“SMILE, BABY,” A COMEDY ABOUT STREET HARASSMENT, PREMIERES AT THE HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL

Smile, Baby

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Madison Shepard – [email protected], (323) 439-4735

Writer Savannah Dooley, of ABC Family’s “Huge,” develops a new play with The Others Theater Company

LOS ANGELES – May 31, 2015 – The Others Theater Company will present Smile, Baby, a dark comedy about street harassment, at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Savannah Dooley, writer and producer on ABC Family’s beloved 2010 series Huge, wrote Smile, Baby in collaboration with the cast, using a combination of improvisation and their own stories about being catcalled.

Centering on a chance encounter between two women at a bus stop, Smile, Baby explores the hilarious, frightening, bizarre experience of street harassment through sketch, burlesque, and even a streetwise fashion show. Each member of the all-woman cast will portray several different characters, from ten-year-olds coping with being catcalled for the first time to the harassers themselves.

“Being harassed on the street is such a common experience, and yet you don’t often see it dealt with in art,” commented playwright Savannah Dooley. “With this project, we want to take some of the sting out of what can be a scary experience by inviting people to come together and laugh about it.”

Smile,Baby will premiere at the Dorie Theatre at The Complex, as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd. It previews June 5th, with performances June 13th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 26th, and 27th. Tickets are $5 for the preview and $12 for the rest of the run, and they can be purchased at http://hff15.org/2239. All Fringe participants are welcome to attend at a pay-what-you-can rate.

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The Others Theater Company was founded by three classically trained women (Linda Serrato Ybarra, Madison Shepard, and Kate Motzenbacker – two actors and a director, respectively) who decided to use their training to tell stories that don’t usually get told. They are interested in devised work, new play development, and stories from and about outsiders and outsider communities. Their previous work includes The Life of the Night at Son of Semele Ensemble’s Company Creation Festival and the workshop Consider the Night at the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival.