Arts & Entertainment

'Goddess Diaries' Brings Local Stories to 'Fringe'

Monologue about sex abuse scandal at Vienna Presbyterian Church among those in show about womens' empowerment at Capital Fringe Festival

A women's advocate for more than 20 years, Carol Campbell has always seen the potential for "The Goddess Diaries" to reach beyond Northern Virginia.

Though it has traveled to audiences in Charlotte, N.C., and will be heading up to East Coast to Boston this fall, Campbell is staying close to home as the show premieres Friday at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C.

The seventh annual festival focuses on performing arts that touch on an eclectic range of genres and disciplines.

Find out what's happening in Viennawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"The 'Diaries' has always been a fundraising tool to fundraise for women-based charities, but it's a little bit different in that Fringe is a 501(c)3 itself," Campbell, of Oakton, said. "So it is a great marriage of being able to bring visibility to the 'Diaries' as well as support bringing culture and arts to D.C."

The show, which promotes itself as a chronicle of "key milestones in the lives of girls and women, storytellers ranging in age from 11 to 65," premieres 8 p.m. Friday at The Mountain at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church900 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, D.C. Festival goers can also purchase tickets for four other shows:

Find out what's happening in Viennawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • July 14 9:45 p.m.
  • July 18 6:15 p.m.
  • July 22 5:30 p.m.
  • July 28 2 p.m.

Click here to purchase tickets.

As Friday's opening looms, Campbell feels her cast is becoming more confident and gained momentum the closer it gets. The content evolves with each iteration, though some of the show's original writers return with encore presentations.

"I submitted a new piece that we're using, which is another one of my personal stories called Poison Control. It's about how many times I called Poison Control after my daughter was born, as well as the poison control of trying not to panic all the time and dealing with the toxicity of what you're dealing with when you're a new parent," Campbell laughed.

The show will keep written by a victim of the at Vienna Presbyterian Church, which was included in .

In the past, the show has run longer than 100 minutes. To fit with the festival, Campbell had to tighten it to 75 minutes, which she says has only helped the show become closer to what she has always envisioned.

While hoping to reach a new local audience at Capital Fringe, Campbell is also hoping it's a step in spreading awareness of the show and its mission of helping women-based charities.

"This is a visibility venture. It's a way to work with an incredible community in my cast and the Fringe community, which is rich and eclectic and rewarding. It's a great step in watching the 'Diaries' grow," Campbell said. "I really want to scale this to go worldwide. I want cities around the world to say, 'I would love to do this show to raise money for a charity or for something I really believe in.'"


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