I’ve reviewed only 6 autobiographical solo shows over the past 5 years but acclaimed L.A. theater multi-hyphenate Stefan Marks’s exceptional My One Woman Show: The Search For A Truthful Moment has made it a very lucky 7.

Not that the production now playing at Hollywood’s Madnani Theatre (formerly the Lex) is the One Woman Show itself, or so Marks informs us tongue in cheek when he announces that what we’re seeing “isn’t scripted, not at all,” and that “this isn’t the actual beginning. It’s the pre-beginning,” it’s “figuring out the beginning.”

And that means figuring out what goes into a successful one-person show.

Should Marks do accents? After all, if he does accents, and pretends to be different people, and turns his body back and forth like he’s having conversations with other people, that might earn bonus points from the judges, right?

Or maybe he should just go over the prompts that he and his fellow classmates were given in “a workshop thingy at the community center” that Marks got thrown out of a little while back.

Prompts like:
“Were you ever raped?”
“Are you comfortable with your sexuality?”
“Do you have any stories where you almost died?”

Wouldn’t that make for a solo show that audiences might actually want to see?

Whatever the answer to that might be, these prompts get Marks started on a stream-of-consciousness potpourri of thoughts, ideas, observations, and memories that continue until, about 45 minutes into his latest opus, it begins to dawn on us why the playwright who gave us Space, Middle8, and Ophelia has called his solo piece a “One Woman Show.”

And as quirkily entertaining as the first three-quarters of an hour have been, it’s the turn My One Woman Show takes at about the 45-minute mark that turn it into something extraordinary, and extraordinarily moving.

Oh, and since there’s no one better qualified to play the lead than the author and no one better qualified to direct than the lead (or in this case solo) performer, Marks once again more than earns the moniker of multi-hyphenate, holding us in the palm of his hand from offbeat start to emotionally potent finish.

My One Woman Show is produced by Null Set Productions. Dan Lovato is stage manager.

There may be no one else on stage in My One Woman Show but the writer-director-star himself, however given that it’s Stefan Marks wearing all three hats on the Madnani Theatre stage, that’s more than enough reason for this reviewer to stand up and cheer the latest example of this one-of-a-kind multi-hyphenate’s unique brand of theatrical wizardry.

Madnani Theater, 6760 Lexington Ave, Hollywood. Through June 27. Tuesday June 16 at 5:00, Friday June 19 at 8:30, Monday June 22 at 7:00, Thursday June 25 at 8:30, and Saturday June 27 at 8:00.
https://stefanmarks.com/my-one-woman-show/

–Steven Stanley
June 5, 2026
Photos: Baranduin Briggs

Tags: Hollywood Fringe Festival, Los Angeles Theater Review, Madnani Theater, Stefan Marks