Violet and Me
Written and performed by Dorothy Lyman
Directed by Katie McHugh
Violet and Me was performed at Pleasance Courtyard - The Attic
as part of the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Before the fringe, the play was performed at 59E59 in New York
as part of their East to Edinburgh program.
A meditation on motherhood, feminism and fame, two-time Emmy award winner Dorothy Lyman premiers her story at this year's Fringe.
As she searches for her orphaned mother's heritage she finds herself in the bargain. Discover her journey as she tells it from her Midwestern childhood, through motherhood, her marriages, and her successful Hollywood career. Violet and Me places a microscope on the progression of gender equality since the 50s, questioning how far we've come.
As the director of hit sitcom The Nanny and
star of All my Children, Lyman's journey
is not one to miss this Fringe.
ABOUT THE TEAM
Dorothy Lyman
Dorothy Lyman is a two-time Emmy@ Award winning actress for her work as Opal Gardner on ABC’s ALL MY CHILDREN. She co-starred with Vicki Lawrence and Carol Burnett on MAMA’S FAMILY for 126 episodes. After a fifty year career, she has a long resume of guest starring roles on television series and in films. As a theatre director, Ms. Lyman produced and directed the original Off-Broadway production of John Ford Noonan’s A COUPLA WHITE CHICKS SITTING AROUND TALKING starring Susan Sarandon and Eileen Brennan, and the subsequent national tour starring Susan Anton and Elizabeth Ashley. She founded a waiver theatre space in Los Angeles, and produced three seasons of new American plays there. She directed Fran Drescher’s THE NANNY for 75 consecutive episodes, and is also a filmmaker of two independent films and one documentary about aging. Ms Lyman wrote her first play, A RAGE IN TENURE, in 1995. She wrote her second play, SOFT LANDING, 20 years later. Now there are three more, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, which is a prequel to WE HAVE TO HURRY, and VIOLET AND ME.
Katie McHugh
Katie McHugh is a New York based director, teacher and producer of theatre and film with a B.A. in Theatre from Florida State University and an MFA in directing from The New School for Drama. She is the Founding Director of the Southeastern Teen Shakespeare Company, Co-Founder of the Teen Shakespeare Conservatory at the Actors Movement Studio, and Co-Artistic Director of Les Exportables, theatre company in New York and Quebec. Katie is an award-winning director who specializes in devised and experimental theatre.