Conversations at Capital Fringe 2019

Conversations comes to capital fringe festival 2019!

The Show

In the aftermath of her father’s death, a young woman revisits their past conversations to seek advice and remember his legacy. This is her true story of grief, self discovery, coming of age, and womanhood.

The Process

When I was 19 and home on Thanksgiving break from my freshmen year at college, my father was dying of colon cancer. One Monday evening, he went to the hospital, and my mother told me his time was near and that the next day he said he needed to talk with me. The next morning, I woke up and found out he had died. I never knew what he wanted to talk with me about. I never got to have a last conversation with him. This show centers on this theme of what that last conversation could have been. 

Later that summer, I was an intern with the Ojai Playwrights Conference and began to write about him, and then the inspiration for this show hit. At Kenyon College, I finished writing the first draft and performed a stage reading of the show to a fully sold out crowd and received a standing ovation. After graduation, I began to rewrite and edit, and held small readings of the play in Portland, Los Angeles, and Washington DC to receive additional feedback and notes. 

The show premiered at the Capital Fringe Festival in 2019 to glowing praise, and is being further developed for future festivals.

Our Team

Natasha Preston (Playwright, Performer, Co-choreographer) is an actress, playwright, and choreographer based in Washington DC. Her regional credits include work with TBD Immersive, Annapolis Shakespeare Company, LiveArt DC, Capital Fringe, and Maryland Ensemble Theater. Her New York credits include performing at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn with the In Scena Italian Theater Festival. She has completed internships with the Ojai Playwrights Conference, The Blank Theatre, and Skylight Theater in Los Angeles. She currently teaches playwriting with Acting for Young People and works in the administrative staff at Anacostia Playhouse. A current student at the Studio Acting Conservatory, she also has trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York, Gately/Poole Studio of Acting in Chicago, and at her alma mater Kenyon College. Her work can be found at natashapreston.net

Clancey Yovanovich (Director)

Ian Edwards (Choreographer)

Julia Colpitts (Stage Manager) is a D.C.-based stage manager, prop designer, and theater technician. Her favorite stage management credits include: Dead Dog’s Bone(Nu Sass), Grand Concourse(TheatreLAB, Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Best Play and Best Direction), and Dry Land(Stage Femmes). During their time at Kenyon, Julia had the honor of working with Natasha many times including her first stage management project!

Elizabeth Woolf (Music Arrangement)

Hannah Day Sweet (Poster Design)

For performance inquiries email natasha.a.preston@gmail.com

Conversations 2017

These pictures are from the sold out stage reading that took place at Kenyon College in 2017. The performance received a standing ovation.

Photos: Emma Brown

Directed by Amy Sheahan, Stage Managed by Megan Otto, with Mentorship by Benjamin Viccellio