WINNER: The Hollywood ENCORE! Producers’ Award
NOMINEE: Best SOLO Performance
NOMINEE: Jaxx Theatrics Cultural Envoy Award
This Was Never Supposed To Be A One Woman Show (A One Woman Show) is one comedian’s reflections upon her own mental health and coping skills in the wake of losing her close friend and Bipolar Fantasy Squad co creator to suicide. Bipolar Fantasy Squad is SUPPOSED TO BE a comedy duo made up of Samantha Bowling and Brittany Belland, but SOMEBODY had to go off and fucking DIE, so it’s just Sam now. In this one person dark comedy variety show, Samantha Bowling does her damndest to break down the stigma associated with Bipolar Disorder/Depression/Anxiety, demonstrate examples of accessible and creative intervention techniques and encourage effective and practical day to day mental health management—but y’know… it was never supposed to be JUST HER, so… Fuck it! We’ll just have to cross our fingers and hope this isn’t a total and complete fucking shit show. Which it very well might be. But if it is… it will hopefully at least be an entertaining and life affirming, total fucking shit show.
Trigger Warning: self harm, sexual violence, improv comedy
A bit about Bipolar Fantasy Squad Bipolar Fantasy Squad takes a unique perspective that a mental health diagnosis is not a death sentence but rather a christening, and that when managed well, your mental health conditions can become superpowers, making each person a valuable member of the Bipolar Fantasy Squad. Our message is simple: You are irreplaceable. The world desperately needs you. Let’s level up and get through the hard stuff together so we can go have fun saving the world. Follow @BipolarFantasySquad and @TheSamanthaBowling on instagram for show updates and podcast releases.
