THE WHITEFIRE THEATRE SOLOFEST PRESENTS “A BIT MUCH” WRITTEN BY SAMANTHA SIMMONDS-RONCEROS

A Bit Much

When haven’t any of us at one time or another had the distinct feeling that we were “a bit much?”
Well, I certainly have. Being strong, funny, smart, independent and unafraid, or at least seeming to be, can be a bit intimidating to others sometimes, particularly to the weaker sex…men.
In “A Bit Much,” Stacy Dymalski spins her brilliantly crafted tale of exactly that. Sadly discovering that when she thought she was being successful, witty, capable and…herself, what she was actually being was “too much.”
Stacy chronicles her life from divorce to the present day, with a few unfortunate men-stops along the way, eternally puzzled as to why we have to squeeze ourselves into ever decreasing spaces to ensure that whatever man we might be interested in won’t feel over whelmed, or out done or, perish the thought…out gunned. Stacy is an utterly brilliant performer, an accomplished stand up comic, and the skills she has developed over the years really shine as she lays it all out for us…in dark and comic detail.
We begin with a first date, highlighting the depressing assumptions we all make and then continue on with her experiences and revelations and current expectations, careening quickly down hill from there. All this is done fabulously, hilariously, authentically and thoroughly entertainingly. Oh how fun it is to laugh at someone else’s issues, particularly if we’ve been there ourselves, and we all know we have.
So Stacy uses her wiley humor and these fantastic, wince-worthy situations, beautifully choreographed and gorgeously told, to fully explore the painfully true theory of “a bit muchness.” And she does it so well and hilariously that my sides were actually aching…better than crunches….I can only assume. This is comedy at its absolute best, when it’s real, when it’s a little painful and when it’s very, very clever. I love clever female-oriented comedy.
Stacy has given a TED Talk and was a semi-finalist in the 2012 Toastmasters International Speech Contest. She has written several books and has been writer/director/producer of several films and she is the “Memoire Midwife,” helping people find their own stories and write their own books. She has a powerful gift for communicating.
Solo shows need a purpose. They work best when there is a very particular theme, something relatable, something universal, something about the story that we fundamentally connect to, that we absolutely know to be true. “A Bit Much” is a perfect solo show in that we right away know what it is about. We get it. And the play is the telling of it, it’s the cream on top. Stacy Dymalski is the cream on top actually. She is powerful and bold and the perfect balance of comic and goofy and sublime. When I look at her I see myself in all my fraught and frilly glory…aren’t we all magnificent? Thank you Stacy for reminding me of that. Bravo!!