SHEnanigans
Written & Performed by Helena D. Lewis
Directed by Rome Neal
Lighting Design by Kia Rogers
August 8th-18th
Thursdays-Saturdays @ 7:00pm
Doors open at 6:30pm
Sundays @ 3:00pm
ENCORE PERFORMANCE:
2019 AUDELCO Solo Performance Nominee
October 28th @ 7:00pm
Tickets: $20
SHEnanigans, a comedic and sometimes heart-wrenching autobiographical one-woman play, unfolds after her mother’s unexpected death, as a devoted daughter struggles to adjust to her newfound matriarchal duties. SHEnanigans is an intimate, dramatic, and humorous look at love, family, and life from a “menopause baby,” who embraces her inherent dysfunction to care for her eccentric 82 year-old father and the affable family dog.
“Life is about transitions. Love, family loss, are shared experience among most, but when you are a poet who happens to be a playwright and your family accidentally leaves you at the funeral home you may find a strong urge to share your experience with others.” Lewis says. “I want people to find meaning, hope, and purpose. Losing a parent is also about learning how to live while honoring who you love.”
Lewis presented SHEnanigans during the 2019 Downtown Urban Arts Festival (DUAF) 2019 as their Playwright-In-Residence. Directed by Rome Neal, artistic director of the Nuyorican Poets’ Café.
Described as “The Queen of Theater of the Lower East Side,” Lewis is an AUDELCO award-winning actress, playwright, acclaimed poet, and accomplished social worker who advocates for the rights of incarcerated women. Her play, Call Me Crazy: Diary of A Mad Social continues to play to sold-out audiences at the Nuyorican Poets’ Café since debuting in 2008. Lewis is a poetry slam veteran who was a Nuyorican Poets Café Grand Slam Finalist and member of the Nuyorican Slam Team. In addition to her career as a performer, Lewis is currently a doctoral student at the Rutgers School of Social Work Doctor in Social Work (DSW) program.