MY BIG FAT BLONDE MUSICAL Begins at Hollywood Fringe Today

Theresa Stroll, an overweight actress, moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting dreams, but found it difficult to avoid the negativity both around her and coming from within her. As she worked toward her goals, she got hit not just with the reality of having to work to pay back her student loans, leaving her little time and energy to put towards actually making her dreams come true, but also with the roadblocks and closed doors she felt were caused by her weight...She'd had enough!

Stroll decided to create her own opportunities instead of waiting for the opportunities to be created. She fought her insecurities and learned to measure her worth by talent rather than the size of her pants. As such, she is proud to present My Big Fat Blonde Musical, playing at the Sacred Fools Theater Black Box as part of the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

A trained comedian, she also decided to have A LOT of fun with a somewhat sensitive topic, as her show description reveals: My Big Fat Blonde Musical follows Terri, an overweight actress, who moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams but finds the criticism hard to swallow. As Terri begins to digest the realities of being fat in Hollywood, she's served a course bigger than she can chew: adulthood. Instead of waiting for her dreams to boil away, Terri decides to prepare herself a dish she's never made before.

"The story is about believing in yourself, even when you are your biggest critic," Stroll said. "It's about creating your own opportunities, it's about the realities of growing up, paying bills and still trying to follow your dreams."

This is Stroll's Hollywood Fringe debut, though she's no stranger to the stage, having appeared in dozens of local productions and studied with The Groundlings. Her experience, along with her veteran team, led to an incredible production with a unique twist on the "solo show" experience. Her director, Jessica Lynn Johnson, is a published playwright, recipient of the Best National Solo Artist Award, founder of Soaring Solo Theatre Company and a guru for several local solo artists. Stroll's co-writer, Bobby McGlynn, is an accomplished writer and actor who has seen dozens of his plays produced. He is also an Emmy- nominated photojournalist and a player with acclaimed sketch comedy team, Panda City. McGlynn also happens to be Stroll's recent fiance?.

Together, Stroll and her team have put together a laugh-out-loud comedy musical (all original music) with Stroll playing about 15 different characters. It's wonderfully absurd and Stroll knows the audience is going to have a blast, but she wants them to walk out of her show with something more.

"Big girls can do anything and they shouldn't be limited based on their size," she said. "Don't let people's expectations of you set your limits. If there's something you want, go and get it. Create your own opportunities if they're not being created for you, regardless of your size."