project

Cursed My Road To Hollywood

Solo Theatre · Mendoza, Inc · Ages 18+ · 50 mins · United States of America

One Person Show

About the Project

Linda Mendoza, an Emmy winner Director performs her one woman show “Cursed, My Road to Hollywood”. With Music and Visual Aids you go from a wintery Detroit to sunny Los Angeles. It started in a Stand-Up Class, which told me what I already knew, I’m not a stand-up. I’m a storyteller. This is a story of finding your yourself, navigating tragedy, and the entertainment world. With all the ups and downs that life had to offer. Breaking curses, ceilings, and her own insecurities, Linda worked her way up to one of the highest positions in Television and Film.

Review

https://splashmags.com/2026/06/cursed-my-road-to-hollywood-a-comedic-memoir/

By Elaine Mura, member of LA Dama Critic Circle

Cursed: My Road to Hollywood – A Comedic Memoir

Elaine Mura·

Los Angeles On-Stage Uncategorized

·June 16, 2026·1 min read

Linda Mendoza in CURSED – MY ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD – Photo by Rebecca Ryan

Writer and solo performer Linda Mendoza is a self-described “Mexican girl form Detroit.” When she was very young, her family told her that a witch, jealous of her mother’s beauty, put a curse on the entire family. When Linda sees calamity after calamity happening to different family members over the years, she is convinced that there is a curse –but when will the curse strike her?

Regardless of her fears, she embarks on her life’s journey. By the time she’s a teenager, she already has a job selling records – remember those? – in a huge music store. When the opportunity comes for her to transfer from the Midwest to Hollywood, she jumps at the chance. Soon she is immersed in show biz as she encounters some Hollywood giants who take an interest in her and help her develop sales and marketing skills in the industry.

Barely in her 20s, she is tapped to direct a few shows – and even earns several coveted Emmys for directing episodes of Sesame Street. Over the years, she’s helmed episodes of many of television’s favorites, including Scrubs, Black-ish, The Chris Rock Show, and many more. She’s also directed lots of specials for iconic figures like Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Wanda Sykes, and even Michelle Obama. Regardless of the family curse, life has been good to Linda.

CURSED: MY ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD is a friendly conversational story of Linda Mendoza’s life and times with lots of projected photos from past events and friends and family. She presents warm and folksy tales about her Hollywood career amid moments that challenged and excited her. Produced by Rebecca O’Brien, this is a fascinating memoir which charmed Linda’s packed audience on the evening the show was reviewed. It may also serve as a road map for folks trying to make their mark in show business. Definitely worth a peak.

CURSED: MY ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD runs through June 21, 2026, with performances at 7:15 p.m. on 6/7, 8:15 p.m. on 6/8, 11 a.m. on 6/14 (Sunday), 6:45 p.m. on 6/15 (Monday), and 8:15 p.m. on 6/21 (Sunday). The Hudson Guild Theatre is located at 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038. Tickets are $15. For information and reservations, go online.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0579318/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_8_in_0_q_Linda Mendo

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Press/media contact: Philip Sokoloff, (626) 674-0504, [email protected]

CURSED- MY ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD STARTS JUNE 7 AT HUDSON GUILD THEATRE

WHAT: Cursed- My Road to Hollywood. A comedic memoir. A Hollywood Fringe Festival selection.

WHO: Written and performed by Emmy® winning director Linda Mendoza. Produced by Rebecca O’Brien.

WHERE: Hudson Guild Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038.

WHEN: Previews Sunday, June 7, 2026 at 7:15 p.m.; Monday, June 8 at 8:15 p.m.; Regular performances Sunday, June 14 at 11 a.m.; Monday, June 15 at 6:45 p.m.; Sunday, June 21 at 8:15 p.m.

ADMISSION: $15. Previews $10.

ONLINE TICKETING: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13839

www.onstage411.com/cursedroad

ESTIMATED RUNNING TIME: 50 minutes.

CONSUMER ADVISORY: Suggested for audiences 18 to Adult.

Linda Mendoza is a self-described “Mexican girl from Detroit.” At a young age, she is informed that a Santeria (a Latine witch), jealous of her mother’s beauty, has put a curse on Linda’s family. As calamity after calamity befalls members of Linda’s family, Linda begins to wonder when the curse will come for her.

Meanwhile, she gets on with life. As a young woman, she finds herself immersed in the music industry, working with many of the industry’s greats. She eventually becomes a director of film and especially television, winning three Emmy® Awards (for Sesame Street). She’s directed episodes of many of your favorite shows, including Scrubs, Grown-ish, Black-ish, The Chris Rock Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, and more, as well as specials featuring Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Wanda Sykes, Tiffany Haddish, David Letterman, and more, while fighting a different kind of curse (Industry sexism)

Cursed- My Road to Hollywood is no sob story. It’s the funny and heartwarming story of a woman who through perseverance, dedication, and hard work rose to the top of her profession, regardless of the family curse.

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https://what-the-butler-saw.com/…/a-conversation-with…/

A Conversation with Writer/Performer Linda Mendoza, “Cursed: My Road to Hollywood,” Hudson Guild Theatre, Hollywood Fringe Festival, by James Scarborough

A veteran television director turns her life’s accumulated calamities into comedic solo memoir

Curses, as theatrical devices, tend toward the gothic. Linda Mendoza puts hers to comic use. In this solo comedic memoir, playing as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, Mendoza, a self-described “Mexican girl from Detroit” and three-time Emmy Award winner, recounts a life shadowed, at least in legend, by a Santeria’s hex. The witch, jealous of her mother’s beauty, allegedly placed a curse on the family. As calamity followed calamity, the young Mendoza began to wonder when her turn would come.

It did not stop her. She made her way into the music industry, working alongside some of its biggest names, before pivoting to television direction. The credits accumulated: Sesame Street (where she won her three Emmys), Scrubs, Black-ish, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, The Chris Rock Show, Grown-ish. Specials with Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Wanda Sykes, Tiffany Haddish, and David Letterman followed. All the while, she navigated what the press materials call a different kind of curse: the industry’s endemic sexism.

At roughly 50 minutes, the show promises efficiency as well as wit. The show is built on perseverance and hard work but delivered as comedy. Laughter, presumably, is its delivery mechanism. For a Fringe audience, the appeal is clear: a voice that has earned its authority, telling a story she has waited a long time to tell. Mendoza answered questions by email.

JS: The show runs about 50 minutes and covers decades of a career. How did you figure out the shape of it? What goes in, what gets cut, and what holds the through line together?

LM: I had to hand pick the stories that were the building blocks of my career. How did I get from A to B, to C. What steps did I take and how did those steps become full circle. So, I do some time-jumps back and forth.

JS: Comedy and memoir can pull in opposite directions: the comedian wants the laugh; the memoirist wants the truth. How do you manage that tension when the story you’re telling is your own?

LM: Well, that’s what life is right. A series of laughing and crying moments. Fighting the ups while fighting the downs. For this piece, I leave the curse to a section. I use a runner to build to the moment.

JS: You’ve spent most of your career on the other side of the camera, directing other people’s performances. What surprised you about constructing and inhabiting a solo show?

LM: I took a stand-up class years ago to turn on the writing part of my brain as an experiement. I understand that style having worked with pretty much every major comedian at one time or another. But I am not a stand-up, I’m a story teller. And this show is just the expanded part of that experiment

JS: The curse – the Santeria, the family calamities – is clearly played for laughs, but it’s also a real piece of your family’s history. How do you keep it funny without losing what it actually meant?

LM: It’s an isolated moment because there is no way to make that funny. It was tragic. However I have a good laugh out of it. Also a runner in the show.

JS: You’ve directed some of the sharpest comedic voices in television. Did working with performers like Chris Rock, Wanda Sykes, and Tiffany Haddish shape how you approach your own material?

LM: Yes, of course and that is to be true to yourself. I admire them and their work so much. I’ve broken down several comedians shows, including Wanda and Tiffany’s and study how they build their shows.

JS: The show takes on industry sexism alongside the family curse. Was it harder to write the funny version of that, given how much less funny it was to live through?

LM: There isn’t a lot of that in the show because you’re right, it’s not funny. I’m sharing the achievements so that people, especially young people can see that if this Mexican girl from Detroit can make, so can they.

Previews are Sunday, June 7, 2026 at 7:15 p.m. and Monday, June 8 at 8:15 p.m. Regular performances are Sunday, June 14 at 11 a.m.; Monday, June 15 at 6:45 p.m.; and Sunday, June 21 at 8:15 p.m. Preview tickets are $10; regular performances are $15. Suggested for audiences 18 and up. The Hudson Guild Theatre is located at 6539 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, CA 90038. For more information, visit the Hollywood Fringe Festival website.

Learn More at imdb.com/name/nm0579318/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_8_in_0_q_Linda%20Mendo