New York Film Academy acting instructor, Anastasia Coon is bringing her one-woman show, Gracie & Rose, to the Art of Acting studio in Hollywood as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. The festival takes place in venues throughout Hollywood during the month of June, and promotes groundbreaking work in small venues. As Anastasia says, “A huge part of Fringe is the social aspect. You see a show, hang out with actors, and have a drink with them.”
In Gracie & Rose, Anastasia portrays multiple characters living in Wyoming in the 1950s. The character of Gracie has to deal with the intense demands of the land, caring for animals, and running a ranch. She also disguises herself as a man so she and Rose can be together.
Inspired in part by Anastasia’s time living on a farm in France, the play was cultivated over the past dozen years. “It’s a good story. Old-fashioned storytelling. And it’s a love story about living authentically by any means necessary,” she says.
While Gracie & Rose is not based on a specific true story, Anastasia says, “It’s based on true stories of women through our history that we never hear about.” In fact, there are a handful of anecdotal tales of women living as men for various reasons throughout history – in Aboriginal communities, throughout the Middle East, and during the American Civil War. Anastasia continues, “Because we’re deprived of those stories, there are huge omissions in American history, the history of the Western states, and women around the world.”
Gracie & Rose runs Sunday, June 16 at 7 p.m.; Friday, June 21 at 3 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Tuesday, June 25 at 8 p.m.; Friday, June 28 at 3 p.m.; and Saturday, June 29 at 7 p.m. General admission is $12. For more information, visit the official website or Facebook page. Also check out the promo video below!
Gracie & Rose | a solo play with multiple characters from Anastasia Coon on Vimeo.
Joining us afterward was screenwriter, Chris Galletta, who answered questions from our moderator, Ben Cohen, and students. Surprisingly, Chris mentioned how this was his first screenplay and even he was surprised just how well the ball began to roll. The script gained Chris representation, was sold, was made, made it to Sundance, and will be released theatrically on May 31 by CBS Films. Clearly a testament to his talents, but self-admittedly some luck came into play. It was soon after Nick Offerman offered to play the father role that the film really became a reality. “I’m a huge fan of Nick’s,” said Galletta. “I love him on Parks and Recreation and couldn’t have asked for anyone better.”
Ms. French is a seasoned, MTV veteran having started at the network in 1993 and working her way up through a succession of positions. She began her MTV career in production management, and is one of the original team members that can lay claim as having worked on MTV’s very first summer beach house, as well as “MTV Spring Break,” the game show, “Idiot Savants” and two hugely popular music performance series, “Unplugged,” and “Live from the 10 Spot.” She fully transitioned into programming in 1999 where she performed various production roles from serving as executive in charge to executive producing.
