI Lady DI
Music, Book and Lyrics by Charlotte Munson, Music by Richard Munson
WHEN: Friday July 22 and Saturday July 23rd @ 8pm
WHERE: The Broadwater (Black Box)
6322 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036
TICKETS: $15
PUBLIC RSVP: Tickets are available online at www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/5094.
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