I recently drove six hours to Los Angeles to see my friend Abby Schachner’s latest one-woman show, Schachner vs. Schachner, part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. It was worth it.

The “feel-bad comedy of the summer,” as it’s billed, is about a doctor accused, tried and acquitted of hiring a hit man to kill his ex-wife – setting up a unique family dynamic that would play out for years to come. The twist? It’s true – and Abby, their daughter, has been saddled with a supporting role since childhood.

Credit: Abby Schachner

Disclosure: The artist and I share a home town. I don’t remember the events portrayed in Schachner vs. Schachner, but my mother does. I also helped her with some Internet research, though I don’t know if – at the time – she was planning on turning it into a show. The bottom line is, my perception of the show is bound to be different from that of somebody hearing the story cold.

That said, Abby does a good job of laying out the facts, complete with props and slide projections.

The subtext, as she put it recently on Facebook, is: “Adult daughter tries to figure out what the hell happened between her parents and realizes, despite everything she’s been told and everything she remembers (not to mention evidence, transcripts, tapes, etc.), she’ll never know the truth. … Oh, and then I murder the story from my life, sort of.”

Yes, the audience is Abby’s foil as she exorcises the trauma of her childhood and teenage years. And that’s okay. A veteran of improv comedy, Abby has come to appreciate the absurdities and ironies of the story – which enables her to reward the audience with well-paced laughs amid the drama. (The day I attended, she also rewarded the audience with tasty, home-made chocolate-chip cookies!) As in past shows, her comedy trends toward the physical – from conversing with spaghetti that represents her brain to channeling her days has a high school cheerleader.

Co-directed by J Warner, Schachner vs. Schachner received an Encore Producer Award from the festival, which earned it two additional performances – Saturday, July 12, at 7 p.m. and Thursday, July 24, at 8 p.m. – in a larger venue, Theater Asylum. It’s an hour well spent.

 ###

Stuart J. Robinson practices writing, editing, media relations and social media through his business, Phoenix-based Lightbulb Communications.

Tags: Abby Schachner, Hollywood Fringe Festival, J Warner, Schachner vs. Schachner