Named “Best Show” by LA Weekly during Son of Semele’s 2015 Solo Creation Festival, Freebird Goes to Mars, the original one-woman show created and starring actress Betsy Moore (While the Trees Sleep, official selection of Cannes Film Festival 2016), will make its New York debut on Saturday, October 7, 2017 at 6:00pmduring the 8th Annual United Solo Theatre Festival.
Co-created by Ms. Moore and her director Ilana Gustafson, Freebird Goes to Mars introduces audiences to Betty, aka “Freebird.” A recovered alcoholic, everymom from middle America, Betty makes a precarious living as a Walmart cashier and is an example of someone on the losing side of the economic divide in America today. Following the unexpected election of Donald Trump, Betty’s journey to the red planet helps illuminate the hopes and fears of America’s working poor.
The idea for this hilarious solo show first came to Betsy Moore following a vacation where she had the pleasure of meeting a dear friends mother, who would happily sit talking for hours, with her cigarette in one hand and diet coke in the other. In its first iteration Freebird Goes to Mars was a monologue taken verbatim from these conversations, a la Anna Deavere Smith. Exploring the character more deeply, Ms. Moore developed the rest of the material through improvisation.
“Realizing Betty had become a larger than life presence I knew she needed a larger than life mission…” says Moore. “So we sent her to Mars!”
“This play speaks to everyone,” Moore continues. “You may be like Betty, you may know a Betty, or you may just be familiar with the stereotype. But the more an audience gets to know her, the more this stereotype disappears, leaving the audience in awe of the character’s authenticity, and in the process are reminded that sophistication is not the same as intelligence or worthiness. Not to mention the added bonus of having a few good laughs along the way.”
Tickets for the New York premiere of Freebird Goes to Mars and the rest of the official selections of the United Solo Theatre Festival can be purchased from Telecharge online at www.telecharge.com or by phone at (212) 239-6200.
For more information about Freebird Goes to Mars and the United Solo Theatre Festival please visit www.unitedsolo.org.