Greg Gallinger
Kerry Ipema co-wrote and stars in "One Woman Sex and the City"
On Sunday, the actor and writer will make two Richmond appearances in a one-woman parody of “Sex and the City” that she co-wrote and created. The 2 p.m. show at Dominion Arts Center is sold out, but tickets remained for the 7 p.m. show (as of Friday evening). Here, she talks about how it came together.
Richmond magazine: How did this occur to you and your collaborator, TJ Dawe? The show’s been away for a few years, but, obviously, possesses resonance to people. Have you find that — how should I say? — in the current climate that the show is getting a different reaction than it might’ve had even when you were first trying it out last year?
Ipema: TJ actually approached me with the idea! He co-created "One Man Star Wars" and "One Man Lord of the Rings" and wanted to do a one-woman parody. He approached me a little over a year ago to write and perform in a one-woman “Sex and the City” parody, and I have been a huge fan of the show for years and jumped at the opportunity to work on this show. What makes SATC special is that it shows what a real female friendship looks like. Everyone can identify with these women, having brunch, telling jokes, getting advice, going through heartbreak and supporting one another. That's what resonates with me about the show, and the energy I want to create in the audience during the show —a bunch of women (and men) who want to have fun, laugh and take a trip down memory lane in this tribute to SATC. I think with the current climate, we can use any chance to laugh and have fun! And I hope this show brings people together. I think right now we are very polarized, but the idea of getting many people in the same room to laugh is very exciting to me. I also think this show is a love letter to the late ’90s and early aughts in a way. So much has changed from the time the show came out to now that maybe certain things hold up a little bit differently.
RM: And how long was it in the process of creation? Do you change the material? Is it based on an actual episode or a mashup? Do you use the show’s music cues?
Ipema: TJ and I wrote the show while on tour a year ago with a show called, PostSecret: The Show. We wrote it while traveling the country and then we actually rehearsed it via Skype until its premiere in Winnipeg [Canada] in July. He lives in Vancouver and I live in New York, so there was a lot of working together from afar, which was a fun and unique experience. [“One Woman Sex and the City”] is a parody of all six seasons of the show mashed down into an hour and a half show (with an intermission for more Cosmos) with a LOT of new puns — I mean, it wouldn't be SATC without puns. There are 94 episodes of the show, so TJ and I worked a lot on writing a season down to its main essence while keeping all of the iconic moments! The show itself changes every night, because the audience's energy will be different every night. I have a background in improv and one of my favorite things to do is riff on a joke if it is going well, or comment on something if it needs. I love the freedom to explore new things with an audience every night — it feels like getting together with your friends and sharing laughs and having fun.
RM: Probably my favorite line from the entire series came I think in the first season. The ladies go to an engagement party, I think it is, in suburban Connecticut and all the ladies there are brightly dressed and air kissing and Carrie intones, “And there we were, the Witches of Eastwick.” They’re all dressed in black and looking as glum as Morrissey and Carrie is smoking. Is there a scene you enjoy — or can you say?
Ipema: I love that moment in the show! I play about two dozen characters from the show every night — so I have a lot of fun, in fact, I have so much, much fun that I feel like I'm waiting for the other Manolo to drop. I think my favorite is our puns and specifically Samantha's. They are outrageous and fun and mostly of our own creation, but still totally feasible that she would say them!
