Hollywood, CA (June 6, 2010): NYC-based comedian and screenwriter Jacquetta Szathmari presents That’s funny. You didn’t sound black on the phone. at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, June 17-27.
Reared in extreme rural Maryland, Szathmari tells three tales of negotiating class and race in an intellectual vacuum where attitudes have changed little since slavery. In “Don’t Give Up on Black People” memories of a playground ultimatum are conjured by a greeting card found in a Harlem hair salon. “The Preppy Handbook” explains how and why a 4th grade Jacquetta schemed for a life of crew races, bold Laura Ashley floral prints, and boarding school—and ended up in Delaware. The concluding piece, “Probably about Church”, is not a...