Artist, storyteller, actress, researcher, and strategist Kristina Libby brings her solo show, I Almost Died for This?! to Edinburgh Fringe this year.
“I Almost Died for This?! is a one-woman show about a good girl who meets her soulmate, gets in way over her head, suffers a brain injury, and comes roaring back. Kristina Libby has been published in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Elle, and appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS.”
Where: Space 1 at theSpace on the Mile
When: 7-29 Aug
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/i-almost-died-for-this-a-love-story-sort-of
What can you tell us about your show?
It’s made to make you laugh, make you tear up, and give you something to chew on as you leave.
Some describe it as a show about connection, loss, and love. And it is about the myths that we believe and those that oppress us. But it is also very funny, and charming, and it is a perfect show for women, particularly those who have always been raised to be a good girl and have struggled with that pressure their whole life.
It’s also for those who feel called to art, or to kitesurfing. Although I imagine the kitesurfing segment of the Fringe attendees is small!
What is it about and where did the idea come from?
It’s an autobiographical solo show, and I felt that I had to write it. I had lived through a few really wild experiences, and I didn’t know how to make sense of them at first. I started originally writing a memoir, and I couldn’t nail the ending because I didn’t really know why what had happened to me had happened to me.
It took me a really long time to figure out that this show is in some way about the rules that allow for the patriarchy and the stories that we believe to be true until we find out the really hard way that they aren’t.
For me, I believed a lot of stories about love and soulmates and who I had to be in order for people to love me. And I had so much riding on this story because I hoped that I could find the perfect person, and then I could finally be safe and free.
In coming to terms with all of this, I actually did a huge body of research about soulmates and was really fascinated to find that 25% of people feel like they meet their soulmate, and it doesn’t work out.
That was a story that I didn’t know even existed. In some ways, my show is about meeting your soulmate and it not working out, but the impact of that was that I almost died, and then I had to recover, while having to rebuild an understanding about the world that could allow me to feel safe and loved.
In that sense, it’s a love story about rebelling against the prevailing narrative and finding so much more than you were ever promised. I believe we need more stories about love where things don’t work out, but great things happen.
I am here at Fringe because of a romance gone awry, and also because I built a global art movement and have changed my life in so many wonderful and profound ways. We so rarely tell the story about the profound growth that can come, or about how perhaps a soulmate story gone wrong could be exactly the soulmate story one really needs.
But, its also funny. I promise.
How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph?
I’d ask All About Solo to do that. Their 5-star review said, “If only we could all have Kristina Libby’s heart. ….A tender and quietly powerful piece about love, loss, and choosing connection over isolation.”
Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe?
Yes, I came last year as an audience member and am psyched to be coming back as a performer!
And do you have any moments you particularly remember?
At the end of How I Fed My Dad to A Pelican, the performer [Kayleigh Jones] did a rap with a pelican stuffed animal that I think about at least weekly. It was so unexpected and funny. And she said, “I’m thinking about cutting that bit.” And I was so taken with the need for it to be there that I reached out and told her I loved it. And she was so nice back. I’ve followed her career since then and hope she brings a new story back to Fringe!
What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh?
The shows!! (Of course!!) But also, the people! Some of the food! The whole experience is a delight.
I have a few friends with shows that I hope people love, and I’m excited to check out too, including Stay (5-30 Aug, Gilded Balloon Patter House); Once Upon a Wall Street (5-30 Aug, Gilded Balloon Teviot); How To Poop In An Outhouse at -58°C (7-29 Aug, Ivy Studio at Greenside George Street); and Drew Lausch’s Friendliest (Nook at Gilded Balloon Teviot, 5-31 Aug).
What’s next for the show?
First up, I’m performing in NYC at 59E59th Theaters on July 15, 18, and 23rd (sold out) as part of their East to Edinburgh showcase. Then I’m in talks to take the show to Seattle in October.
I’m also working with a producer on turning it into a film or show. And, I’d love to tour it around and give new audiences a chance to discover it.