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"Dissolve" to be presented at United Solo Theatre Festival

Published by New Jersey Stage

originally published: 10/10/2022

(NEW YORK, NY) -- Ever woken up beside a stranger? What if it was planned that way? shameless hussy productions presents the critically acclaimed one-woman show Dissolve written by Meghan Gardiner and directed by shameless hussy productions’ co-artistic director Renee Iaci. The play takes place on Saturday, October 15 at 2:00pm as part of the United Solo Theatre Festival. It runs 45 minutes and will be followed by a talkback.

Dissolve confronts the topic of drink spiking and drug facilitated sexual assault. Responding to interest from schools and educators, Dissolve has toured to communities, colleges, universities and throughout North America for over a decade. Dissolve stars Emmelia Gordon who earned the Jessie Richardson Award “Outstanding Actress” for her performance in this role. 

Dissolve follows a college girl on a night out, moving back and forth from bedroom to bar scenes, morphing between a flurry of 16 characters, both comedic and compelling. Designed to provoke thought and dialogue about sexual consent, Dissolve challenges us to change our thinking and behavior surrounding alcohol, drugs and sexual assault.

Now Dissolve hits Theatre Row for its’ New York Off-Broadway premiere at United Solo - the world's largest solo festival. This seriously funny, yet brutally sobering play, by Meghan Gardiner captivates audiences with spot on satire while skewering attitudes around drug and alcohol facilitated sexual assault. Bring your teens, bring yourselves, and as one reviewer famously says "Give your teens consent to see Dissolve."

This play was created by Gardiner based on her lived experience while a university student in Vancouver Canada at the University of British Columbia. With the support and dramaturgy of UBC Theatre and Film Professor Stephen Heatley, the play was written and then first performed by Gardiner as a graduating project in her BFA Acting program. She subsequently toured with it until passing the baton to shameless hussy productions, who have so much demand for the production there are two actresses who tour separately in this 1 woman show – Emmelia Gordon and Lucy McNulty.




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Meghan Gardiner is an actor and playwright who has written plays two plays for shameless hussy, Love Bomb – a musical about the sex trafficking of youth, and the recently premiered To Perfection – a comedy about a Grandmother struggling to comprehend her grandchild as “gender fluid.” Gardener has written also for Green Thumb Theatre, Carousel Theatre, Gateway Theatre, and independently toured her one woman show Dissolve across North America for over twelve years. Meghan was nominated for the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards in 2011 and received the Sydney Risk Award for Emerging playwright at the 2012 Jessie Awards. She has written two screenplays; both garnering her screenwriting nominations at BC’s Leo Awards and she is currently working on commissions for both the Arts Club Theatre and Carousel Theatre. She can be seen on stage in Vancouver Canada in the Arts Club’s upcoming productions of The Sound of Music and The Cull, as well as on screen in various locally filmed TV shows. 

Founded in 1995 with a mandate of "telling provocative stories about women to inspire the hand that rocks the cradle to rock the world" Vancouver Canada’s shameless hussy productions puts HERSTORY to the forefront. They search for and create work that provokes a deeper understanding of women's past, present and potential and bring it roaring onto stages across Canada and the US. 

Photo Credit: Pink Monkey Studios




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