"See Me Naked."
Maria Glanz: "I said those words over 10 years ago, almost as a joke - an idea for a title that would make lots and lots of people want to buy tickets. And like all good jokes, it ended being more than I'd ever imagined."
See Me Naked, written and performed by Maria and directed by Elizabeth Klob, went on to win Artistic Pick of the Seattle Fringe Festival, Best of Fest at the Edmonton and Winnipeg Fringe Festivals, be one of the Top Ten Plays at Montreal Fringe Festival, and sell out houses across Canada (and in a few lucky US cities, too - thanks Omaha and Cape May!) You can read what folks said about those performances here:
http://talknaked.blogspot.com/p/press-raves-and-fan-links-for-maria.html
You may ask: "What precisely is See Me Naked?"
Critics have a a tough time time categorizing it. If you've glanced at the link above, you'll see it's been called everything from 'strange, beautiful and thoughtful' to 'downright fun.' In a nutshell, it's an intimate, vulnerable, funny and empowering play, an interactive comedy that examines personal boundaries and feelings relating to being naked, both literally and symbolically. Following a striptease fail, an embarrassed amateur burlesque performer opens up to her audience about why exposing herself publicly is so difficult and so important for her to do. See Me Naked starts as a comic monologue, but soon becomes a dialogue when she begins to question members of the audience about their own feelings regarding being naked. Through the course of the show, Maria explores notions of inner beauty and body image in a way that is disarming and enlightening and highly engaging, no matter what age you are.
So, what's going on with See Me Naked NOW?
We recently revived the show at the gorgeous new venue West of Lenin, as the first step to the show's second life. After all, women in their 40s and 50s - and men, too, for that matter - still worry about being naked. The performances in Seattle led the creative team to realize that the show needs to grow - both in length and depth.
We want to take See Me Naked on a national tour - and to do that, we need to take the current hour-long piece and add to it.
How can I help with that?
Donate! Your donation will buy us the precious time we need for this essential next step. Maria will be able to take the necessary time to write. She and director Elizabeth Klob will head back into rehearsal, with our new and nifty drummer Ron Carnell. If we hit our goal, we'll go to work right away and bring the brand-new, longer and stronger (no pun intended) See Me Naked back to West of Lenin and Seattle this fall - and then we can take our message to the world.
Is there an overall message in the show?
Well, in some ways that's up to each and every audience member. But in a nutshell - we want people to be able to look at themselves, naked, and smile. Maybe even laugh.
You learn more about the show and tickets and all of us here:
Thanks for reading, and we hope someday to see you! Naked! Or not. Really, whatever you makes you happy.
Special thanks to the amazing artists who helped make this appeal happen - Nick & Laura Junke for videography and Omar Willey for making Maria look so pretty! Links to their sites are right below - we love them.
Questions about this project? Check out the FAQ
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Funding period
- (30 days)