I Was Supposed to Be Meghan Markle (But My Anxiety Disorder Got in the Way)
A One-Woman Show By Leila Hernandez
July 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre
I’ve watched the Netflix series Harry & Meghan more times than I’d like to admit. I’ve watched Oprah’s interview with Harry and Meghan, as well as Oprah and Harry’s AppleTV docu-series The Me You Can’t See. I have always been fascinated with the British Royal Family, but now I am consumed by my obsession with Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.
But why? Why am I so fixated on this particular person?
I am obsessed with Meghan Markle because I love her and I hate her. I love her because she’s a humanitarian. I love her because she speaks her truth. I love her because she’s beautiful and married to Prince Harry. I love her because she’s one Kevin Bacon away from Princess Diana!
And I hate her because…well. Let’s be honest. I don’t hate her at all. I am JEALOUS of her. I’m so jealous that I could vomit. I’m crumbling under the weight of my jealousy for her. I am jealous of her because she is living the life that I was meant to live. She is doing everything that I ever wanted to do. And she is doing it a thousand times better than I ever could!
I wanted to be a humanitarian. I wanted to publish op-eds about female empowerment and give speeches about social justice. I wanted to write a lifestyle blog and be a brand ambassador for Soho House! I wanted to be a rich television actress, get paid $50,000 per episode of my show, and have the money to travel the world when I was on hiatus.
And most of all, I wanted to marry one of Princess Diana’s sons! These were MY plans! These were MY dreams! I was supposed to be the one to shake-up and modernize the British Royal Establishment. I was going to be the first chubby, hairy, Hispanic, North American to marry a British Prince! I wanted to be interviewed by Oprah!
But none of that stuff ever happened. And instead, Meghan Markle got to sweep in and take possession of my dream life. And who is to blame for this cosmic twist of fate? My anxiety disorder. Thanks, Anxiety Disorder!”
Thank You For Knowing Me and The Red Claw
A Show By Up-And-Coming Playwright M.K. Wessel
July 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre
Malia Wessel is a recent graduate of the University of East Anglia in England with a Masters in Theatre Directing; they also studied with the Creative Writing: Playwriting and Screenwriting department there. Their first play, Tony the Fantastic Fireman! LIVE: One Show Only was produced at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and nominated for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding One-Act Play at KCACTF. Their second one-act, The Father, is being published in the "Journal of Arts and Letters." Malia is very excited to be a part of interAct.
The first show of the evening will be a new one-act play titled, Thank You For Knowing Me, a drama about the bittersweet realization that a relationship isn’t working out but that each person is better for having known the other. The reading features Ollie Chieppa, Jonah Newton, and Ariana Whatcott.
The second show, The Red Claw, is an update of a play that Wessel wrote for a 24-hour play festival. It’s a boisterous parody of film noir filled with audience asides, Christmas cheer, and ridiculous detective work. The reading features Ollie Chieppa, Andrew Moody, Jonah Newton, Jack Carter Roberts, Preston Rowland, Liza Shoell, Sumner Jones Shoell, and Ariana Whatcott.