Lauren LoGiudice’s Queens Girl

A coming-of-age one-woman show about a girl from Queens

Lauren LoGiudice is one cultured lady. This pixie like actor/model has traveled across the globe, working and performing in such varied places as San Francisco, Bombay, and sun-washed Italy. Of course she hasn’t always been so worldly. Lauren grew up right here in New York City, but not in among the cultured, cosmopolitan elite of Manhattan. Rather, Lauren came of age in the decidedly more provincial Italian neighborhood of Howard Beach, Queens. Ms. LoGiudice has turned these experiences into the one woman show Queens Girl, running at Stage Left Studio January 29th – 31st, with a special preview performance Friday, January 23rd.

“It is a coming-of-age tale,” says Lauren. “My characters are not clearly wrong or right. They obviously care about me, but are limited by their provincialism. They want to understand and finally do in their own way.” The often hilarious show has Lauren transforming into her confused mother, bitter sister, old-school grandparents and some hard-coiffed Queens folk. Lauren weaves her story with an irony that makes you cringe, sympathize and laugh. She distills each character with blunt humor, showing how Howard Beach small-mindedness drove her to an expansive world view.

Breaking free of her small-minded neighborhood, the show follows Lauren as she floats though the ‘rugby years’ at a New England college, discovers drag in San Francisco, and finally embraces her inner flamboyance at Bombay fashion week. However, no matter how far her adventures take her Lauren will always call New York home. “I love performing this show in the places where some of the events take place-it always feels different and I gain some perspective on the characters,” says LoGiudice. Though tempted to hoist her anchor permanently while recently working in Italy, Lauren says that she was “compelled to come back to New York because of the opportunity to perform this show,” continuing, “The story is important to me and I think worth putting out there as much as possible.”

Stage Left Studio, 438 W 37th Street, 5A, New York, www.stageleftstudio.net. Tickets: $18 at the door. For tickets: www.smarttix.com or call 212-868-4444. Or visit www.laurenlogiudice.com  for details!


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