DEAR ANNIE, I HATE YOU Comes to Edinburgh Fringe in August

Based on writer-performer Sam Ipema’s lived-experience of finding she had a brain aneurysm at the age of 20, and ditching her scheduled life-saving surgery until after her All-American Spring Break, Dear Annie, I Hate You is a duologue between Sam and her aneurysm. Visualising her rare brain aneurysm as an unexpected ‘other’ from the subconscious voice inside her head, Sam Ipema’s dark comedy explores the struggles of processing such a diagnosis at an early age, when most people are still figuring out who they are and what they want to do with their lives. She meditates on the events that brought her to the present after deciding that the best thing to do before getting the surgery was to go out with a bang at Spring Break, but intrusive ‘Annie’ had other plans. This is a true story, not necessarily a smart one.

Writer and performer Sam Ipema said, “When you’re facing the epitome of potentially becoming “insignificant" - at a time when life's possibilities are supposed to feel endless and exciting - going on Spring Break seemed almost like a necessity. If my life was about to be severely altered or shortened, then at least I'd be going out with a bang. I wanted ‘Annie’ to become real because, and perhaps this is the oddest part of being diagnosed with a potentially fatal condition, it somehow becomes your companion through it all.”

Wild Geese Productions is a production company run by three misfits - Sam Ipema, Molly Ehrenberg-Peters, and Shivani Mathur - who focus on telling stories through an imaginative lens. They are passionate about creating work that wouldn’t otherwise see the light of day and focuses on opportunities for women and other fellow misfits breaking into the industry. Dear Annie, I Hate You will be their first theatre production.

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