The Knockturnal attended #MESSY (The Brazilian Hour) at the McCadden Place Theatre during the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
#MESSY, written and performed by Julia Melim, is a one-woman show about confronting life’s most challenging moments through self-expression. Melim created the show as a way of breaking free from lifelong struggles with perfectionism and impostor syndrome; she faces the past head-on in the path to healing.
The show embraces all the messy parts of my life, the parts where I messed up, what didn’t go right, and the intention is to break stereotypes, and all the shame associated with it… It’s also an invitation for the audience to break through their own patterns, by pushing boundaries and creating a movement – so we can all be messy and love ourselves anyway,” says Melim.
Don Q. Hannah Photography
#MESSY portrays an actress backstage in the hour before a live performance, working through her fears to step on stage unburdened by the weight of carrying painful memories alone.
Melim incorporates stand-up comedy, exposure therapy, and dramatic scenes into #MESSY to represent the varied self-exploration and rumination actors go through in the behind-the-scenes of the creative process. Notably, she brings an interactive element to the show, leading a meditative exercise where audience members write down something they want to let go of. “I was really moved by how open and vulnerable the audience is with me, and that’s what makes it all worth it. It makes me feel like I can make an impact and make people feel better about themselves and their own lives,” she reflects.
Don Q. Hannah Photography
Melim wants viewers to walk away from the show with a newfound appreciation for the chaos of life and embrace their own messiness with compassion and understanding. “I want people to feel free to be themselves, admitting that nobody is perfect by embracing their messy selves, and love ourselves and each other just a little bit more than when they came in.”
