The Happiest Medium Review by Guest Contributor Katelyn Manfre
People are always telling D’yan Forest to “act her age.” For her, that is simply unacceptable. At 77 years young, when D’yan has seen, experienced, and gone to bed with so much of the world, she simply hasn’t been able to settle into her age. In I Married a Nun!, running at UNDER St. Marks, she has set out to tell her story, to explain and illustrate just why being a senior is not where she’s at right now.
For the record, she did, in fact, marry a nun. For 25 years D’yan was unofficially wedded to Mary, an ex-lady of the cloth with whom she travelled the world and shared a rather active sex life (don’t worry–she’s got props). While her relationship with Mary is the focus of a large part of her story, D’yan also goes into great detail about her exploits, dalliances, and experiments before and after. She has, it seems, been comfortable in her skin and up for anything since she was a little girl growing up in Boston.
D’yan Forest is charming, witty, and expressive as she moves through her deeply personal journey. She is entertaining and admirable in her brash, unapologetic discussion of the tawdrier bits of her lifestyle. She relishes in it, wishing, it seems, the same euphoria and freedom on her audience that has been granted to her in this life.
It is only at the very end where the performance needs a little bit of sharpening. The overall meaning of the piece is lost somewhere in her final anecdotes. She muses on the solitary place she finds herself in today, but rather than elevating these thoughts for a higher, more universal message, she quickly wraps it up. What was a story of joy and excitement and unbridled experimental risks becoming just another “hello this is me in 90-minutes-or-less” solo performance. And D’yan is far too fascinating and fabulous for that to be the final takeaway.
There is something truly special about seeing a woman who has so embraced herself and her body and her lifestyle with no hesitation. It’s inspiring, even. She’s up there, bearing her soul and telling her story, armed with nothing but a ukulele. And a light-up dildo.
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I Married A Nun! Mar 01, 7:30PM Mar 03, 8:30PM $15.00 UNDER St.Marks~~~
The 2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL will run February 22-March 4 at The Kraine Theater & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A). Tickets to all shows may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.
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