Save Me, Dolly Parton at Fringe

Beth Marshall’s Husband presented Save Me Dolly Parton written by Megan Gogerty. This was a one woman show featuring a witty stories of politics, pop Culture parenting and how Dolly Parton saved the day. Theresa Smith-Levin as Megan described her trip to a record store and picking up her first Dolly Parton album. She and her beau thought it would be a joke, but the music resonated with her. She didn’t want to over state, but simply put Dolly Parton is the greatest woman alive in her mind.

Megan and her husband decided to have a child and of course this loaded multiple new challenges and responsibilities into their lives. She read all the parenting books she could find, book marked the pages and figured she had this parenting thing down, at least in theory. Probably her most funny story came when she described a plane flight she needed to take. Her husband was busy so she had to take the trip alone with her baby in tow. At first the flight was pleasant with passengers glancing at her child lovingly. Then as the flight wore on her child grew tired and cranky. The next part of her story was shouted over the recorded sounds of a baby crying. She screamed that that noise has been ingrained into mother for centuries and that moms would do anything to stop that sound. Passengers were no longer glancing over with affection everyone looked annoyed.

The screaming dilemma didn’t stop on the plane. After landing she had to lug all her bags through the airport to the luggage claim. There she willed the bags to appear on the conveyor. The baby carriage arrive first thing and she lunged to get it off the line. Then she saw her bag. It had been wrapped by an airline employee in industrial grade plastic, like Seran wrap but bulletproof and terrorist proof. To quiet the baby she needed to get inside the bag. She couldn’t lean over of the baby which sounded life a fire alarm right now would fall out. She had to squat down, back straight and try and rip the plastic open with her bare teeth. She decided to place the baby in the carriage so she could complete the task and in an instant he fell asleep. In her relief she started to cry. This was something she hadn’t prepared herself for. And this wasn’t the only time this might occur. she imagined it playing out again and again each time she traveled. Hadn’t feminism solved this? She wanted more feminism.

This was a highly polished one woman show that seemed to flow without a hitch. Theresa Smith-Levin is a powerhouse of a performer. I have seen her working behind the scenes on many shows I have sketched over the years and this was the first time I got to see her raw force on the stage. If you are a young parent you needed to see this show. If you aren’t a parent like myself, you still would have laughed out loud and enjoyed the ride.