Reviewed by Tracey Paleo, Gia On The Move
How To Be Invisible is a recipe that has been handed down from one female generation to the next. And it’s the one concoction that Debrianna Mansini just can’t seem to adapt, nor wants to ingest ever again. Through a lifetime of many heart wrenching meals, each ingredient being a tiny portion of herself, she has often been literally chewed up and spit out.
The Meatball Chronicles is Debrianna’s self-love, self-identity awakening through a culinary journey that aligns the stories of her childhood, her relationships with men, and in particular, her mother, to touch on universal themes of how anyone who has a family can love.
Debrianna, amusingly and carefully as she would a delicate recipe, explores the complicated relationship with her mother, an angry and habitually vindictive, former, young, beauty queen on the road to fame and Hollywood, until an unexpected and unwanted pregnancy takes her as far from her dream as possible. Debrianna’s self-revelations are intimately revealed, and the depth to which she finally comes to understand her interrelationship with food, what food really means about her rather than to her, is as equally heartbreaking for her to perceive, as it is exhilarating to liberate herself from.
Mansini is a highly attuned and nuanced storyteller, embarking on an enthralling pilgrimage that carries the audience all-the-way, from highs & lows, tears and joys.
Very Highly Recommended
June 9th Special Event: #NoOneHungry
Mansini is raising awareness to End Lunch Shaming. This Saturday’s, June 9th show can include lunch at Hunter and Charlie’s (formerly Farmboy Kitchen at the S.E. corner of Vine and Santa Monica) with a special $25 ticket includes lunch and show. Proceeds will benefit Project Angel Food. See The Meatball Chronicles Hollywood Fringe page for details.
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