Writing and Directing "Advice"

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Writing and Directing "Advice"

Vanessa Severo is a well-known actress in the Kansas City (KS) area. Now she's about to make her debut as a playwright and director.

Her new play, "Advice from a Spider" will debut at the Kansas City Fringe Festival.

She had originally envisioned the tale as a children's book. She wanted to write something like Grimm's stories that had a moral and could be gruesome.

The three-person one-act play has been rated PG by the festival.

The play stars Heidi Van, who worked with Severo last year on "The Coppelia Project," as the manipulative, menacing title character.

Severo plays a butterfly who has come to terms with death. A third player, Dan Hillaker, is a grasshopper wondering what his life purpose is.

He finds himself torn between the other two creatures, each mesmerizing in her own way.

Hillaker and Van helped form the dialogue of the piece. Severo said she rewrote the ending three time, and each ending was tragic.

The costuming is non-realistic. Severo isn't having her actors play as insects.

At the end, Severo says, she wants viewers to decide what it means.

“Advice From a Spider” premieres at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Off Center Theatre at Crown Center and continues through July 26.

Gina Wilhelm Actress