Jessica Carleton's Solo Show ANXIETY WRITTEN Opens Tomorrow
Jessica Carleton has been awarded five National Daytime Emmys (both as an actress, and as a writer on Sesame Street), and her theater credits include a leading role at Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. She also had an acute, severe onset of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder when she was a child, and that's where this story begins.
Carleton's funny, genuine, and playful storytelling style instantly puts the audience at ease, and lays the groundwork for a journey that's both hilarious and deeply moving. Comedy bleeds seamlessly into intimate vulnerability. As an audience member at a previous festival said, "From the moment she [Carleton] takes the stage, you know you're in the hands of a master storyteller and performer. We trust her to take us anywhere and to bring us home."
Anxiety Written follows a girl with OCD through the struggles and triumphs of treatment, the quirky shenanigans of growing up anxious, and comedic growing pains that accompany meaningful change. Amidst the silliness of emotional support pandas and group therapy in a porta-potty, Carleton deftly slips in moments of profound stillness. There's an ease, joy, and simplicity about her work that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.
"You start by telling your own story, but the story that everyone else hears is theirs," Carleton says. "Anxiety Written is a comedy, but it's also my way of saying, "You're not alone. We all struggle, whether it's with mental illness or anything else. That's part of what makes us human! My hope is that the specificity of my story is transferable, and that people will hear echoes of their own experiences inside mine."
Anxiety Written is directed Blake Silver, Associate Directed Deaf West's Tony-nominated Broadway revival of Spring Awakening, as well as Merrily We Roll Along at the Wallis Annenberg in Beverly Hills.
For tickets and information visit: http://hff18.org/5223
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