Portland, Oregon based artist and award-winning contemporary dancer, Andrea Parson, presents a unique blend of physical storytelling and comedy in her solo show, You Can’t Be Serious.
The journey of this show is extraordinary and unique. After Andrea’s loss of her sister to cancer in 2020 she decided, bravely, to turn this deeply personal tragedy into art. In 2021 she was accepted into a residency program with Portland based non-profit, From the Ground UP, an organization that supports the development of female and fem identifying artists and aims to create risky new art. Over the next few years Andrea worked closely with From the Ground UP’s artistic director, Katherine Murphy Lewis, who also was going through her own journey of loss of her father to cancer, who passed away in 2022, just months before the workshop in performance hit the stage. These two continued to collaborate and have gone on to create what has become a profoundly moving new work that places grief center stage.
In November 2023 the world premier of You Can’t Be Serious was met with sold out shows and rave reviews at BodyVox Dance Center in Portland, Oregon. After such a run it became clear this show had quite the life ahead of it. From the Oregon Fringe in Ashland last spring to Hollywood Fringe (LA) this past summer, You Can’t Be Serious is currently in the process of realizing a national tour to be completed spring of 2025.
This Fall You Can’t Be Serious will be presented at New York City’s 42nd street as a part of the largest curated festival of solo work in the world, United Solo. The show is intimate, relying on audience interplay and participation. This particular story finds its footing in the fall, a fitting season, which is a time of grief, a time to honor the beloved souls who have crossed the threshold between life and death.
The show will be debuting in NYC at United Solo Festival on November 15th along with another show on Saturday, November 16th at 3:30pm! For more information, visit andreaparson.com. For tickets, please visit https://festival.unitedsolo.org/show/1722896579731×941931201867284500