project

hashtag what i did on my summer FAKE-cation!

Musicals & Operas · Jacqi Bowe Prods · Ages 12+ · 1hr · United States of America

Family Friendly One Person Show

About the Project

A right of passage for the sandwich generation. When you become a parent for the first time to a 92 year old, 2 and a half in Alzheimers years when she goes into a tirade, and you become a hundred and two in caregiver years you do what any good daughter would do, you write a musical about it, of course and star in it as your mom, inner frenemies, and a singing and dancing cat named Zoey with FOMO…oh, and myself.

Breaking Review! No Ho Arts District

“Award-winning actor, writer, and comedian ”9" data-index-in-node="42">Jacqi Bowe premieres her latest solo work, #WhatIDidOnMySummerFAKEcation (also known as “The Summer I Went Everywhere… sort of”), as part of the 2026 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

This high-spirited musical comedy transforms the confines of a modern home into a vibrant, chaotic stage for self-discovery.

Jacqi Bowe’s What I Did on My Summer FAKEcation! is a hilarious reminder that we need to slow down and stop exchanging thousands of hours of our precious time for a handful of coins to feed into the slot machine of life. The house always wins!

Of course, Jacqi has the added limits on her time of every working actor. What if you get an audition? What if you get a callback? What if Spielberg calls? This comes from direct life experience, by the way, my husband is an actor. But this show is really about accountability – to ourselves. Being positive constantly, trying to avoid really talking about what’s missing in our lives, we artfully set aside what we should all be focused on: our lives.

Every second passing is a countdown and we cannot afford to throw any of it away.

As we all age, that fact becomes more and more apparent. I say ‘no’ a lot more now than I did and I’m starting to feel pretty good about it!

What I Did on My Summer FAKEcation! is Jacqi trying desperately to get away while the several portions of her mind actively work against her with long lists of reasons why she shouldn’t go and how she could die on vacation in multiple horrific ways. The portions seem evenly split, one or two parts of her brain whom she gives comical personalities to are on her side at least.

This show is a musical and Jaqi’s brilliant and very funny songs pepper the show as she explores her travel options and the rest of her life. But the characters in her head continuously interrupt her progress with all the terrifying possibilities leaving the house presents. Let alone leaving the country!

What a genius Jacqi is. Equating vacations with self care and the opposite of an early grave. Imagining her funeral with the attendants ruminating on Jaqi’s death and the fact that she never went anywhere. This is a lesson in regret. A wake-up call to those of us who somehow never get around to going where we’d love to. Who put our work schedules and housework and family obligations artificially determining where we expect to spend our valuable time. Of course we need to have income and see our loved ones. But life is so short, I can hardly believe where the years go. Jaqi has exactly the right idea about our priorities, and she brilliantly exposes the flaws in the lists we make and the excuses.

Solo shows are my absolute favorite Hollywood Fringe fare. It’s the absolutely best place to examine the human condition, revisit painful moments in our lives and laugh, laugh, laugh. Amongst an audience of equally passionate theatre goers.

Now Jacqi is looking after her elderly mother who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. So her life is filled with every vital detail of her health journey. Her mother was the ultimate caregiver to Jacqi her entire life. A single mother when there were really very few to know of. An advocate for her and a supporter of her every goal and her biggest fan. Jaqi spends the time she has now with the one person who gave her everything, even though she often doesn’t know who she is.

This show’s arc is beautifully reflective of a real life in all its glory and sadness. Jacqi sings and dances and acts her way through a story of love and loss and finding the best in everything. Even if it is a fakecation. Jacqi really is a born storyteller and a wonderful, gifted actor, and this is a perfect showcase of all her many talents. Prepare to laugh, cry a little and then laugh a lot more!! Sounds like a good life to me!" Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros

The Story

In a world of relentless hustle, Jacqi packs hope, humor, and heart into her carry-on to navigate a sudden reality check. To survive, she has to balance personal creative ambition with the profound, sacred duty of acting as a guide to her aging mother’s next destination.

The stage is populated by a hilarious cast of internal, digital, and modern foils, including:

A sassy therapy-bot trying to keep her sane.
A chorus of toxic inner frenemies fueling her delusion.
A dancing cat (essentially a Gen Z’er trapped in a fur suit) suffering from severe FOMO.

Through original music, physical comedy, and razor-sharp wit, Bowe proves that turning our deepest pain into art can spark a joyful awakening. Come for the laughs, stay for the music!

About Jacqi Bowe

A UCLA graduate and seasoned veteran of stage and screen, Jacqi Bowe’s storied career includes tap-dancing with legends Sammy Davis Jr. and Gregory Hines, and touring nationally with A Chorus Line. On the stand-up circuit, she has performed at iconic venues like The Comedy Store and The Improv.

As a writer, she has placed in the Top 5 of the Save the Cat Pilot Contest and the Coverfly Red List Top 1%. Staying at the cutting edge of digital storytelling, she recently wrapped production on her 27th vertical micro-drama, cementing her status as a prolific, high-volume voice in modern comedy.

She is no stranger to solo performance; her celebrated show Emotional Garage Sale prompted the NoHo Arts District to describe her work as “vivid, intimate, shockingly honest, and very, very funny.”

Developed with creative curating from veteran solo-theatre experts Jessica Lynn Johnson, Heather Dowling, and Soaring Solo LLC.