Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park: Annie Hendy's "A Catholic Girl's Guide to Losing Your Virginity"
Last-ditch efforts do sometimes pay off.
After graduating from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of music, Annie Hendy first moved to New York then to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actress.
But frankly, it wasn’t going so well for her.
“I was having a difficult time in L.A. getting any notice,” she said. “I couldn’t even get an agent.”
When a friend came out to visit her, she asked Hendy, “What are you doing here?” and tried to talk her into coming back home. Hendy persisted, reluctantly, and said she had one thing she wanted to do before she gave it up and came back home.
“From a moment of deep despair, I wrote a comedy,” she said. “Go figure.”
The result was “The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity,” which premiered at The Hudson Guild Theatre in Los Angeles last January for a sold-out 10-week run, and reprises last summer for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, where it played six sold out performances, selected as a “Pick of the Fringe” by audiences and was nominated for two Cincinnati Entertainment Awards.
“It brought me back,” Hendy said.
The play is about 24-year-old Lizzy, “a good Catholic girl” who realizes that her priest has a better sex life than she does. So Lizzy resolves to “do the deed” before her 25th birthday.
She learns that while it may sound easy, it’s not. Her quest for a handsome prince - someone special for her “first time” - leads instead to a plague of toads.
The script, Hendy said, is a collection of her best “party stories,” things that happened to her and to her friends all crammed into one play.
A native of Cincinnati, Hendy graduated from St. Ursula Academy. Inspired by an older cousin, Jessica Hendy, who has performed in several Broadway shows including eight years in the cast of “Cats” and in the touring production of “Miss Saigon,” Hendy’s interest in acting began with pre-teen classes at the Playhouse in the Park.
“So everything seems to have come full-circle,” she said.
WHO: “The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity” by Annie Hendy.
WHERE: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Eden Park, Cincinnati.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 8 p.m. Jan. 18-19; 4 and 9 p.m. Jan. 20; 2 and 7 p.m. Jan. 21.
COST: $30.
MORE INFO: (513) 421-3888; www.cincyplay.com.
