Help Ariela make the Bed at Edinburgh Festival Fringe!

“If there’s nothing else you can do in a day, at least make the bed. Then you can say you accomplished one thing.”

- my mom, Joan K. Rosen

“... and if you can’t do that... then you’re f*cked.”

- me

As some of you may know, for the past 16 months, I have been in Glasgow following my passion for theatre by pursuing an MFA Acting degree at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). My MFA project was a solo show based on my own experience with anxiety.

Anxiety is something that I have been dealing with for most of my adult life. But, it reached a new peak during my time at RCS in June of 2023 when I had a bed bug scare in my flat. For the first time in my artistic career, I felt compelled to create, devise, and perform a piece on my own: a piece that explores what it’s like when your thoughts consume you whole. When black and white thinking takes over. When you have anxiety. And what it can feel like to sit with that anxiety in real time. And how to maybe, just maybe, go towards the grey.

That piece is make the Bed. In showing my own struggle with mental illness, particularly anxiety, I wanted to create a piece in which other anxious people could see their own experiences reflected. For those who do not live with anxiety themselves, I hope my piece will offer them a glimpse into how difficult it can be. At its core, make the Bed is my call to open the door a bit wider on these conversations, so we can reduce the stigma around mental health struggles.

After performing make the Bed as my MFA thesis, I was strongly encouraged to apply to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest festival of new work world-wide. I was accepted at ZOO Venues, a top-tier venue specializing in new, devised, and physical theatre. I will have a 15-performance run from 11 August – 25 August (inclusive) from 11:50-12:50pm each day. Here is the listing of make the Bed on the EdFringe website!

I am turning to you, my community, for support to bring make the Bed to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe! Performing at Fringe would enable me to share this piece with a wider, more international, more diverse audience. It’s a priority for me to connect with community-based organizations that support those struggling with mental health. Beyond Fringe, I hope to perform make the Bed at schools, public libraries, and theatre companies in the United States, particularly in New York (where I live).

But performing at Fringe is expensive: the venue, registration fee, production team, flyers to advertise one’s show, accommodation, etc. So, I would really appreciate any amount you could contribute to support my bringing make the Bed to Fringe!

To give you an idea, here is a bit more about some of the things I need to fund:

Thank you very much for reading (or skimming) this and for considering donating to support me. It means the world.

Below is an 8-minute selection of clips from make the Bed.