[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts 2026 Hollywood Fringe Festival review of Stefan Marks’ My One Woman Show. (The Search for a Truthful Moment).
It has to be one of the funniest, cleverest, and most shocking plays I have seen…ever.
Whether or not this show is non-fiction and therefore an actual ‘search for a truthful moment,’ I couldn’t say. But either way, it has to be one of the funniest, cleverest, and gorgeously brutal as well as the most shocking plays I have seen…ever. To tell you more about the shock would genuinely spoil what makes this show staggeringly good, so I will leave that for you to discover.
Looking back now, I can see the through lines Stefan Marks drew. Playing a man (or is he playing himself) trying to create a one-man show, he reminisces about being thrown out of a solo show class while he comically ruminates on his purpose. His brain bouncing around, looking for the perfect opening, the perfect setup, the perfect reason to stand on a stage alone and have something to say.
From funny to sad and hilarious to devastating, My One Woman Show. (The Search for a Truthful Moment) is the kind of show that takes up space in your head for days and weeks and potentially months after you see it.
Stefan Marks is absolutely brilliant at being achingly funny without even trying. He deadpans his way through this show. Thinking out loud, feeling his way through every inch of it, it really does feel at times that he is making it all up as he goes… only you know he really isn’t, and that is the trick. He fools us into thinking this is a comedic show, making a little fun of the solo show genre and then he hits you with something so profound and true and devastating that you can’t quite believe this is the same guy who was just making you laugh so hard you snorted.
In searching for his ‘why,’ he reveals something so life-changing about himself and his life before that it literally takes your breath away. I mean, I heard actual gasps from the audience just before it fell silent, and one of them was mine.
It’s hard to surprise me now. I must have seen a thousand shows, half of which have probably been solo shows of one kind or another. But My One Woman Show. (The Search for a Truthful Moment) is something on another level entirely.
Brilliantly written, flawlessly performed, achingly beautiful.
This show is an incredible piece of theatre in any venue, but in Fringe, where we are all so much more open and forgiving, it sneaks up on you in ways that I, for one, have never experienced before in a play. I was utterly unprepared, in fact, which clearly was the point.
Stefan Marks takes advantage of our good humor and our convivial camaraderie. Flipping the script in his search for meaning, he breaks us after he makes us his friend for life. It’s clever and honest and incredibly truthful. Life breaks our heart at every moment. It rips us apart, and then we turn the page to find some relief, and then it rips us apart again.
I absolutely loved My One Woman Show. (The Search for a Truthful Moment). The Hollywood Fringe offers an opportunity to brilliant writers and performers like Stefan Marks to bring something more to the stage. To explore our expectations and change us a little. That’s how I felt when I left the theatre. Quiet and changed a little. It was stunningly perfect, and you have to see it!!!
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14042
When:
Friday, June 5 at 9PM (PRESS PREVIEW)
Saturday, June 13 at7:30PM
Friday, June 19 at 8:30PM
Monday, June 22 at 7:00PM
Thursday, June 25 at8:30PM
Friday, June 26 at 4PM
Saturday, June 27 at 8:00PM
Where:
The Madnani Theatre
6760 Lexington Ave, West Hollywood
Credit: Source link