Sarah Baskin Will Lead A POEM AND A MISTAKE at Edinburgh Fringe

Fringe Management will present A POEM AND A MISTAKE, written by Cheri Magid, performed by Sarah Baskin, and directed by Michelle Bossy.

Myrrha, an eager grad student, challenges her professor about the fifty sexual assaults in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. When he profoundly misunderstands her, their physical altercation suddenly transforms him into a version of Myrrha and plunges him into the stories themselves. Both characters find themselves in an Ovidian landscape where transformation is a magical and terrifying confrontation with their own gender, sexuality, and desire.

Actor Sarah Baskin dynamically morphs into gods, goddesses, boyfriends, girlfriends, tricksters and fiends transporting the audience from a classroom to the mythic realm and everywhere in between. Freaky Friday meets the classics in this whiplash black comedy that cuts to the duality in all of us: aggressor and victim, teacher and student, god and mortal. 

Writer Cheri Magid says: “It’s head-spinning to think that the second most adapted book in Western literature has all these assaults in it that have been translated out and made consensual.  It’s enough to make you swear off romcoms altogether. But Sarah and I both felt that the best way to upend patriarchal story tropes was with pratfalls, Bugs Bunny-like chase scenes and karaoke. And the audience reactions so far have shown us that they are there to laugh as much as to think and feel.”

Bios:

Cheri Magid (writer) writes for theatre, television, film and opera. Her plays have been seen in New York at Primary Stages, New Georges, The New Group, The Women’s Project and Rattlestick, regionally in the US at South Coast Rep, People’s Light and Theatre Company, The Road Theatre Company and Cincinnati Playhouse among others, and internationally at Austrailan Center for Contemporary Art in Melbourne and the Museum of Asian Art in Corfu, Greece. She also wrote on the Emmy award-winning children’s show Arthur and is an Associate Arts Professor of Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch.

Sarah Baskin is an award-winning actor and filmmaker from Montreal, now based in NYC. Recent screen work includes A Family Affair (Netflix, opp. Zac Efron), Ramy, Gossip Girl (HBO), The Equalizer (opp. Queen Latifah), and indie films screened at Sundance, Cannes, TIFF, Telluride, and NYFF. On stage, she’s worked with Roundabout, 59E59, Urban Stages, American Repertory Theatre, and more. She thrives in new play development, with favorite collaborations including Joan Tewkesbury (Retrospective), Hannah Rittner (The Unbelievers, Three Women Mourn the Apocalypse), and Cheri Magid, with whom she co-created A Poem and a Mistake.. As a director, her debut short Les Câlins Cheaps (Cheap Hugs) played at 30+ festivals worldwide. Her second, i want to go to moscow — a dark comedy and Chekhov homage — is currently on the festival circuit. More at:sarahbaskin.com

Michelle Bossy (director) is a critically acclaimed award winning Mexican-American theater, television, and film director. Theater Michelle directed includes Smile, The Oxy Complex, There and Back, Every Good Girl Deserves Fun, Sex of the Baby, Un Plugged In, and Sarajevo’s Child. Her films include 18, She Grinds Her Own Coffee, The New 35, Friendly Neighborhood Coven, Ladies Lounge, Miracle Baby, Incurable, klutz, Chance of Showers, Antisemite, and The Trespassed. Under the Lantern Lit Sky and Nobody’s Home are Michelle’s feature films. Michelle has directed for Disney and produced for Univision. She directed music videos for Yassou and Brooke Josephson. Michelle directed the series There’s a Special Place in Hell for Fashion Bloggers and The Broadway Babies Show. Michelle co-created the musical High School Confidential for Primary Stages, where she was the Associate Artistic Director for a decade. She holds the first directing degree from Webster University. Member: Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and SDC. www.MichelleBossy.com

This year Fringe Management is celebrating 25 years at the Fringe.  Over the past quarter century they have produced over 100 shows under the stewardship of Michael Blaha and Nigel Miles-Thomas.  Michael and Nigel first met in 1990 when they planned and produced the first Hollywood pantomime Cinderella starring Zsa Zsa Gabor. They were the founding producers of The Pajama Men and have presented the Spinal Tap and The Simpsons legend Harry Shearer to Edinburgh Fringe audiences. They won a Fringe First in 2001 with Runt. Their production of Blood of the Lamb won the Critics Award at the 2024 Adelaide Fringe.

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