GRIT, a Courageous and Authentic One-Woman Show
3 min read
2024 Winner Best NY Premiere at the United Solo Festival!
From the world of stripping to becoming a fitness guru, Lisa Natale’s GRIT is a courageous and authentic one-woman show that delves into the evolution of her relationship with her body. Written and performed by Natale, she developed the show with the director Jessica Lynn Johnson and first performed the show at Solo Stars Festival in 2023. GRIT was recently awarded Best NY Premiere at the United Solo Festival at Theatre Row Off-Broadway on 42nd Street.
Lisa’s journey has been infused with dance, music, and movement, allowing her to connect with her body and emotions and promoting personal growth and healing. Through multimedia and multiple characters, GRIT explores themes of domestic violence, sexual trauma and body image. From the world of stripping to becoming a fitness guru, this show “gives us a roadmap of how to persevere and fight the good fight to a life of fulfillment.” that can resonate with a wide audience. Will Lisa ignite her fire or crumble from shame? Grit reflects her own journey of resilience and transformation, and has been a passion project for over two decades.
Three Performances Only!
GRIT will have a run of three performances at the Hollywood Fringe Festival: Wednesday, June 26, 8:45 PM; Thursday, June 27, 6:45 PM; and Sunday, June 30, 1:45 PM at the Zephyr Theatre (7456 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046.)
Born and raised in Tucson Arizona with New York City, Lisa first premiered GRIT in the Solo Stars Series in December. She then went on to carry out her long held dream of performing in NY in the United Solo Festival off-Broadway on 42nd Street where she received an encore performance in addition to being awarded Best NY Premiere.
“GRIT is the kind of powerful uplifting recreate-your-own-life kind of piece that we all so desperately need right now. ” “If you have the opportunity to see this excellent show I would highly recommend that you do!!” Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros NoHo Arts District
Director, Developer, Jessica Lynn Johnson is a published playwright, recipient of BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST AWARD, Advisory Board Member of the LA Women’s Theatre Festival, 2024 Recipient of LAWTF Rainbow Award, Co Executive Producer of the Joshua Tree Solo Theatre Festival, and Founder & CEO of Soaring Solo Studios International. Jessica has aided in the development, direction and producing of over 150 solo shows (and still going strong)! As a performer, Jessica has “edu-tained” international audiences touring her own one person shows ZE and OBLIVIOUS TO EVERYONE for over 15 years. Jessica’s projects have taken home awards such as TOP OF FRINGE, HFF ENCORE PRODUCER AWARDS, TVOLUTION BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE, LARRY CORNWALL AWARD FOR MUSICAL EXCELLENCE & several other accolades! Jessica was also awarded the LAWTF Rainbow Award in 2024 and was nominated for the Female Director of Distinction in Theatre by Girl Trip LLC at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival & Best Director of a Play by Broadway World 2023. http://www.SoaringSoloStudios.com
Heather Dowling is an award-winning writer, actor and director. Heather brought to life 50 distinct characters in her critically acclaimed one-person shows, Unemployed. Finally. and Fertile. Both shows won the PRODUCERS’ ENCORE AWARDand were nominated for BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2015 and 2019. Both shows were selected for the prestigious L.A WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL and both were deemed BEST OF FEST at SOLOFEST, the largest solo theatre festival on the West Coast. Unemployed was selected to be part of UNITED SOLO, the largest solo festival in the world, on 42nd Street in NYC. On the heels of her personal solo success, Heather started coaching for Soaring Solo Studios. She directed 5 shows that gathered 5 award nominations in the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival and one of the shows she directed and developed, Asexuality: A Solo Musical, won the TOP OF FRINGE and BEST PREMIERE. Learn more about Heather at HeatherDowling.com
Tickets are $20 and available on the Hollywood Fringe Website.
