My overall impression
When I left the theater last weekend after seeing the indelible one-woman show Schachner vs. Schachner, I wanted to share what I just saw with my best friends, my sister, my high school locker-mate, my pharmacist, and HBO comedy executives if I knew any. There were no beverages sold at this theater, and good thing because the audience would be drenched in each other’s legitimate spit takes. Yes, it was that funny.
But the reason I want everyone to see it is because Abby Schachner truly puts her actual self out there, and what is revealed—in her dysfunctional, poignant, horrifying, shameless, hysterical, surprising, artful and vivid story—is a tremendously courageous and gifted artist. The sense I got that she hasn’t yet embraced her own comic genius only magnifies her vulnerability and appeal, and made me want to write a review of her show on Facebook, despite the fact that I normally don’t do that kind of thing. Or go to the theater much.
Abby Schachner is a star who doesn’t know she’s a star, who isn’t officially a star yet, but who I know I will see on a screen of some size or another and will say, “Oh, I saw her in a play where there were like 30 people in the audience and she greeted people as they were seated,” and my friends—as well as my locker-mate and pharmacist—will be jealous and disbelieving.
If you want to witness an exceptional personal triumph while being completely entertained, go see one of the just-extended shows of this one-human gem. Miss it at your own peril—or certainly that of fulfilling your life’s capacity for wonderful experiences.
