COLLEGE CLASSIFIED TO "SUTTONSPIRE" THE HOLLYWOOD FRINGE!

College Classified: Sutton Summers’ Literally Real College Application Season Vlog, a solo show that satirizes the college admissions process, will make its world premiere at the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

LOS ANGELES—Created by and performed by first time Fringer and emerging playwright-actor Lauren Sarah Young, College Classified: Sutton Summers’ Literally Real College Application Vlog tells the story of 18 year-old Sutton Summers, whose privileged and self obsessed world is shaken up when her indulgent parents decide she must gain admission to an elite college “on her own.” Not to worry though, rejection is something that only happens to other people…or does it?

With LA’s “top college admissions consultant” by her side, for the first time Sutton is pushed to think critically about life beyond Beverly Hills, her applications, and the college process. Very quickly, Sutton’s vlog becomes a chronicle of her adventures spanning thousands of miles, hundreds of pages of essay drafts, and dozens of campuses.

“This is a one-person show, in every sense,” says Young, 26, an LA native who returned to the City this past July after nearly a decade, first in college, then in graduate school, on the East Coast. “In a sense, it’s exhilarating to be in charge of everything, from the publicity to the staging, but that also means everything—good or bad—is entirely my fault!”

Where Young did receive some help though was funding. In January, Young launched a successful crowdfunding campaign for the show on IndieGoGo, eventually receiving 118% of her initial goal. “I’m very proud that over ninety-percent of the donations I received were $50 or less. The majority of my social network is people who are in graduate school, or recent graduates. If someone gave me $30, I know that is something they may have had to balance in their budget, or perhaps forgo a night out for.”

Though audiences will have to wait to see where Sutton Summers, the show’s protagonist, ends up, College Classified is already being welcomed on college campuses. In the fall, Young will be taking to show to Yale University. Other colleges and universities have also expressed interest in bringing the show to campus.

Sutton may not strike many as immediately likable (early on, Sutton admonishes her followers, whom she refers to as “Summertimers;” “It doesn’t matter who has the biggest jet, or the fastest jet, it’s who’s on the jet that counts”). However, Young hopes that audiences will have cause to think about their reactions. “In a lot of ways she’s horrible,” Young admits. “[Sutton] has almost no self awareness. She’s someone who could really benefit from a college experience, because she just desperately needs her bubble to burst, and I think we see the beginnings of that in the play. At the same time though, Sutton embodies a lot of contradictions—she’s smart but very ignorant, she’s insecure, but motivated as all hell, and there’s genuinely zero question in her mind that she can do anything. That blind confidence is something many people could do with a bit of. It’s also something I think we still have trouble with where women are concerned, particularly very young women.” As she prepares for the Fringe, Young is trying to channel the most tenacious aspects of her character. “From crowdfunding, to the design process, to even just registering for the Fringe, I’m trying to look at everything as an opportunity to learn and just be what, for me, feels a little bit brave.”

What: College Classified: Sutton Summers’ Literally Real College Application Season Vlog

Written by: Lauren Sarah Young Directed and Designed by: Lauren Sarah Young Performed by: Lauren Sarah Young

Where: The Actors Company
916 N. Formosa Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90046

When: Saturday, June 4, 9pm
Friday, June 10, 9pm,
Friday, June 17, 9pm,
Sunday, June 19, 4pm
Sunday, June 26, 3pm

Tickets: $10 http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/3488

Special Events: June 4: Pay What You Can Preview Performance
June 19: Father’s Day, Dads/Dad Figures/Positive Male Role Models FREE

Synopsis: “Hey there, Summertimers.”

With these words we meet Sutton Summers: future media mogul, current college applicant, and always on top. When Sutton’s indulgent parents suddenly decide they want their daughter to get into an elite college “on her own” they hire a college counselor, Liza Quinn, to supervise the process. In Sutton’s world, money is no object and rejection is something that happens to other people…or does it? What follows is a saga spanning thousands of miles, hundreds of pages of essay drafts, and dozens of college campuses, all chronicled in one young woman’s video blog.

About the Creator: Lauren Sarah Young was born and raised in Los Angeles. In July of last year, after receiving her MA in European and Russian Studies at Yale University (New Haven, CT), Young returned to Los Angeles to pursue writing and acting. She began working as a tutor as well as occasionally as a substitute teacher at the Westridge School in Pasadena. Prior her graduate work, Young earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Smith College (Northampton, MA), where she double majored in Government and Russian Civilization, earning Highest Honors in the latter major and graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Young has previously taught at Yale University. Her previous performance credits include work at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut and with the New Haven Theater Company. College Classified is Young’s first play.