JELLO BRAIN Returns to the Madnani Theatre
Performances run July 10 – 19, 2025 for four performances only.
JELLO BRAIN, directed by Terra Mackintosh and Produced by Jonah Weiland, is a one-woman show written and performed by Natalie Grove. After last year's sold out run at the 2024 Hollywood Fringe Festival, JELLO BRAIN returns in July for another run in Los Angeles, and then heads to the EDINBURGH FRINGE with 21 shows. Performances run July 10 – 19, 2025 for four performances only.
This is a 60-minute piece of theater. Only one person on stage with Natalie Grove playing herself, her mother, and 8 other characters. The genre is tragicomedy, continuously swishing back and forth between heartbreak and hilarity.
The story begins the day her mother moves into Memory. Alzheimer's at 55 seems impossible as she attempts to make her mother feel at home but it's more like welcome to your worst nightmare.
“I don't think she understands when I tell her, mom it's going to be okay and can someone please tell me it's going to be okay and that my brain won't shrink like hers. Maybe the cure to Alzheimer's isn't so far away... Oh and you know what else is so good for the brain? org*sms! Does anyone have any XANAX? I know I know it's not good for your brain but I need to sleep.”
There are instances where she shares antidotes of the boundless love her mom gave her and how it's because of this that she's able to figure out how to care for her now; moments when she discusses the brain's features (i.e. that it's the texture of Jello), the alarming neuroscience of Alzheimer's (how her mom's brain is shrinking inside her head and she hopes hers isn't too), all whilst avoiding the phone calls from the geneticist with her test results.
There's an occasion of singing, a moment with dance, and another when she gets a massage. There's a 12-foot parachute, a suitcase, and lots of rainbows. The set is minimal, but Natalie will travel to several locations across time, space, and the inner-workings of the mind.
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