Just Like Hollywood
Central Standard Theatre, KC Fringe and The Black Box KC present
Blind Faith Productions
JUST LIKE HOLLYWOOD (I See You Watching)
Text by John Clancy, Directed by Melanie Stewart, Featuring Kylie Westerbeck.
Upcoming Performances
Friday, March 7, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
Saturday, March 8, 2025 @ 2:00 PM
1060 Union Avenue
Kansas City, Missouri 64101
Tickets: $20 General Admission
For further ticket information:
https://justlikehollywood.com/
The result of a decade-long collaboration with Obie award-winning playwright John Clancy, Just Like Hollywood explores the degradation of a young woman in contemporary America.
Synopsis:
On a bare stage, using only props supplied by a demanding and impatient master of ceremonies, the woman must discover the key to unlock the cage in which he keeps her. Forced to perform and dance to please her captor she forces the audience to question at what point will she rebel? A rigorous and playful study of status and the eternal male/female dance and duel, this dark comedy examines the trap ensnaring so many women today, an invisible but all-encompassing prison she is raised in and taught to accept, if not embrace.
Melanie Stewart (Director/Collaborator) creates darkly absurd movement- driven theatre focusing on the nuanced, weird, and vulnerable side of American culture. She was the artistic director of Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre from 1984 to 2014, producing over 50 original works of dance and movement-driven theater for the concert stage, in dance/film/video, and education, nationally and abroad. Presently, she is the Artistic Producing Director of Blind Faith Productions. The company’s first play production, Just Like Hollywood (I See You Watching) was first presented at the 2022 Cannonball Festival a hub of the Philadelphia Live Arts/Fringe. In 2024 she co- produced the show with Central Standard Theatre, Kansas City at the Bedford and Camden Fringe Festivals in the UK to critical acclaim. Other recent productions include MONSTER, a frankenstein tale, by John Clancy, which premiered in 2024 and was presented at the Festival of Monsters at the University of California, Santa Cruz in October. Stewart is a Professor of Theatre and Dance at Rowan University who specializes in Physical Theatre and Medical Improvisation.
John Clancy (Performer/Collaborator) is a contemporary American playwright, novelist, and director. He was a co-founder and first Artistic Director of the New York International Fringe Festival and its producing organization The Present Company. His written work centers mainly on the American experience and is characterized by dark humor and farce. His best-known playis Fatboy: An American Grotesque, a modern re-working of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi. His monologue The Event premiered in Edinburgh in 2009 and has gone on to tour Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, and the United States and has been translated into Greek and German. Clancy’s directing has earned six Fringe First Awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and two Best of Fringe Awards at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. He was awarded a 2005 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Direction, a 2002 Glasgow Herald Angel Award for Excellence in Direction, a 1997 New York Magazine Award, and a 2008 Dialogue ONE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theater. John is currently the Playwright in Residence for Central Standard Theatre and on the Board of Directors for the KC Fringe.
Kylie Westerbeck (Performer/Collaborator) is a NYC-based actor/musician/photographer. Professional credits include: Nocturne, The Lydie Breeze Trilogy, Curse of the Starving Class and Company, (EgoPo Classic Theatre), Witness for the Prosecution (Bristol Riverside Theatre), and Our Town (People’s Light Theatre Company). She has produced several original works including Complexity (DC Fringe) and Peg! (Philly Fringe) and has released two original albums: Bellow (2018) and Summertime (2019). Presently, Kylie is pursuing her MFA in Acting at the Juilliard School (Group 56).
Blind Faith Theatre brings artistic collaborators together to devise original theatre that is socially relevant work focused on creating intimate relationships with audiences. The company’s projects integrate movement, text, and image to explore the ability of the body to carry meaning in original narratives that are often ironic and intensely human. Just Like Hollywood (I See You Watching) is the first production of Blind Faith Productions.
