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See It or Skip It LA sat down with Olivia Fischer, the creator and director of Still, which has gotten the only #MustSeeLA of the Hollywood Fringe Festival so far this year.

SISI: Tell me a little about where you’re from and how this show came about.

OF: I am a South African female theatre maker that recently graduated from the University of Cape Town. I technically grew up in Johannesburg but I’ve always said I did more growing up in my four years in Cape Town than in the seventeen years in Johannesburg. The play itself was created for my final practical exam for my honors degree in theatre making, but the impulse behind the need to create a play about rape culture comes from my own sexual assault.

SISI: Why do you think it is important to openly talk about rape culture?

OF: I was in kindergarten when a boy my age lifted my skirt and the entire playground laughed at me. I was in grade 7 when my class posted lists on Facebook in which I was always “awarded” best breasts, best body, and worst face. I was a senior in high school when another senior boy told me that if a girl was blackout drunk on the side of a road, she had what was coming to her. That it is always the woman’s responsibility to not be raped. Our female teacher did not disagree with him. I was in first year university when I was raped by a boy a few years older than me and I was so embarrassed that I told my friends for the first two days afterwards that it was just really rough sex until one of them noticed the finger marks on my neck. It’s painful to remember all of these experiences, so painful. But it is more painful to think that the same thing or similar things will statistically happen to my own daughter. She’s not even two and I’m already worried for her. If I, as someone who has an opportunity through theater, don’t tell these stories to possibly make the world a safer and happier place for my daughter, then I feel as if I’ve failed her and the generations to come. That’s why I tell these kind of stories, that’s why I’m compelled as a theater maker to make theater about such realities.

SISI: Sexual assault and harassment has recently come into the main stream media here in the US with the #MeToo movement. What is it like in South Africa? Is this a topic that is addressed/discussed?

OF: I can only speak from my own position as a white heterosexual cis gendered woman and with that position comes a privileged lived experience. That means that no matter how toxic I perceive the patriarchal structures in place in South Africa, I only experience a small fraction of that daily trauma. And in addition to the trauma of our own patriarchy, we have colonial and apartheid structures that further silence and disenfranchise those that are not awarded the same benefit of the doubt I am. South Africa is a violent place for women. You regularly hear stories from people we know about women getting into Ubers or cabs and being sexually assaulted by the drivers. You hear statistics over and over again about how one in every three women in South Africa will be sexually assaulted at least once in their lifetime. And even though this is happening day in and day out, for the most part, we don’t talk about sexual assault or even vilify the perpetrators. In my third year at university, there was an art student who was regularly following other art and drama students into the bathroom, me being one of them, and would sexually harass and/or assault them. After two public demonstrations and vocal protests, UCT failed to censure him let alone suspend him. It’s difficult to be a part of a conversation like this and feel as if there is no change. Having said that, seeing movements like #MeToo, being a part of conversations with people from all different positionalities about this topic, seeing mass rapists in South Africa being put behind bars for multiple life sentences, even Harvey Weinstein being arrested (no matter how late I thought it was) are all things that do make me somewhat hopeful. And you have to be hopeful in times like these. Because for so long, notions of consent or safe spaces were only happening in academic hypothetical conversations. Now they are being engaged with on much bigger scales. And I have to believe in that progress. No matter how small or how late it has come, because you don’t know who it might help. So I do, I remain hopeful. I have to.

SISI: What is the one thing you hope audiences get out of this play?

OF: I’m never good at answering questions about audiences because audience members are always so different and after speaking to people after the shows, you realize how truly different they really are. But it’s in that speaking, in those asking and answering of questions with audience members, that the real power of the play exists because most audience members, no matter what they come into the theater with, want to engage with the play and it’s subject matter, whether or not they thought the play itself was good or not. I’ve never wanted to make work that was fine. An audience member must either hate it or love it, there can be no in between for me. It must have some sort of impact.

SISI: What’s next?

OF: Immediately after Hollywood Fringe, I’m going on a week long road trip with my mom and daughter to see the beautiful California coastline. At the moment, I’m writing two other plays that deal with very different subject matters, namely assisted suicide and unrecognized pregnancy. Hopefully they will be as engaging and successful as STILL. As for STILL I intend to take it to other fringe festivals around the globe and possibly, to high schools. It would be a very interesting experience to gauge the response from a younger audience. But you never know what’s truly to come. I just hope that whatever is next is as exciting and rewarding as this Hollywood Fringe experience has been.

Still is playing at the Hollywood Fringe Festival with shows at the Actors Company through June 24th. For tickets or more info visit the HFF website. 

Interview by Kat Michels

[seeitorskipitla-blog]

Still by Olivia Fischer

#MustSeeLA #SeeItLa

“I’m the drunk girl, and he’s the victim.”

This play pulled me in from the start and held my attention until the lights went out at the end. It’s the type of play that the audience needs a moment at the end to absorb what just happened before they can clap. My suggestion is that you stop reading this now and just go see it for yourself, because the less you know going in the better. But if you want to hear more, read on.

Playwright Olivia Fischer wastes no preamble by thrusting the audience directly into police interrogations. However, you never see or hear the police officer, you only hear the answers given by Chloe the suspect, Aaron her friend, and the victim’s girlfriend, Julia - all of whom are teenagers. From there the interrogation continues for Chloe, but Aaron and Julia continue their story ten years later.

The script is sparse, but contains all of the pieces necessary for the audience to fill in the gaps. What makes it so brilliant is that as the pieces of the puzzle are revealed they fit exactly where you assumed they would ... until the end. It’s only at the end that you realize that your assumptions blinded you to the possibility of an alternative storyline. 

The cast of three is stellar, and keep their performances subtle and nuanced to fit the mood and feel of the play. They are able to move seamlessly from one vignette to another to keep the pacing steady, driving straight to the end. My only complaint is with the lighting design. Several scenes between Aaron and Julia were too dark, yet when the action switched to Chloe’s side of the stage Aaron and Julia’s side wasn’t dark enough to hide them prepping for their next scene which at times was distracting. However, with the limitations of lighting that come with a Fringe Festival, that is a minor foible.

All in all, Still is a poignant look at rape culture and the assumptions we make about the victims. This play will leave you with plenty to talk about on the way home.

For tickets and more info visit the HFF website.

Review by Kat Michels

[seeitorskipitla-blog]

I was expecting to be amused by this production, what I wasn’t expecting was to legitimately enjoy myself. There is a loose plot to drive the action forward, but really you go to this show for the singing and the dancing. In that respect, this show does not disappoint. The dancing is crisp, engaging and fun to watch. However, a word from the wise, show up early enough to get an unobstructed view of the stage. Any of the seats against the wall will result in the viewer straining to see around the audience members in front of them. This is not a failing of the production itself, just the layout of the venue. The song selection is fun, and just about anyone who goes will have a laugh out loud moment at least once when they realize what song is being sung. The selection ranges from Broadway to current pop hits to classics from bygone eras. The performances of these songs are hit or miss, but the majority fall into the hit category. A few are so perfect in their timing and execution that I got chills. I’d see it again just to see the performance of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. Michael Shaw Fisher, as William Sexspeare, and Alli Miller, as Juliewet, both turned in fantastic performances in their leading roles and the supporting cast backed them up well. This production is well worth your time, even if you aren’t a huge fan of burlesque.