NextStop Theatre Company’s contribution to the Women’s Voices Theater Festival is the extraordinary No Spring Chicken, written and performed by Ginna Hoben and directed by Sullivan Canaday White. This one-woman show follows the spunky, type A protagonist on her journey to motherhood. Deftly navigating unhelpful insurance agents, doubting doctors, tongue-twisting medical terms, and even Mother Nature herself, Hobben enthusiastically pursues her dream of becoming a parent, despite her “advanced maternal age” of 40.
Supporting this boundlessly compelling extended monologue are clever sound and lighting effects via the work of Lighting Designer Annmarie Castrigno, Sound Designer Nicholas Upchurch, Master Electrician Brian Stefaniak, and Production Stage Manager Donna Reinhold. Costume Designer Kristina Martin outfits Hoben in an ensemble that is both subtle and fitting without hindering any of her spritely movements around the stage. Jane Hosticka Fink’s scene design is an impressively large crescent moon that helpfully gives Hoben something to work off of while telling the audience her story.
Ginna Hoben is a combination of Amy Poehler, Ellen Degeneres, Tina Fey, a sprinkle of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and, most of all, a whole lot of original energy that makes you want her to be your new best friend. In fact, that is what the show feels like – your wittiest and most hilarious friend telling you the story of her pregnancy over a shared cup of (caffeinated) coffee.
Hoben’s natural delivery and comedic charm make this less of a performance and more of a conversation. She not only talks directly to the audience, she listens; gauging reactions and accepting their laughter, their sympathy, and even their help pronouncing long medical terms.
No Spring Chicken is a singular experience that is seriously, truly, and honestly not to be missed!
Running Time: 60 minutes,with no intermission.
No Spring Chicken plays through October 11, 2015, at NextStop Theatre Company – 269 Sunset Park Drive, in Herndon, VA. For tickets, call the box office at (866) 811-4111, or purchase them online.
