HereWeAre Season 2 Episode 1 with Lauren Yee /  by Francesca McKenzie

Francesca is now a co-Host of the HereWeAre podcast. Check out her first interview with playwright Lauren Yee. Just before the pandemic, Lauren Yee’s CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND—winner of the Horton Foote Prize—ranked among the top ten most produced plays in America. To kick off the second season of the HereWeAre Spotlight podcast, Yee joins fellow San Franciscan Francesca Fernandez to explore the complexities of "Americanism." They discuss how her latest work, MOTHER RUSSIA, marks a return to a communist setting, fuelled by Yee’s signature sharp and brilliantly witty humour.

Podcast Producers | Francesca Fernandez & Desmond Chewyn
Glamsquad | ‪Akyiaa Wilson
Special thanks to Emily Chackerian and the wonderful team at Signature Theatre Company.

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The Heart Sellers at Studio Theatre DC EXTENDS to November 2! /  by Francesca McKenzie

Catch me in The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh at Studio Theatre in D.C., now extended due to popular demand till November 2!

Left to right: Danilo Gambini, Francesca Fernandez, Jeena Yi, and Lloyd Suh. Photo Credit: Sarah J.

THE HEART SELLERS
By Lloyd Suh
Directed by Danilo Gambini
September 24-November 2, 2025

Featuring:
Luna | Francesca Fernandez
Jane | Jeena Yi

Production Team:
Set Designer | Marcelo Martínez García
Costume Designer | Helen Q. Huang
Lighting Designer | Minjoo Kim
Sound Designer | Liam Bellman-Sharpe
Dialect Coach | Joy Lanceta Coronel
Intimacy and Fight Consultant | Jenny Male
Dramaturg | Adrien-Alice Hansel
Production Stage Managers | Anthony O. Bullock & Ebony Gennes
Casting | Katja Zarolinski, CSA

📸DJ Corey Photography

About the Show:
Luna, an outgoing immigrant from the Philippines, and the more cautious Jane, recently arrived from South Korea, meet in a near-empty grocery store on Thanksgiving Day, 1973. Their husbands are working. Alone in a country they don’t know, they join forces to celebrate Thanksgiving together. Over wine and a stubbornly frozen turkey, these new Americans and even newer friends discuss Soul Train and Jane Fonda, chart the shape of their homesickness, and consider the cost of pursuing an American dream.
Tickets

Reviews:
"Luna’s [Francesca Fernandez] monologue about losing a part of herself between borders — a dilemma that’s shaped my family in many ways — struck me with aching clarity." - The Washington Post

“Luna feels most acutely caught in the middle of here and there, especially the sacrifice of proximity to culture and family that often comes with immigration, and [Francesca] Fernandez mines that feeling to great effect… Fernandez’s performance is especially gut-wrenching." - Washington City Paper

"The two-women play opens with Luna, Francesca Fernandez, a young Filipina, excitedly inviting Jane, Jeena Yi, a young Korean, into her apartment on Thanksgiving Day, 1973. Both are really talented actors....You start laughing right away as Luna, who is garrulous and goofy, talks a mile a minute." - The Georgetown Dish

"...features two splendid actresses [Francesca Fernandez and Jeena Yi] who pirouette flawlessly throughout this one-act drama, fleshing out their characters with heartwarming hilarity and depth." - DC Theater Arts

Cast & Creative Teams Announced For South Carolina New Play Festival /  by Francesca McKenzie

The South Carolina New Play Festival (SCNPF) has announced the full casting and creative teams for its 2025 season, taking place August 7-10.  SCNPF is a festival like no other, presenting a multi-day lineup of developmental readings of new plays and musicals, outdoor variety shows and street fairs, cabarets, workshops and masterclasses, and a musical theater scholarship contest that transforms Greenville into a hub of theatrical innovation from Thursday, August 7, to Sunday, August 10. 

Mariah, or the Passageway, a poignant and compelling new play by Rachel Bonds (NY: Jonah) will be directed by Linsay Firman. The production will be led by Francesca Fernandez as Mariah (Steppenwolf: Bald Sisters), with Daniel Abeles (NY: Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again), Nate Miller (BWAY: Peter and the Starcatcher), Ariel Woodiwiss (NY: Goodnight Nobody, Ultimate Beauty Bible), Chip Egan, Marshall Spann, and Mimi Wyche. Jamaica Brewster will read stage directions. 

The South Carolina New Play Festival is helmed by Executive Director, West Hyler, and Artistic Director, Shelley Butler.  Casting is by Geoff Josselson, C.S.A. 

Broadway World Press Release.

Exotic Deadly: or the MSG Play - 2 WEEKS LEFT! /  by Francesca McKenzie

Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play at SF Playhouse February 5-March 8, 2025
By Keiko Green • Directed by Jesca Prudencio

It’s 1999, and Ami is an awkward Asian American high schooler whose world comes crashing down with a terrible discovery: her family is responsible for manufacturing MSG, the mysterious ingredient getting all the kids hooked! Meanwhile, a cool new girl arrives from Japan, and she’s not playing by the rules. In Keiko Green’s new play, Ami vows to redeem her family name and save the world from MSG. This whimsical, time-traveling adventure is a riotous and hilarious romp through wild teenaged crushes, family legacies, and the magical properties of instant ramen!

Reviews:


”Embodying MSG as a human character, played by Francesca Fernandez…encapsulate how MSG and by extension immigrants from Asia have had to stretch and warp themselves in different ways over time to pursue white American acceptance.” SF Chronicle

"....there are excellent performances. Most of the cast play multiple roles; all have perfect comic timing... Francesca Fernandez as tough, influential new-girl-in-school Betsy finds clever nuances. " - SF Gate

"The character most interesting to the story is Exotic Deadly, taken on by Francesca Fernandez. Just notice the way Exotic bursts through the doors with unapologetic ferocity, only to be ripped down by society as she quietly moves back to her perceived place in the world. She lives in a duality, initially shattering the model minority myth while being forced to retreat all the while as time marches forward." - Marin Independent Journal

Production Team:


EXOTIC DEADLY: OR THE MSG PLAY
By Keiko Green
Directed by Jesca Prudencio
Assistant Director: Nick Ishimaru
Stage Management: Ada May, Kaya Lehr-Love , Sam Hattersley, Justin Hammer
Set: Heather Kenyon
Lights: Michael Oesch
Sound: James Ard
Costumes: Kathleen Qiu
Wigs: Amber loudermilk
Props: Laurel Enos
Fight Choreography: Phil Wong
Casting: R. Réal Vargas Alania (Casting Collective)
Trailer: Adam Elder Montanaro
Photos: Jessica Palopoli

Cast:
Ana Ming Bostwick-Singer
Francesca Fernandez
James Aaron Oh
Nicole Tung
Phil Wong
Edric Young

Understudies:
Dian Sitip Meechai
Thomas Nguyen
Vivienne Truong
Nico Jaochico

House of Telescopes at A.R.T./NY produced by Pipeline Theatre Co. runs till April 21 /  by Francesca McKenzie

House of Telescopes by Kairos Looney
Directed by Lyam B. Gabel
Original Music by Aya Aziz
April 2-28, A.R.T./NY

“House of Telescopes features a strong ensemble embodying a wonderful mosaic of identity, journey, discovery, and knowledge…House of Telescopes is a beautiful piece, wonderfully designed and fabulously performed and crafted.  Filled to the brim with questions and experiences around trans identity, it is universal in its message of acceptance, love, and embracing every piece of yourself to truly find the beautiful and unique you.” - Brittany Crowell, Front Row Center

Get comp tickets for all performances here!

PC: Marcus Middleton

See JONAH at Roundabout Theater Company February 29 at the Laura Pels! /  by Francesca McKenzie

Thursday, February 29 at 7p, Francesca will be performing her understudy track in JONAH by Rachel Bonds and directed by Danya Taymor at Roundabout Theater Company. She will cover the Tony nominated actor Gabby Beans in her extraordinary portrayal of Ana at the Laura Pels Theater (111 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036). The show is a NYT Times Critics Pick and runs till March 10! Learn more about this “absorbing, always-fascinating new play” below:

NYT Review: In ‘Jonah,’ Trust Nothing, and No One

Show Score: List or Reviews for JONAH

Ms. Holmes & Ms Watson - Apartment 2B by Kate Hamill at the Dorset Theatre Festival /  by Francesca McKenzie

Currently runs August 11 - 26 at the Dorset Theatre Festival.

Fast-paced and wildly entertaining, this brilliantly theatrical take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth and sidekick re-examines the classic adventure stories you love through a bold new female lens. In this highly theatrical, small-cast escapade, oddball female roommates Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Joan Watson join forces to emerge from the pandemic fog as a deeply codependent, quasi-dysfunctional, Odd Couple adventure duo… careening from caper to caper until they come face to face with a supervillain who seems to have all of the answers. Get ready for a rollicking murder mystery that packs in non-stop laughs and hijinks galore!

"Francesca Fernandez’ plays her as a sexy and sultry femme fatale who lights up the stage with her sexiness and bawdy wit.... Ensemble work is excellent throughout.” - Rutland Herald

"Francesca Fernandez is truly marvelous and inventive in a trio of roles. As Sherlock’s housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson, she is in a continual farcical panic. As the mysterious Mrs. Drebber she fully embraces a Jekyll/Hyde character. Fernandez is outstanding as the famous Holmes character, Irene Adler—she is completely in control of a character who is glamourous, sexy, and lethal."  - Berkshire On Stage

“It seems to me that she never for even a moment was still on the stage, but physically kept being seductive and comical and raw, all at the same time. I loved this actress’s work." - The Berkshire Edge


CAST

SARA HAIDER: Sherlock Holmes
NESSA NORICH: Joan Watson
MICHAEL FREDERIC: Lestrade/Moriarty/Monk
FRANCESCA FERNANDEZ: Irene Adler/Mrs. Drebber/ Mrs. Hudson

PRODUCTION TEAM

KATE HAMILL (Playwright)
ANEESHA KUDTARKAR (Director)
SARAH KARL (Scenic Design)
MARIKO OHIGASHI (Costume Design)
JACKIE FOX (Lighting Design)
MICHAEL COSTAGLIOLA (Sound Design)
CHARLOTTE BYDWELL (Movement Director)
JUDY BOWMAN, CSA (Casting Director)
ROBBIE ARMSTRONG III (Stage Manager)