Remember the name of Travis Acedia. Creator and performer of the solo show My Cry for Help, now running at the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival, Acedia is a powerful and fiery actor who knows how to capture an audience’s attention and hold it tightly in his grasp. In My Cry for Help Acedia tells a personal story about his lifelong battle with depression. His honesty is conveyed in a monologue studded with manic bursts of energy and humor in which he pokes fun at himself and at the world around him. There is a lot of anger and pain in the man but not a shred of self-pity, Dark as his life is, he can still crack jokes, dance, sing and fire satirical darts at various targets (rap music, radio theatre, Shakespeare). Acedia works off a straight man much of the time: his stage manager (Jim Nidzeeowslip), who banters with him from his perch in the theater’s sound booth, commenting on -- and criticizing -- just about everything he does. It’s not until the climax of the show that Jim makes an appearance, a huge, Orson Welles-like presence who delights in pricking Acedia’s pretensions. My Cry for Help is exactly the kind of play one wants to see at a Fringe Festival: rude, crude, and rule-breaking. That the actor performing it is something of a marvel is the icing on the cake.
Opened:
June 6, 2019
Ended:
June 29, 2019
Country:
USA
State:
California
City:
Los Angeles
Company/Producers:
Travis Acedia
Theater Type:
Regional
Theater:
The Complex - Dorie Theater
Theater Address:
6476 Santa Monica Boulevard
Phone:
323-455-4585
Website:
hollywoodfringe.org
Running Time:
45 min
Genre:
Performance
Director:
Travis Acedia
Review:
Cast:
Travis Acedia
Technical:
Music: Travis Acedia
Critic:
Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
June 2019
