DIVA Set to Appear at 20th Annual New York International Fringe Festival

Meet June, a brilliant, bold, brassy, bad-ass opera singer, given to singing to her dead stuffed cat, reminiscing about her lurid love life, consuming vast amounts of vodka, and chastising her lousy ex-husband. Once famous and celebrated, June is down on her luck. She's lost her man, her looks, her career, her cat, and now she's on the verge of losing her marbles. Agoraphobic and unable to leave her apartment, she turns to her booze, her pills, her dead stuffed cat and her trusty vibrator Mr Buzzy for solace.

Winner of the West Australian Arts Editors Award and a Turnstiles Award, DIVA is written and performed by Australian actress and playwright Tiffany Barton and is based on a real life New York diva and friend of her mother.

"I was touring my play Polly's Waffle' to New York Fringe in 2013 and I caught up with Mum's friend 'June' in a Russian bar in Manhattan on a Monday night. She was well into her sixties and still a bombshell with a megawatt personality and truckloads of New York chutzpah. We threw back vodkas and she regaled me with stories about her impressive career in opera and her romantic adventures. I was enthralled. I thought, 'I want to be like her when I grow up!' (I was 43. I'll grow up one day.)

When she found out I was a playwright she flicked her hair and announced dramatically, "Tiffany, I want you to write me a one woman show about the divas of Puccini!" I jumped at the chance, I couldn't wait to get back to Australia to write something for her. I researched Puccini's divas and fell in love with them, but the diva I was most in love with was 'June'.

To me she embodied everything that I adore about New York - she was bold, brave, loud, sassy, honest, hilarious and uncompromising. I workshopped her character and story with my director HeLen Doig and the character became a composite of the three of us. Helen and I wanted to tell a story about sex, love, art, ageing and invisibility. We went on a wild ride and took a lot of risks with our story telling and it paid off.

We found that DIVA has much wider appeal than we initially imagined. Young audiences love the punked-up opera and no-holds-barred story telling; older audiences love the emotional journey and exploration of art, aging, love and loss."

DIVA is written and performed by Tiffany Barton, directed by HeLen Doig, features a wild soundscape by Max Porotto, quirky costumes, set and props by Cherie Hewson and sound vocals by Lucy Byers. DIVA is presented by Creative Collaborations as part of the 20th annual New York International Fringe Festival - FringeNYC

August 17 - 28. Tickets: $18 and show times available at www.FringeNYC.org .
Wow Café Theatre, 59-61 East 4th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10003.

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