Links:
http://www.hgfairfieldarts.org/
Yahoo.com sports news – fat comments of aussie swimmer
Huffingtonpost.com Leisel jones australian olympic swimmer body criticism
Yahoo.com news – gymnast gabby douglas criticized
Scallywagandvagabond.com – Gold medal gymnast depicted as a monkey
Turning a Spotlight on the Positive
Sept. 4, 2012 Kent Lakes, NY
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This is the second Labor Day Weekend that Ashley White of Hopewell Junction hasn’t been with her parents and family. Ashley and her older sister used to come to my son’s high school get-togethers at our house. I could hear the laughing & challenging & loud music & call-outs of kids having fun. Ashley liked to come to our house; we had rules – the kids all knew me from subbing in Carmel Schools. She had fun here, too. Not so everywhere. Ashley White left behind a note. The neighborhood says Ashley couldn’t take the teasing about being fat any more; she said no one heard her.
“SCARED SKINNY” with Mary Dimino is about a girl who grew up fat, funny and afraid in an Italian family from Queens, who now proclaims it, one hundred and fifteen pounds lighter & alone, in front of the footlights & flash bulbs of the world. Her voice got attention as Winner of the NY International Fringe Best Solo Show. Winner of the Gracie Allen Award she is seen on David Letterman, HBO’s Chris Rock Show, in the hit play, “Tony & Tina’s Wedding,” and much more.
So why is H. G. Fairfield Arts getting involved by presenting SCARED SKINNY? Because the NYS Health Dept. lists over 6000 kids aged 10-24 hospitalized due to suicide and self-inflicted injuries; more than 354 died, multiplied by the communities & families grieving, equals a need to be filled. I was at Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Church with 15 year old Ashley White, surrounded by her family and friends. I vowed to make sure Ashley’s voice would be heard.
From H. G. Fairfield Arts’ work with Veterans, and my own work with survivors of domestic violence, we know the issues of not being heard; the blinding hopelessness & feelings of isolation are also in other sectors of our communities. We aim to shine a spotlight on those places where kids and others feel alone. It’s what our Grandmas used to tell us when we came home crying
from the bullies – to turn adversity into personal success: “Consider the source! Pity the person; rise above!” But now the bullying messages are imbedded in the media; calling the Australian swimmer & 8-time Olympic medalist Liesel Jones fat? Bad hair commentary and a nasty NBC monkey ad dominating Gabby Douglas’ historic gold medal? Now Grandma’s neighborhood threat is a pervasive culture of media bullying. If all else fails, we were taught to make a spectacle before everyone and God, before we let anyone hurt us, our siblings, or our friends.
Bring on the Spectacle! H. G.’s legacy bequeathed to us is “See a need; fill it.” To promote the creation, practice, and performance of art, culture, & recreation means to inspire, give a voice, transform a life. To work within our communities links us together with multi-generational activities in laughter, maybe some tears. Big spotlights, stage lights, press attention, radio interviews can be concentrated on the positive in all of this jumble, on presenting very publicly more coping skills & options.
H. G. Fairfield Arts, along with Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, is proud to present a fat girl’s voice from Queens in “SCARED SKINNY” with Mary Dimino on Sunday September 9th. Come learn more about our Media Arts Workshop and resources in your local communities. Mary invites; “Come laugh your fat off in Woodstock!”
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For more information please contact
Kim Blacklock
at 845-363-1559 or email Exec@HGFairfieldArts.org
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Links:
SCARED SKINNY: a one (hundred pound lighter) woman show
written & performed by Mary Dimino
Winner of The 2010 New York International Fringe Festival Best Solo Show Award
Winner 2010 MAC Award for Outstanding Female Comedian
Winner 2008 Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding PBS Documentary
For more information contact:
Kim Blacklock, President of H. G. Fairfield Arts Center for the Environment
Email Office@HGFairfieldArts.org or call 845-363-1559 (office)
Skinny Athletes or Fat Heros? Mary Dimino on Bearsville’s Woodstock stage Sept 9th with
“SCARED SKINNY:
a one-(hundred pound lighter)-woman show”.
24 August 2012. Brewster, NY
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Weight is such an issue today, that even Olympic female athletes are called fat. Mary Dimino is a renowned standup comedian who has triumphed over the difficulties of growing up a fat, afraid Italian girl in Queens. Today Dimino is 115 pounds lighter and is an independent and successful entertainer, playwright, actor, and producer in the highly competitive fields of Comedy, Film, & Television. Founder of H. G. Fairfield Arts Kathie F. Freston explains: “Mary Dimino is an excellent role model and an epitome of how to overcome hardships; she is a heroine journeying her way towards health and self-acceptance.” H. G. Fairfield Arts is very proud to present “SCARED SKINNY: a one-(hundred pound lighter)-woman show” written and performed by Mary Dimino, in a 3pm matinee performance in Woodstock, NY’s famous Bearsville Theater Sunday September 9th, 2012.
President of H. G. Fairfield Arts, Kim Blacklock, relates, “We take H. G.’s motto of ‘See a need? Fill it,’ quite literally and we are creating programs to help fill some needs.” The 6’7” 280 lb female Blacklock continues: “We have had quite a few Hudson Valley teen girls commit suicide due to the bullying about their weight. We’d like to change that.” Dr. Brad Johnson, author of the best-selling book The Edutainer , declares “ ‘SCARED SKINNY’ is a significant show for our times. It provides
audiences an understanding of what it is like to be an overweight woman in today’s society….Weight-bias is the final frontier.” Weight Watchers are invited to have their next meeting or Jenny Craig their gathering Sunday September 9th in Woodstock! Mary Dimino’s show “SCARED SKINNY” will enlighten, inspire, surprise and can help girls, women, boys, & men on our own funny paths to self-love. Skinny Athletes or Fat Heroes? Questions for a late summer afternoon inWoodstock.
“SCARED SKINNY” with Mary Dimino, directed by Christine Renee Miller, in its world premiere was Winner of the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival’s Overall Excellence Award for Outstanding Solo Show. Mary Dimino is Winner of the 2010 MAC Awardfor Outstanding Female Comedian. She is also Winner of the 2008 Gracie Allen Award presented by American Women in Radio and Television for “exemplary contributions of individuals who have encouraged the realistic and faceted portrayals of women in entertainment, commercials, and featured programming.” With an angelic smile and a tough New York-Italian attitude, Mary Dimino tells it like it is, making her a favorite headliner seen across the nation, while also opening for the likes of Jeanine Garafolo, Ray Romano, and Richard Belzer. What the Press is saying:
- “She shares her story of weight loss and maturation with riotously funny delivery…a natural comedic performer.” —The Wall Street Journal
- “Utterly captivating….Dimino captures the essence of this struggle with humor and honesty like I’ve never seen before. Definitely catch this one.” —nytheatre.com
- “Sensationally riveting…. indisputably magical. Yes, it’s just THAT fantastic.” —Nite Life Exchange
- “Dimino creates an atmosphere of good will and cheer that wins the audience, who root for her through and through.” —Show Business Weekly
Mary Dimino’s performance credits include among others Comedy Central, VH-1, HBO’s Chris Rock Show, NBC’s Today Show, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Saturday Night Live, interstitial stand-up for American Movie Classics Network,
“Polly” on New York Undercover, and dozens of national commercials. Her stand-up was featured on Comedy Central’s Short Attention Span Theater, Mary won their Comedy Boot Camp competition, and she is the series studio warm-up act for Comedy Central’s The Graham Norton Effect. Mary Dimino was or is featured in The New York Underground Comedy Festival, Toyota Comedy Festival, Staten Island Comedy Festival, The Italian Chicks Comedy Tour, and Ladies of Laughter. Mary is a contributing writer for the nationally syndicated website dietdective.com as well as for various t.v. shows, including the award-winning PBS documentary “Fat: What No one Is Telling You”, in which she also had a starring role. Mary Dimino’s off-Broadway credits include the inaugural All For One Theater Festival, the musical “Surprise,” and playing “Connie the Maid of Honor” in the hit-show Tony and Tina’s Wedding.
H. G. Fairfield Arts is best known for their October 2011 Mid-Hudson Valley comedy marathon benefiting local veterans – “30 Shows in 30 Days – Courage Continues At Home” with national headliner & Brewster Navy veteran, PJ Walsh. H. G. Fairfield Arts has gone on to sponsor the 2nd Annual Athena Film Festival at Barnard College, to sponsor Pawling Public Radio’s programming including helping to producePPR’s Theater Hour, and to host Palisade NY’s Shakespearean troupe, Strange Bedfellows, in Pawling, NY’s Lakeside Park performing a 1960’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The 12th Annual Chief Nimham Veterans Memorial PowWow in Kent, NY, also has benefited from H. G. Fairfield’s friendship and mission of “promoting the creation, practice, and performance of arts, culture, and recreation.”
It may or may not be the start of a Fat Olympics Movement, but “SCARED SKINNY” is a powerful example of how one woman uses adversity to fuel rather than hamper her success. ‘SCARED SKINNY’ in Bearsville this Sunday September 9th at 3pm is brought to you by H. G. Fairfield Arts’ Media Workshop. Potential students or interested instructors for H. G. Fairfield Arts’ ongoing Media [Training] Workshop can email Office@HGFairfieldArts.org for more information. Show your Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Boys & Girls Club, or Gym membership card for discount at the door. Show is for adults to 15 year-olds.
Stay tuned for more deals, packages, & fun offers from Woodstock merchants…. See you in Woodstock Sunday September 9th, 2012 for one more day of summer & “Scared Skinny” in Bearsville!
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