Email:neill@outloudculture.com
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Nicole Travolta’s hit one woman show is headed to NYC in the new year with a two week run in February at the SOHO Playhouse! Hot off of a successful run (including five star reviews) at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival in Scotland as well as sold out shows in Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, Nicole is ecstatic to bring the show to the city.
“Doing Alright” (trailer HERE) is a lively and unique account of her life as a compulsive shopper who freed herself from debt and shame (and the weight of a famous last name) by a bizarre, real-life journey through the world of spray tanning. Surprisingly, it was a job she loved, and her impressions will introduce some of the eccentric characters she met to her audiences. (Travolta’s social media shares hilarious impressions of Sex and the City characters, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Coolidge, Elizabeth Holmes and more). Through humor, Travolta lightens issues such as debt, depression, divorce, addiction and female empowerment—all of which Travolta has experienced first-hand. And she tells how this journey helped her find herself once more.
Hi Nicole, welcome to OLC! So how did this all start for you, and how did you gravitate towards the entertainment industry?
Thank you so much for having me!
It sounds so cliche, but this is truly all I’ve ever wanted to do. I loved performing as a kid, and I begged my parents to let me be a child star. They wouldn’t let me since they had such an understanding of the business and how tough it was. I spent years forcing my family to watch me put on shows in our living room, and then having them give me an Oscar, which was a post it note, for my performances.
There is something about becoming different characters that is so thrilling to me. As I got older the drive to be in this business never left me. Being an actor is the most unstable career you could possibly ever choose, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to perform and make people laugh. You almost have to be delusional to maintain your sanity. No matter how many times I heard the word “no”, I still believed that I could do it.
Can you share more about the inspiration behind “Doing Alright” and what led you to create a one-woman show centered around your personal experiences?
The shows I’ve seen that I love the most are the ones that are pulled from personal experiences. Vulnerability and relatability are my favorite performances to watch. In the thick of my rock bottom, I never thought any of this would be “funny material” because it was so emotionally painful, but when I really started to heal, I looked at it from a different view point. A lot of the topics in my show aren’t talked about all that much. I had all these stories from my life, and when I approached my director and co-writer, Lauren Burns, about the idea…her jaw was on the ground. I think I wrote over 100 pages of material and then we broke it down to what we thought would work on stage. Lauren kept telling me “this is going to resonate with so many people” and I almost didn’t believe it. When it did, I was blown away. I still am!
For me the show has helped me push past a lot of fears. I’m extremely proud of it!
How did the unique theme of spray tanning play a role in your journey of overcoming debt and shame? What made you decide to incorporate it into the narrative?
When I was going through my divorce and all of my financial problems were coming to a head, I took a job as a spray tanner. I was starting to do really well as an actor prior to this, but the debt was piling up and I was living so beyond my means with heaps of “mall” debt. This job is the very thing that helped me stand on my own two feet for the first time in my life. I was able to get out of my debt via spray tanning. I was able to find my voice, and strip myself of all the material things I was hiding behind.
I incorporated spray tanning into the show because it truly was the most absurd job. The clients I met along the way were so over the top. It was like its own comedy show. So being at this rock bottom that I was swimming in, and doing this job, it went hand in hand to tell my story. It also gave me the opportunity to incorporate a lot of character and impressions into my show, which is my love!
Your show covers a range of topics, including debt, depression, divorce, addiction, and female empowerment. How do you navigate blending humor with these serious and personal themes?
Honesty. I am fully honest up on that stage. And never falling victim to anything I’ve gone through. Comedy is tragedy, so they say. And after doing this show so many times I really believe that. I sometimes feel naked when I’m standing up there because it’s all so personal to me. The connection to the audience and talking directly to them almost makes it feel like they are all on my couch. When people relate to one another, magic happens. Women especially feel a lot of shame around these topics. I know I did. Finding a way to normalize it through humor has been such an accomplishment for me!
Having received five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Festival and sold-out shows in various cities, what has been the most surprising or memorable audience reaction to your performance so far?
I had a girl write to me on social media after she saw my show. She told me that my story made her feel less shame surrounding her own life, and gave her courage to be honest about things she had never opened up about. It truly brought me to my knees!
Could you elaborate on the eccentric characters you encountered during your spray tanning journey and how they contribute to the narrative of “Doing Alright”?
There are SO many of them. I could write a whole book on this! The thing about the job is that you go to these people’s homes so you’re seeing them in their full element. For some reason, you really get the weirdest version of people. I’ve had a woman fully expose herself to me and ask me if I could make these “crevices” darker. I’ve been in the middle of full family fights. I don’t want to give too much away about what I put in the actual show, but living in LA you see it ALL when it comes to the beauty industry. People live and die by way of their appearance.
The clients contributed to the show because it helped navigate the story of being at this rock bottom all while trying to grasp what I was now doing with my life. I was living in my own chaos, and at the same time living in the chaos of these clients.
In your social media, you share hilarious impressions of various personalities. How do these impressions tie into your show, and why did you choose these particular characters to showcase?
There is nothing more that I love than doing an impression. And since I do so many of them on social media, my director and I thought it would be a fun added element to the show to help tell the story. I like to do impressions of people that I find fascinating. I choose the ones that not only I love, but the ones that I knew the audience would get a kick out of.
As someone who has experienced challenges like debt and addiction, how do you hope your story resonates with the audience, and what message do you aim to convey through your performance?
I hope they feel less shame around anything they’ve ever gone through. Everyone goes through difficult times. We have all experienced pain. We make mistakes, bad decisions, and good decisions. I really wanted the audience to feel like they were going through this journey with me in real time. And I think we achieved that.
With the upcoming run at the SOHO Playhouse in NYC, what are your expectations and hopes for the audience’s experience, and how do you anticipate the show being received in the vibrant theater scene of the city?
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t equal parts excited and terrified! This is SUCH a big deal for me. SOHO Playhouse was a dream of mine. When I opened my show in January and it started taking on a life of its own, I immediately said “I want to get it off Broadway”…a year later it’s happening! So I’m going to keep manifesting that NYC welcomes me with open arms, and each night we get to laugh, cry, and go on a wild ass ride together.
