Le Why Not Productions

04/18/2024

😱😍 Thank you Krista Garver for including Anne Zander is MOTHER x TheTnTGamer at Fertile Ground 2024 in your Fertile Ground Festival Roundup! What kind words! Two more chances to catch these shows, 4/20 & 4/21 at 2pm & 3:15pm Curious Comedy Theater Annex.

"Zander is a master at identifying the essential weirdness of the human experience… and amplifies them to the most outrageous extreme you can imagine. She’s a clown, so it’s funny, but it also has the effect of making you feel not alone in your own essential weirdness. We’re all weird. Weird is actually quite normal...

“As with all of Zander’s work that I’ve seen, Anne Zander is MOTHER is raw and primal and surprising, and side-splittingly funny. Literally. I haven’t laughed so hard in a very long time and my sides hurt afterward.”

“.. this show [TheTnTGamer] is quirky [and] heartwarming… Wright fully embraces the awkwardness of her pre-teen self, recognizing with affection the contribution of her past to the person she’s become today.”

We are halfway through Portland’s 2024 Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, and every show I’ve seen so far has reminded me why this is my favorite 11 days of the year.

04/13/2024

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Annabelle Wright

Annabelle Wright is a variety performer, funny woman, and comedy teacher based in Portland, Oregon.

At a young age, she began studying and performing a type of juggling called contact juggling. This led to a lifelong pursuit and interest in the more esoteric art forms that bring wonder and amazement to audiences.

By day, Annabelle works as a software engineer. Having always been a tech nerd herself, she enjoys exploring the lines between technology and live performance and where those two topics intersect.

Her comedy is inspired by her background in circus arts and physical comedy. She approaches performance in ways that subverts audience expectation through timing, tension, and vulnerability. She is a self described no-jokes absurdist. 

Annabelle was recently named the Portland Wrestling Grand Champion in the character comedy and (yes!) wrestling show, Punchlines and Pile Drivers.

For two years, Annabelle was a regular cast member on Talk of the Town, a local improv show. Annabelle is a co-producer and co-host of , a monthly clown show and the producer of her own show, Visible as Hell: A Trans Day of Visibility Show. She premiered her debut solo show TheTnTGamer as a work-in-progress in 2023, and it’s back in full form both weekends of !

Check her out every Saturday and Sunday at 2pm, April 13-21 Annex!

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IMAGE IDs in comments!

                         

04/12/2024

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Anne Zander

From the BBC Riverside Studios in London to the ancient amphitheatre of Messene, Greece, Anne has had the privilege to perform at all kinds of venues across the world.

A long-time London resident and international performer, Anne is now rooted back in Portland, close to where she grew up, and delighted to be performing at venues across the city, including & the Ellen Bye Studio .

During her graduate studies at and under the instruction of , she was introduced to clowning, an artform that would change everything for her. She was called to the simultaneous difficulty and simplicity, the need to surrender perfectionism, and above all, the unwavering connection to the audience. Plus the laughs. Always the laughs.

A long-time improviser and occasional sketch performer, clowning opened up a world of character-creation and performance that led to her 2019 debut solo show, JUICEBOX, a smash-hit ode to adolescence that took Portland by storm and was Official Selection 2020 at Chicago Sketchfest, Dallas Comedy Festival and HBO’s Women in Comedy Festival.”

Anne is a founding producer of Le Why Not Productions, sharing in the company’s mission to shine laughter into the dark corners of human existence. She is a clown, actor, deviser, physical comedy teacher, and mother of two-year old twins.

Her latest solo show ‘Anne Zander is MOTHER’: a postpartum comedy opens this Sat 4/13 and runs weekends through Sun 4/21. Link in bio for more.

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IMAGE IDs in comments

                   

03/29/2024

Anne Zander is MOTHER: A Postpartum Comedy

APRIL 13 / 14 / 20 /21 Curious Comedy Annex @ 3pm

“Hysterical, poignant, and deeply representative of what it’s like to bring children into this world”
- Laurel Wilde, CoHo Theatre

“Zander is a master of physical comedy… at the same time she’s completely ridiculous, [she] is also completely vulnerable.”
- Krista Garver, BroadwayWorld

“Zander has eyes that pierce and the ability to register an overwhelming number of emotions at once..."
- Exuent Magazine

"Anne Zander... brilliantly portrayed the struggle between levity and darkness... particularly powerfully done, and very moving."
- Backstage Pass

Part of Fertile Ground Festival 2024
Anne Zander is MOTHER x TheTnTGamer at Fertile Ground 2024
Tix: bit.ly/AZiM_FG24

03/09/2024

🥳 Le Why Not Productions is THRILLED to be producing a brand new Double Feature: Anne Zander is MOTHER x TheTnTGamer at Fertile Ground 2024!

🎉 Thank you Fertile Ground Festival for shouting out Anne Zander’s newest solo show! If you saw Anne hump a chair to the dulcet tones of the Backstreet Boys in ’s adolescence tale, JUICEBOX, she wants you to know that SHE WILL TOP THAT in this hilariously absurd, painfully real postpartum comedy.

🎟🎟Festival Passes and individual tickets are now on sale, what are you waiting for? 🏃🏻

🤑 Special Double Feature price, Festival Passes accepted (but you must book!), and PWYC tix available!

11/24/2021

It’s happening.
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Kickstand Comedy Presents: Zäanderberger w Phil Schallberger and Anne Zander
Supporting sponsor: Ranch Pizza
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02/15/2021

😱 Last chance to watch Prolific at Fertile Ground 2021 at bit.ly/Prolific_FG! Teaser below, and tips gratefully accepted on Venmo [at]Anne-Zander or paypal.me/lwnp.

😍All Fertile Ground Festival shows run through tomorrow (Feb 15), so get over to their page and binge the Festival!

02/06/2021

👀 Looking for something to watch this weekend? The Fertile Ground Festival is still rolling out new shows, AND you can watch them all, including Anne Zander's PROLIFIC (just 15 min long), through Feb 15th!

bit.ly/Prolific_FG

By Anne ZanderProducer: Le Why Not ProductionsAll Anne wants is to feel smug, and she’s pretty sure having a baby AND a thriving career is the way to go… but...

02/01/2021

🎉 TONIGHT! 7pm PST Prolific at Fertile Ground 2021
👀 Watch Fertile Ground Festival Videos or bit.ly/FG21_YouTube

There Anne will post the link for:
🎨 7:30pm PST Prolific BONUS: Make Your Own Singing V***a Mask!

See you there!

The Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, a program of the Portland Area Theatre Alliance (PATA), is an 11-day arts festival held early winter in Portland, O...

02/01/2021

TOMORROW!
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BABY…. OR… ART! Which will Anne chose? Or will she? There’s only one way to find out! Tune in to PROLIFIC Mon Feb 1 @ 7pm! Link in bio.
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All Anne wants is to feel smug, and she’s pretty sure having a baby AND a thriving career is the way to go... but right now she doesn’t have either. In this absurd, 15-minute collection of digital shorts.
Zander clowns her way through fertility, fantasy and the trappings of control. Self-shot at home and as necessarily creative and messy as the times, PROLIFIC guarantees pregnancy and artistic renown by the end of the show, or your money back! (Ok, so the show is technically FREE, but donations are gratefully accepted.)
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01/28/2021

😍 Prolific at Fertile Ground 2021 gets a lovely shout out in Anne Zander's hometown paper, The Columbian!

🎉 Fertile Ground Festival kicks off in just a few minutes! Tune in at noon to catch the first show live, or catch up on any of the shows on FG's page through Feb 15th. Happy Festival!

Since live theater has been “a desert” over the past pandemic year, playwright Gary Corbin of Camas is urging everyone to check out how innovative local thespians are streaming new works to a locked-d