[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre interview with the new Hollywood Fringe Festival show and SoloFest Encore Award-winner My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m Kinky, written and performed by Jean Franzblau and directed by Carly DW Bones, running through June 23 at 2024 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
I saw this incredible show during Solofest at the Whitefire Theatre earlier this year. I had been warned this show could be a bit life changing. But, you hear that sometimes, and in my experience, even though it is of course possible, rarely does a show have that kind of effect. This time, however, with this particular show, I came away feeling, well, different.
Jean Franzblau is why. There’s something unearthly about her. She’s so confident. So alluring. So totally comfortable with herself, her experiences, her urges, her story. It sort of unlocks a person somehow and I won’t lie…it unlocked me. Just a bit. I’ll thank Jean later…and I have no doubt that so will you.
Here is my review of My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m Kinky.
My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m Kinky is, one, beautifully written and perfectly balanced, and second, because of course I have already seen it and reviewed it, it seemed the next natural step is to find out a bit more about Jean and what on earth compelled her to create this extraordinary show.
Hello Jean thank you for your brilliant show and for giving us a little insight into your process. And hello Carly, your director.
What first inspired you to write a solo show?
I once had an important break up with a boyfriend. It was painful, but I did. I had to. When I said yes to myself, I was also saying yes to my sexuality – because that part of my life with him wasn’t working. I came out of the experience empowered. I pulled out a list that I’d been keeping in my mind for a long time. It was my sexual bucket list. I wanted to have experiences – safe, consensual experiences of a variety of sorts. Everything I was experiencing during that time was so rich. It was unleashing so much energy. It brought me on a journey that I couldn’t stop writing about. And that turned into what would become this show.
Everyone works so differently, so how did you go about creating the show, explain your creative process?
The development of my show is thanks to a group of very generous, talented, and creative women. It began with a series of essays I had written about my sex life. My gut told me that they had a powerful energy to them. But I needed support and confirmation. I invited a few women friends over for dinner and a reading. They were moved by what I shared and told me they thought it should be a show.
I found Terrie Silverman at Creative Rites to work on it. I consider Terrie to be a story whisperer. She creates such a safe environment for students to mine their honest truths. I really benefited from her care.
How did you meet Karen Achenbach, the show’s first director and story consultant?
Around this period of time, I saw Wendy Hammers’ solo show Ripe and felt drawn like a magnet to the show’s director, Karen Aschenbach. I worked with Karen for two years to continue developing the show. It was a very sacred time for us to painstakingly craft the stories together in a format that would work on stage.
Karen directed the show – at the time called Coming Out Kinky – for its worldwide premiere in 2013.
What happened next?
In 2014, I produced the show in a bunch of cities including San Francisco and Chicago and was invited to bring it to the University of Florida. Around this time, Karen was diagnosed with cancer and died after a few short months. 2015 is the year Karen died and also the year that I stopped doing the show.
In 2022, during the pandemic, I felt an insistent yearning to pick up the material again. But I was feeling kind of depressed and couldn’t imagine performing the show myself. So I hired three actors to do a reading of it. The audience really liked this version. (I’m thrilled to know that the show could thrive as a three-person play.) The reading inspired in me a cascade of creative activity. I started rewriting and envisioned performing it again.
How did you select your amazing director, Carly DW Bones?
For a while, I tried to go it alone. But after a painfully awkward reading in NYC, I realized that I needed help with the new material. I also had to re-think some of the original material. How would I partner with anyone besides Karen?
By this time, I was an intimacy coordinator for TV and film. I met Carly DW Bones – a theatre director and intimacy director – at a networking picnic that she hosted. Over time, our rapport and trust built. I invited Carly to direct the new version of the show. I’m so glad I did. Carly has been the perfect partner to bring My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m Kinky back to the world. I feel very lucky.
Purpose is so important as a creative person…what was yours?
One of my goals is that people who see the show feel like they’ve been given a permission slip to explore their own curiosity. I’d like folks who’ve been marginalized due to their gender, sexual or any identity to feel the love that my mother expresses in this show. I believe this story serves as a kind of medicine. So my purpose is to deliver it efficiently and entertainingly.
What were some of the issues you had and how did you overcome them?
I’m committed to sharing this story worldwide which takes a lot of cash. So I created a campaign where contributors can be a part of the unfolding story of the show while getting very delightful perks. Having a cheerful attitude about fundraising is a new muscle for me. I’m overjoyed to say that we’re in the home stretch seeking the final chunk of change that will allow me to take the show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Very excited! (Here’s a link to the campaign.)
Any advice for someone creating a solo show?
I’d say, “Find a safe, creative community” I believe it takes a village to create a well-crafted solo show. For me, that means seeking a compassionate writing group, working with a story consultant, and hiring a director. It took a minimum of two years. So I consider it a marathon, not a sprint.
Carly…what was it about Jean and her story that made you want to be a part of this show?
CARLY: One of the other hats that I wear is a sex educator, and I especially love to teach about communication, consent and kink. This has been a wonderful opportunity to merge my worlds by collaborating on a piece of theatre that intersects with sexual empowerment and de-stigmatizing kink. I also believe that every play is a spell and that the spell of this play invites curiosity, pleasure and belonging, while banishing shame, silence and stigma. When someone shares their own story (as Jean does in her show with such vulnerability, heart and humor) they access the potential to help someone else feel more seen and less alone in their own human experience.
How did you all work together developing the play?
JEAN: Carly identifies as a theatre witch – one who uses magic to bring plays to life! At the beginning of our time together, she invited me to create with her a list of intentions for our rehearsal experience and the show. Then she decorated it with watercolors. It’s a beautiful keepsake and document. Our intentions include asking for what we need and releasing perfectionism. They also include honoring Karen.
CARLY: We first worked together on some updates in the script – I supported its evolution to meet this moment in time and to continue blossoming into this current version of itself. Then we began rehearsing together in person. As Jean mentioned, we made intentional agreements around how we would work together on her show, what and who was important to honor and what we wanted to call into the work. Yes, I’m a witch – a theatre witch aka thespomancer – and my process always includes intentional space-holding and taking excellent care of my actors. This show is a heavy lift for a solo performer. I also brought my experience as an intimacy director and trauma-informed practitioner to this process. We worked together to find creative ways to tell some very personal and sexually charged moments of this story in a way that felt specific and sustainable to Jean. When re-telling onstage moments of trauma and/or sexual vulnerability, it’s important to build a strong container for the work so the actor doesn’t get so activated that they can’t do their job which is to share the story; this becomes even more important when you’re telling your own story that you have lived. It’s been a cool creative challenge to explore staging sex scenes between two characters played by a single peterson! Throughout the process Jean was so generous and courageous with her trust, and it was an honor to help bring this new iteration of her show to life. Her hard work, commitment and courage have been a joy to witness.
And Carly and Jean, what would you change if you could about the show and about the journey to the stage?
JEAN: I would enjoy paying Carly ten times more. If a windfall comes my way, Carly has dibs!
CARLY: I would just love to have more rehearsal time! There’s just so much rich material in this show that I’d love to have more time and space to explore and try more things. I’m also excited to see what we learn from audiences at the Hollywood Fringe Festival that can continue to inform future evolutions.
Well there you have it! Two exceptional talents and one crazy wonderful inspiring show. I highly recommend that you check your inhibitions at the door and enjoy with wild abandon “My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m Kinky.”
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10366
When:
June 10-23
Monday, June 10 at 9:00 PM
Saturday, June 15 at 5:30 PM
Wednesday, June 19 at 9:00 PM
Sunday, June 23 at 1:00 PM
Sunday, June 23 at 1:00 PM
Where:
The Broadwater Second Stage
6320 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038