LA Clown Natasha Mercado Brings Solo Show Inspired By Wildfires To Hollywood Fringe

Like many in Los Angeles, the Bobcat Fire of 2020 combined with the isolation of quarantine led comedy artist Natasha Mercado pondering the end of days. In response, she put on a tree costume, created a clown show and dreamed of the day that theaters would re-open. "It was so strange to be surrounded by the world literally burning, but still having some hope of things returning back to normal," said Mercado.

After a year of exploring this dichotomy on Zoom alongside Deanna Fleysher, creator of the award-winning international hit show "BUTT KAPSKINSKI" and "Drag King Comedy", Mercado is bringing her one woman clown show to the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

TREE is an immersive comedy experience that is part clown show, part game show and part philosophical discussion exploring the duality of humanity. In this hour of comedy, audience participation is unavoidable. Our protagonist Tree leads the audience, or in this case "the forest", through different scenarios of what it means to be truly alive. And when you think you know the next thing coming, you don't. It's a lovable gaze into a spiraling staircase of existentialism with surprising, yet inevitable, turns. Probably a show for nature loving, tree huggers, but also the half-empty cynics.

The production first premiered to a sold out audience in November 2021 at Junior High, a non-profit community arts space prioritizing the safety and expression of female, queer, nonbinary, and artists of color. "Witty, perfectly played & packs an emotional wallop," said El Cine founder Mariana Da Silva. "'Tree' stays with you."

Catch performances of TREE at the Los Angeles LGBT Center June 7th - 24th. Tickets are available for purchase on May 1, 2022 on the Hollywood Fringe Website.

https://www.natashamercado.com/about