“I have finally figured out that the best way for me to work through an obsessive challenge is to write a song about it and then perform it.”
Responder: Dawn Larsen creator/performer
Name of Company: Dawn Larsen Music
Name of Show: The Vicious Hillbilly or Dating in the Deep South, a tale of woe in story and song
1. Why should anybody see your show?
Besides being really funny and entertaining, many people have had challenging experiences with dating and especially online dating. Laughing at those challenges make it less depressing. I performed in NC recently and after my show, a woman in the audience ran to the stage, threw her arms around me, burst into tears and said, “I always thought I was alone! I’m not alone!” And besides, it has stick figure drawings…who doesn’t like that?!
2. Why Atlanta?
I have lots of friends in Atlanta! I have spent time there. AND Atlanta IS deep south. Any professional person of a dating age will empathize…even if you’re from the South.
3. What inspired you to create this?
Have you ever online dated? In the South? As a progressive, professional? It’s brutal. It’s depressing. It’s soul sucking. I’m a singer/songwriter too. My songs are autobiographical and most come from a comical story gathered from my online dating experiences. (I have finally figured out that the best way for me to work through an obsessive challenge is to write a song about it and then perform it.) I found that writing songs about my experiences, then telling the funny (not at the time usually, but later) stories was virtually therapeutic. When I first started performing them, audiences said they found it cathartic through laughter and fellowship. Women (who might be educated, progressive, can take care of themselves), especially, seem to connect with the music and stories. Audiences (both men and women) responded that they felt they were a “part of the performance” because, through the stories, they learned how the songs came to be. It made for incredible intimate experiences. I realized that the songs AND the stories are the spine of a greater story. And if I made it, I could reach more people. So I did and this is it.
4. What’s your process for creating and rehearsing something like this?
I have been performing this show for almost a year. Prior to that, I workshopped it for almost a year, doing performances where I asked the audience at the end to tell me what they liked, didn’t, couldn’t understand. Their feedback made the show so much stronger.
5. What have you learned from working on your show so far?
That I am not alone! And that it is important to present work that helps others to realize that they are not alone either. We are so disconnected from each other in this age of faces in screens. We come together when we realize that we are all the same. And that fringe is different, so different, depending on what fringe it is. I love that!
6. Tyler Perry, Jane Fonda, Killer Mike and Donald Glover roll up at your show. There is one ticket left. Who gets it?
Jane…Always Jane! And then I want to go drink with her.
7. Atlanta’s foodie scene is really on point these days. What does your show taste like? (Bonus points if you can name-check an ATL restaurant.)
Savory and spicy. Like that great little taco shop on Buford Highway right next to the Vietnamese bakery. Their fish tacos…holyshitballs!
8. Fringes are the place to really push the boundaries so we gotta ask: would you want your parents in the front row or would you tell them, “Maybe skip this one, guys…”?
My parents were actors. My mom has heard the songs and stories. When she was there, I had to edit the story about me doing a “I’m just going to jump into bed and do the big I.T.” experiment…
9. Will your show save mankind?
MANkind???!!! WOMANkind, Yes! [Editor’s note: EEEEEEK, you rite, you rite] At least it will save our mental health and souls! Having said that, men resonate with this show too because they have similar experiences to what the woman do.
10. Oh boy! After your first show a genie pops out of a bottle and offers you a choice – world peace or your show enjoying a ten-year run on Broadway. What shall it be?
What if my show creates world peace? And world connection?
11. Describe your show in three words.
Online dating yikes!
[Want more? Check out this awesome little preview video about Dawn’s creative process as a songwriter]
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