LEBANESE DEBUTANTE Comes to the Hollywood Fringe
Lebanese Debutante runs June 5th, 2023 - June 21st, 2023.
2015 Hollywood Fringe Best Cabaret/Variety winner, Chris Farah, returns to the festival with her exciting new solo show Lebanese Debutante. A little bit My So Called Life, a little My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and a little Bridgerton, Lebanese Debutante weaves themes of womanhood, culture, religion, and sexuality set in the last decade of digital innocence. Farah, creator of hit shows Fancy: A Southern Gothic Camp Parable and Fancy! Secrets from my Bootydoir will present her first "personal" solo show.
Lebanese Debutante is directed by Amanda Sitko (Brockmire, UCB). The show opens June 5th, 2023 and runs through June 21st, 2023 at the Broadwater Black Box Theatre.
About the Show
Lebanese Debutante recounts Chris's time growing up as an only child being raised by a single Arab, Catholic dad, and without a strong, female role model. She fills that gap with a conglomerate of information of what a woman is, through TV, shows, movies, books, and specifically one written by the Mayflower Madame, the Heidi Fleiss of the East Coast. Chris then takes her lessons (which were meant for middle-aged women in an effort to keep their husbands from going to call girls) as bible, or at least secret feminine knowledge or which she had been deprived. Armed with false ideas of what romance and love are, a fierce desire to be a supermodel, and the holes and pains of growing up, she decides to accept an invitation to have her coming out in a debutante ball. Will she succeed in pubetizing herself in time and go from ugly duckling to Syrian swan?
"The show is my love letter to people growing up trying to make sense of the world and their place in it." says Farah. "I wanted to capture my girlhood in Southern California during the late 90's, a time at the precipice of the internet. Being raised Syrian-Lebanese Catholic and without a strong female role model, I dived into media, books, TV, and movies to find a representation of a woman I wanted to be, cutting bits and pieces to form a Francinestein. When then, I am invited to have my debut at a Debutante Ball, I accept the challenge to present my creation to the world."
Chris Farah (Writer/Performer) is back to Hollywood Fringe since winning Best Cabaret/Variety in 2015 with an all new and profoundly personal one person show. Christine is an actress and comedian, storyteller, podcaster and producer. She is a board member for the Hollywood Fringe Theatre Festival and created their Diversity Scholarship Program, after winning Best Cabaret/Variety for her cult hit Fancy! Chris is a pop-culture curator, having appeared on Chelsea Lately, Hello Ross and frequently breaks down current entertainment topics. She also hosts the podcast DocuSweeties with good friend Wahima Lino, recapping everything from 90 Day Fiancé to the Harry & Meghan Netflix docu-series. As an actress, Chris has worked on Modern Family, Superstore, Kenan and also can be seen in the new Frasier premiering on Paramount Plus. Christine holds a B.A. in Theatre from Loyola Marymount University and is also a Wealth Management specialist assisting in Development for Farah Private Wealth Services. Other previous Hollywood Fringe shows include Fancy: A Southern Gothic Camp Parable (2014 nomination for Best Solo Show and Winner of the Veterans for Virgin Award); Fancy! Secrets from my Bootydoir (2015 winner Best Cabaret/Variety). Chris was named Arab American's 40 Under 40.
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