Millennial Pink

Reviewed by Julia Stier
Olivia Brooks & Sarah Suits Obenauf (Hollywood Fringe Festival)
Closed 

Millennial Pink, by Sarah Suits Obenauf, is a collection of four witty yet poignant vignettes, each of which attempts to capture one aspect of the female experience. Honest and enlightening, they successfully bring light to some of the issues young women face today.

In the opening piece, “Rough Goodbye,” Bella (Olivia Pratt) and her boyfriend Jamie (Omri Rose) attend an unconventional funeral hosted by their friend Rachel (Reid Cox). The event exposes how differently they deal with grief, as well as what kinds of things some people find worth mourning.

Next up is “The Ladies Who Lunch.” Co-workers and friends, Rachel (Cox), Jenny (Ella Schaefer) and Eve (Mikki Hernandez) form a camaraderie based on shared complaints about their low-level jobs. When it is revealed that one of the girls has received a promotion, jealously threatens to dissolve the friendship. As Jenny, Schaefer adeptly captures the neuroticism of an overworked woman trying to climb her way up the corporate ladder. Her struggle to remain positive despite her jealousy and frustration makes her character incredibly relatable and fascinating to watch.

In “Avocado Toast,” Bella (Pratt) and Cheryl (Colleen Kelly-Eiding) share an afternoon at the DMV. Though they are strangers, thirty years apart in age, they quickly learn that some issues span generations. As the 29-year-old millennial and lonely empty nester respectively, Pratt and Kelly-Eiding have great chemistry in their mother-daughter-like relationship. Kelly-Eiding appears especially natural in her role and brings a light touch to the loneliness she describes. Their story provides the most food for thought (no pun intended) among the four vignettes. The two ladies’ discussions on life and fulfillment manage to be both disheartening and hopeful, and inspire one to reevaluate one’s own life.

Finally, in “The Lady Doth Protest,” first-time marchers Jenny (Schaefer), Rebecca (Tyree Marshall) and her boyfriend Michael (Rose) are confronted by two “old-school” protestors (Rachel Neyssani and Sarah Suits Obenauf). The two groups clash not in their beliefs, but in how they should be expressed.

The Complex Hollywood, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd.; Closed June 22.  https://hff18.org/5338. Running time: one hour.