Help Deliver 'Push, Mrs. Johnson' to the Fringe!

Hello!

We are Jessica Sroczynski and Shafer Ward. We are Jersey-born artists who since 2019 have been planning to bring our show "Push, Mrs. Johnson!" to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in the world. Years ago, we secured full funding for the 2020 Fringe, but COVID-19 canceled that year's festival for the first time in its storied history. Now, years later, battered and without those same streams of funding, we are determined to not give up on our goal and finally bring this show to the festival, four years later.

"Push, Mrs. Johnson!" is a comedy showcase that we originally premiered at Stand Up NY (with the help of Nicole Howell, thank you Nicole) to exhilarating results. The current mission of the show is to curate a progressive and everchanging hour of comedy every night that captures the excitement and chaotic energy of a live birth.

We have been hard at work to get this show off the ground and we finally have our logistics in place. Our show will run in primetime at Cocktail Mafia, a stone's throw from Edinburgh Castle, for the entire run of the 2023 Fringe. We have plans for housing and flights, and all of our logistical needs have a plan in place.

We also have our goals in place. Both of us care deeply about achieving this personal triumph, and proving that nothing can stop us. Jessica has worked with film festivals before, but is excited to learn about the world of live performance production, and to potentially keep the ball rolling domestically post-Fringe. Shafer has produced at the Fringe several times with the very talented FrancoDanger and Kate Nichols, but is looking towards his first Fringe since 2019 and hoping to use the largest comedy festival in the world to hone in his craft and redefine his comedic voice. Both of us see this opportunity as a massive and vital investment into our creative lives, as we both know that our purposes in this life are not strictly behind a desk.

The only thing we are missing is funding. We are investing as much as we personally can into making this dream a reality. Having said that, the ever-increasing costs of the festival, the logistics of travel/housing, mixed with the loss of income for the entire month of August is shaping up to be a huge hit for the both of us. That is why we need your help.

We would be grateful for anything you can give. The money would go straight to the expenses of the show. While we have done our best to make our technical needs as minimalistic as possible, we still need to pay Registration fees both through our producing agents and the festival itself. We also obviously need our housing/flight needs situated so that we can actually produce on the ground without being so saddled with debt that we can't market/book the show to the best of our abilities.

We want to thank you for considering taking part in our mission of producing our international comedy experience. We both know we're taking a big risk, and jumping headfirst in the direction of our passions without truly knowing what awaits us on the other side. Believing in ourselves is that much easier when you believe in us too. Thank you and please consider helping to bring "Push, Mrs. Johnson!" to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Best,

Jessica and Shafer