Comedy

Sevrin Willinder is a clown, and somebody else told him so first. He was playing a piano repairman in a dramatic scene at drama school. His mentor told him to play something well, then act as though it sounded terrible. He did, the room laughed, and he did not understand why. He grew up doing funny voices with his father, mostly…

Whisper Theatre’s Britt Anderson and Richie Schiraldi are married, and they have three shows. Well-Balanced Dads is the duo one, and it involves acrobatics. The Mothman Cometh is Richie’s solo hour, performed entirely in the dark. Arachne Athena is Britt’s, and Athena coughs up spider webs. They run Whisper Theater…

Stacy Price has been at this for at least fifteen years. She trained at Circle in the Square in New York and did plays there. Then came Los Angeles, the Groundlings, and open mics around town. She is now a member of the Actors Gang, where Tim Robbins is artistic director. Her SAG-AFTRA card came from HBO’s The Deuce. She did…

Marina di Marzo’s first stage appearance was at four months old. Her Italian immigrant parents are deeply Catholic. She played the live baby Jesus in their church nativity. She is confident nobody else can claim that credit. Her first speaking role came at summer camp, in The Wizard of Oz. She was Munchkin Mayor, which she…

Hannah Ponturo wrote 1518: The Dancing Plague first as a film, then as a play. She is also directing it, and is one of four producers. She made most of the props herself. The costumes came largely out of the actors’ own wardrobes, layered up to read as medieval. The show is a historical satire about a real outbreak of…

Chloe Matonis plays a soldier who has travelled back from 2075. The character is called Lieutenant Love Doctor Hottie McTottie. Her mission is to end the loneliness epidemic before it takes hold. In her future, social contact has been criminalised for public safety. Boot Camp for Lonely People is the show built around that…

American A**holes is three American comics on one Edinburgh bill. Danielle Slaughter, Lauren LoGiudice and Wayne Charles II share it. The show opens with a trio segment under that title. Then each of them performs an individual standup set. The through-line is identity politics, dissected from three directions. The working…