Katy White brings her one (or two)-woman show to the Unites Solo Theatre Festival

“I think we can all agree that this not how this story is supposed to go.”

Katy White is referring to only one of her anecdotes in Hi, My Name Is, but it could apply to her life in it’s entirely—and most of us watching it unfold can relate.

Written and starring White, the play is a harrowing but extremely amusing tale of a mind at war with itself. The energetic Katy throws on a shiny black trash bag In lieu of a new outfit, symbolizing the hot mess that she perceives her life to be. She regales the audience with the story of her tumultuous adventures—only to be taken over at regular intervals by Katherine, her prim and proper “other” personality.  “The ‘refined’ part of this whole thing,’ as Katherine puts it. “The one that just keeps Katy from crying—about everything.” 

Katherine first manifested when Katy was seven years old, with a plan to create order and reason out of the emerging chaos of Katy’s young life. The two fight for their points-of-view in a breathtaking display of acting prowess by the astonishing White.

Katy holds nothing back, much to the chagrin of the ever-appalled Katherine. She tells a detailed and intense story of a Holland pub crawl that leads to a sloppy one-night stand, which ends in everyone’s biggest nightmare – using the suitor’s bathroom and having the toilet not flush. The situation quickly escalates to the absurd and hilarious—let’s just say that in this one instance, Katy does indeed “give a crap”.

Audience participation is encouraged by both Katy and Katherine; they engage with the onlookers directly and ask their opinions on their decades-long battle for dominance. At one unsettling moment Katy has the playgoers chant the word “rape” over and over with her, which has the effect of pulling them into the utter horror of the act and of her own deep-set trauma.

The audience is pulled in ever deeper into this psychological minefield, until Katy and Katherine ask them to literally vote on which personality should take full charge of their existence; the results are varied and fascinating. In the end, Katy/Katherine finally realize that the only answer is to embrace every aspect of not only themselves, but the totality of this mad, moving, insane existence; and to just accept it for what it is—a messy but remarkable journey that we must own and celebrate.

Hi, My Name Is is directed by Alicia Lion Januzzi.