Hysterical follows a girl-woman as she scours her mind-farm for her missing uterus. It offers much needed insight into the process of following one's roots past the heart of their trauma into the seat of their soul.
Hysterical follows a girl-woman as she scours her mind-farm for her missing uterus. It offers much needed insight into the process of following one's roots past the heart of their trauma into the seat of their soul.
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Story
Mission Statement
We produce from our own quirky and deep spirits. Emma is a painter, writer, performer, Cyrus a cinematographer, editor, musician, Mia a writer, actress, director. We instill humor (some would say, magic?) into our art, bringing conversations around gender/class/race/humanity back down to earth.About The Project
Have YOU ever wondered what’s it like to be a potato?
Background:
Hysterical is a film-adaptation of a one-woman theatre performance. The stem-level plot is this: a girl-woman lost her uterus and sorts through her mind-farm-memories to find it. On a deeper level, the show explores intergenerational womanhood and inherited trauma. It weaves together themes of independence, institutionalized mental health, the female body and its policing, fertility, immigration, and growth to present to you, the audience, an unintentional coming-of-age tale for and of us all, just trying to do the best we can with what we have.
back when this was only a brainstorm ...
The ~adaptation~
Originally, Hysterical was written for live-theatre. And then COVID. Yet, like running water down a mountainside, we flowed with what life presented us. You see, the thing about a project like this is: once the water breaks, breaching is imminent. Less metaphorically, once Emma had a clear vision for depicting this, she couldn’t sit back and wait while theaters, her show, and her passion for them decayed. Sometimes you’re just soul-constipated and need to evacuate immediately because life is waiting! Writer and Performer Emma Speer found the phenomenal Mia Fowler to direct and the legendary Citrus Duff to take charge of production. Despite the unanticipated rerouting, the adaptation is not compromised at all. In fact, for the creators, the film version has supplanted the original as the story’s purest expression.
Link: original performance, self-filmed for pitch to Cyrus and Mia, clearly help was needed lolz
What still needs to be done:
Thus bringing us to this fundraiser. The film grew in its filmy-ness during this process, and with that grew the associated expenditures. The filming process was entirely funded from personal funds, proudly used to employ and promote art and small businesses.
In search of 1. crates and 2. a logo
Remaining expenses include: 1. editing fees, 2. sound mixing, 3. coloring, 4. musical score, 5. festival application fees. These costs total $5,200. We come to you, our loved ones, audiences, and kindred spirits in the arts, to help us complete Hysterical with the integrity and care it has had so far.
Thank you for helping this (and us!) grow!Incentives
$15
Social Media Shout Out
Thank you so much for your contribution! We would love to thank you on a LARGE platform to let the world know you'rer helping put the ART in HEART!!! We will show our gratitude with a "Thank you" post on our Instagram profile. $25
Limerick
A poem just for you, to show you how much we love and appreciate you. In addition to being catchy, limericks have an Irish flavor to them, and we all know that that means: TATERS!!!!! Here are some examples of limericks written for our team:
For Mia Weathers-Fowler
If she were kombucha, I'd drink a whole growler.
My love for her makes me wanna howler
"You got the good vibes and grace,
the smarts, brawn, and cute face,
No one makes me laugh like you, Mia Weathers-Fowler!!!"
For Cyrus Duff:
In order to be steadfast like a tree,
as mysterious as 5G,
quirky like a bottle cork,
smart like a book dork,
One must take Vitamin Citrus D*.
These poems will be posted on our fundraising page as well as our social meeds (instagram and twitter).
*Note: The name "Cyrus Duff" is a loose suggestion that can be interpreted to mean "Any two-syllable word that begins and ends in an 's' noise, followed by literally anything (although you probably would want to end with 'Duff' since it's normally unclear who you're talking about without that)". Examples include: Citrus Duff, Citrus, Citron, Cyprus, Stitches, Sillius D, Supersilius D, Mr. Duff (for liberals), Sirius, Serious, Sirius XM, Psylocybin, Syphillis (not recommended), Cyrus Durf, Cyrus Doof, Mister Doof, Sigh, Mr. Duffers.
$50
YOU!
Well, it's a drawing of you. Specifically, a drawing of you as some sort of potato, uterus, smile hybrid. A picture of it will be posted on social meeds as a shout out (unless you would like to remain publicly anonymous), and the actual picture will be sent to you in the mail for you to put on your fridge or hang up in your bathroom! Please see the lovely examples below.
Mr. Sirius and Ms. Mia
$100
Mask
Tihs mask is printed on 100% pure cotton with the Hysterical logo.
Concepts behind the Logo
1. This logo was inspired by the odd conceptual overlap of potatoes, eyes, and vulvas. The outline is that of an amorphous potato, and the inside is an alluring layering that leaves you wondering: is this a third eye? a second labia? or a portal to a new unvierse? The cast and crew of Hysterical sport this logo on their work hats during production.
2. What do YOU see? A uterus? A smile? HA! Isn't that fun?
3. This is a quote that our crew really took to, particularly because of the grammatical ambiguity of it. Having it just spoken and not written, we found ourselves asserting, "You are not alone, potato" one moment, "you are not a lone potato" the next, and occasionally, "You are not a loan potato." You are here to stay, spuddy!
$250
Hat
So, this hat is custom made and printed just for you, for you, for you! The designs are the same as that of the mask. They are printed by our very own Emma Speer!
$500
Custom Wine Crate
The set of Hysterical features wine crates hand-painted by our very own Emma Speer. For a donation of $500, Emma will procure and paint a wine crate with the image of your choosing. This donation includes shipping. Also, crates have SO many sides, so if you would like multiple images, that is so possible!
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Wishlist
Use the WishList to pledge cash and loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an incentive directly.
$15
Social Media Shout Out
Thank you so much for your contribution! We would love to thank you on a LARGE platform to let the world know you'rer helping put the ART in HEART!!! We will show our gratitude with a "Thank you" post on our Instagram profile. $25
Limerick
A poem just for you, to show you how much we love and appreciate you. In addition to being catchy, limericks have an Irish flavor to them, and we all know that that means: TATERS!!!!! Here are some examples of limericks written for our team:
For Mia Weathers-Fowler
If she were kombucha, I'd drink a whole growler.
My love for her makes me wanna howler
"You got the good vibes and grace,
the smarts, brawn, and cute face,
No one makes me laugh like you, Mia Weathers-Fowler!!!"
For Cyrus Duff:
In order to be steadfast like a tree,
as mysterious as 5G,
quirky like a bottle cork,
smart like a book dork,
One must take Vitamin Citrus D*.
These poems will be posted on our fundraising page as well as our social meeds (instagram and twitter).
*Note: The name "Cyrus Duff" is a loose suggestion that can be interpreted to mean "Any two-syllable word that begins and ends in an 's' noise, followed by literally anything (although you probably would want to end with 'Duff' since it's normally unclear who you're talking about without that)". Examples include: Citrus Duff, Citrus, Citron, Cyprus, Stitches, Sillius D, Supersilius D, Mr. Duff (for liberals), Sirius, Serious, Sirius XM, Psylocybin, Syphillis (not recommended), Cyrus Durf, Cyrus Doof, Mister Doof, Sigh, Mr. Duffers.
$50
YOU!
Well, it's a drawing of you. Specifically, a drawing of you as some sort of potato, uterus, smile hybrid. A picture of it will be posted on social meeds as a shout out (unless you would like to remain publicly anonymous), and the actual picture will be sent to you in the mail for you to put on your fridge or hang up in your bathroom! Please see the lovely examples below.
Mr. Sirius and Ms. Mia
$100
Mask
Tihs mask is printed on 100% pure cotton with the Hysterical logo.
Concepts behind the Logo
1. This logo was inspired by the odd conceptual overlap of potatoes, eyes, and vulvas. The outline is that of an amorphous potato, and the inside is an alluring layering that leaves you wondering: is this a third eye? a second labia? or a portal to a new unvierse? The cast and crew of Hysterical sport this logo on their work hats during production.
2. What do YOU see? A uterus? A smile? HA! Isn't that fun?
3. This is a quote that our crew really took to, particularly because of the grammatical ambiguity of it. Having it just spoken and not written, we found ourselves asserting, "You are not alone, potato" one moment, "you are not a lone potato" the next, and occasionally, "You are not a loan potato." You are here to stay, spuddy!
$250
Hat
So, this hat is custom made and printed just for you, for you, for you! The designs are the same as that of the mask. They are printed by our very own Emma Speer!
$500
Custom Wine Crate
The set of Hysterical features wine crates hand-painted by our very own Emma Speer. For a donation of $500, Emma will procure and paint a wine crate with the image of your choosing. This donation includes shipping. Also, crates have SO many sides, so if you would like multiple images, that is so possible!
- Updates
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Current Team
About This Team
Emma Speer (she/her/hers) is a born-and-bred Bridgeport, CT spiritual spelunker. She finds meaning in assisting others with their own deep explorations, through conventionally artistic endeavors such as performing, writing, illustrating, painting, podcasting, and DJing as well as in interactions with her students, mentees, friends, family, and more. You can catch her sitting on her floor surrounded by paints and pallets or cooking up way too much food for people she loves and not, though she probably should, working on her website or instagram.
Mia Weathers-Fowler (she/her/hers) is an actor, director, and writer based in New York. Mia has spent the past three years focused on new play development—directing five premieres and performing in three. In 2020 she and her co-writer Seth Herschkowitz won the Yale Playwright's Festival for their one-act play Terminal 3. With the constraints of the pandemic, Mia has turned her attention to film, directing her first feature Hysterical in October. Outside of her artistic pursuits, Mia moonlights as a medieval scholar (anything before 1600 will do).
Cyrus Duff (he/him/his) is a cinematographer and director. With Edward Columbia, he runs Sulde Productions, which produces commercial content for a variety of clients as well as narrative and documentary shorts. His short film Without Wax began its festival circuit at the 2020 RIIFF. In the past year, among other projects, he directed a documentary on the trendy New York fashion startup Café Forgot, now in post-production. He also served as cinematographer on a new narrative feature film by director Jimmy Bontatibus, is in prep as cinematographer on the second documentary feature by Hayley Garrigus, and has shot a number of ads, shorts and music videos. You can see more of his work at his website.
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