Solo Show I'M JUST KIDNEYING Comes to Frigid Fringe Festival

Does the singular act of donating a kidney make you a hero? Amanda has a certificate dedicated to her heroism but she's uncomfortable with that label. On the other hand! She loves the attention being a hero provides her so she wrote a solo show about all the containers of pee she had to carry on the subway. I'm Just Kidneying takes a whimsical look into the process of living kidney donation and pokes holes into the idea of what it takes to be "hero material."

• Amanda's story caught the attention of the New York City Mayor's Office who invited her to share it via a video campaign as part of Get Covered NYC- an initiative to enroll New Yorker's in the Affordable Care Act.
• Amanda was featured in an interview by Philadelphia's Broad Street Review when she toured I'm Just Kidneying to PHIT Comedy at the Adrienne Theater. "A life-saving kidney swap turned out unexpectedly hilarious in Amanda Nicastro's honest and informative solo show."
• Orlando Sentinel Review "Most Fringe shows don't have educational angles (quick, what's a "proud organ"?), public-service announcements (blood type?) and fart jokes. Now's your chance!!!"
• Highlighted in an article about BOOM Fringe in the The Charlotte Observer

Amanda Nicastro, writer, performer, producer

Amanda is a living kidney donor who has been writing and producing original comedic content in New York City for the past 6 years. She's currently closing out a run of her newest satiric solo show, Sarah Palin: Rogue None, at Under St. Mark's Theater in the East Village. She has been a guest writer and performer on countless comedy shows at various theaters in NYC including Upright Citizens Brigade, The Magnet, The People's Improv Theater, The PITLoft, and The Tank. This will be Amanda's fourth year producing and performing with Frigid Fringe. I'm Just Kidneying has toured at The International Orlando Fringe Festival, Philadelphia Improv Theater (PHIT), BOOM Fringe, and SoloCom Festival. Amanda has studied at Upright Citizens Brigade, The People's Improv Theater, Stella Adler Studio, LAByrinth Theater Company and holds a BA in Theater from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. In her spare time she likes to volunteer with LiveOnNY which is the federally designated Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) for the Greater New York City Area. Follow her @TheLastAmanda & https://www.facebook.com/imjustkindeying/

Geoff Grimwood, director

Geoff Grimwood is a Chicago-raised, New York-based teacher, improviser and actor. Starting in 2002, Geoff has trained at iO, the Annoyance, Upright Citizens Brigade, William Esper Studio, and the Pit, where he has taught improv since 2009. Geoff spent a third of 2014 performing for the Second City on Norwegian Cruise Lines. Other career highlights include improvising alongside Emo Philips, Mo Collins, and the New York Yankees, his musical improv team THEM, the sexy pilgrim musical Plymouth Rock, Canadian import Beerprov, freestyle rap show The Beatbox, and his own creation Fake Church, which improvises a new religion live on stage.

Frankie Johnson, creative consultant

Frankie Johnson is an actress and writer currently working in New York City. She wrote the book and lyrics to the musical dark comedy The Hills Are Alive! with composer Eric Thomas Johnson, which had successful runs at both the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival and the 2013 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Her Sci-fi buddy comedy pilot, Flying Blind (co-written with Sarah Morgan Ashey), was a winner of the First Ten Pages Competition and her web series Dead Space was a finalist for the 2018 Sundance/YouTube New Voices Lab. Her work has been performed at several venues around NYC, including The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre, The Peoples Improv Theater, Theatre 80, Don't Tell Mama, The Duplex, and The Tank. She also regularly writes and produces sketch videos and short films, both comedic and dramatic, independently and with Eric Thomas Johnson. As an actress, she has been seen in various productions in regional theatre and in NYC. Credits include: The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Hills Are Alive!, The Future Is in Eggs, Eurydice, Faith, Hope & Charity, The Complete History of America (abridged), Hay Fever, The Pirates of Penzance, among others. She also performs as a comedic improviser and sketch actress with various groups around the city, including the Boogiemanja Sketch Collective and the Magnet Theatre House Team Milwaukee.She is a recipient of a Bronx Council on the Arts (NYSCA) grant for her work as well as a member of the Dramatists Guild. She holds a degree from Vanderbilt University, where she studied music and theatre.

Tom Brennan, producer

Tom Brennan is a producer, performer and writer from New York City. He produces ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION, a monthly politically themed talk show. Notable guests have included Lizz Winstead (The Daily Show), Robert George (The New York Daily News) and John Fugelsang (MSNBC). Tom spent seven years as a content producer and story editor for Marvel Entertainment, where he worked with industry icons like Stan Lee, John Romita, Jr., Mark Waid, Gail Simone, Klaus Janson and Matt Fraction. He also created the comedy anthology books Shame Itself and Marvel: Now What?! which saw comedians Scott Adsit, Brian Posehn, Wyatt Cenac, and Sara Schaefer join the Marvel writing table, most of whom Tom personally recruited. Tom is also an educator, serving on the adjunct faculty at Drexel University's college of Media Arts & Design as well as offering services as a private teacher on all things comic book production, filmmaking and improv. Notable instructors in the creative arts include Michael Showalter (The State), Ali Farahnakian (Saturday Night Live), Ashley Ward (Fifty Shades: The Musical), Kurt Braunohler (Bob's Burgers), Jay Rhoderick (Centralia), Ian Abrams (Early Edition), and Barrymore Award winning playwright Bruce Graham. Find him online at: twitter.com/brennanator

Giancarlo Osaben, production photographer

Giancarlo Osaben is an actor, comedian and photographer from Jackson Heights, Queens in NYC. He holds a BS in theater from Skidmore College. He performs regularly at The People's Improv theater

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