Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell

1 I just got in from seeing "Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell," a David Stallings play that is part of the 11th Annual New York International Fringe Festival. The press release for the play gave the following preview: "Imagine an island in hell where Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, and Queen Victoria...wait for their men. What happens when women's lib icon Anaïs Nin arrives to turn their afterlife upside down? David Stallings' new comedy, 'Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell' explores the question of whether Sartre was right and hell really is other people, or whether we carry around our potential for damnation or salvation within ourselves." This was a pretty accurate description, but it failed to capture how wonderfully funny and intelligent the play turned out to be. Marnie Schulenburg, Alison Stewart on AS THE WORLD TURNS, stars as Andromeda, and she is fabulous. On the heels of Alison's hilarious screams at the sight of Dr. Rick Decker on ATWT, it was especially funny to hear her do a similar scream in the play. Also, like on ATWT recently, Marnie gets to sing in this production, and she belts out The Carpenters' "Superstar" like she means it (some of the cast join in later and it's absolutely hysterical). Aside from the singing and comedy, you even get to see Marnie's Andromeda kissing Kristina Kohl's Heloise. If you're in the New York area, I highly recommend checking out one of the last two shows (Thursday and next Sunday). As a side treat this evening, I got to see several of Marnie's AS THE WORLD TURNS castmates at the show including Jake Silberman, Dylan Bruce, Billy Magnussen, Justine Cotsonas, Jon Prescott and Agim Kaba. The hunks of ATWT in a small NYC theater. What more could a guy ask for? Here's a preview of the play which features commentary and a bit of the cast singing.