Crossroads

By
Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros
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A NoHo Arts theatre review of “Crossroads” written and performed by Renee Santos and directed by Kimleigh Smith of  Embrace Your Cape Productions as part of the Hollywood Fringe Adjacent – A Festival of Solo Shows.
A NoHo Arts theatre review of “Crossroads” written and performed by Renee Santos and directed by Kimleigh Smith of  Embrace Your Cape Productions as part of the Hollywood Fringe Adjacent – A Festival of Solo Shows.

[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of “Crossroads” written and performed by Renee Santos and directed by Kimleigh Smith of  Embrace Your Cape Productions as part of the Hollywood Fringe Adjacent – A Festival of Solo Shows.

The most astonishing thing about Renee Santos’s “Crossroads,” a solo show about her life, is that she not only survived everything that happened to her but that it became her superhero origin story.  Because to me, after sitting, often slack jawed in utter shock at the details of her journey, it is stunningly clear that she has the super power to still be here with us at all. 

But there’s far more to this show than just the story behind it. There is a truly phenomenal artist who cracked open her heart and wrote it, developing a series of beautiful and terrifyingly enchanting techniques to connect every single pivotal unfolding moment to the transformative effect it had on her. She could have taken a simpler approach, a more linear narrative. But instead, she craftily weaves through her life a golden thread of truth and it takes us back and forth in time, through people and events and returns again and again to her present and her profound sense of who she really is…a strength of character as well as a wondrous physical strength and an unmatched grace.

Renee dances, or rather she moves herself in powerful rhythmic ways, holding her body almost still in unbelievable positions that literally show us what her mind and spirit went through. It feels purgative. As an audience, I felt as close as I have ever come to actually experiencing someone else’s pain in a solo performance.  She has a magical performative way of silently drawing you into her most intimate discoveries about herself, and these moments that changed her in turn change us. There is no barrier between us. Like the most exquisite interpretation of a psyche, twisted and broken and raw. Her triumphant healing success was utterly transformative to her and if you are fortunate enough to see this brilliant show it may well have the same unforgettable effect. On the night I was there I know I was absolutely not alone in my deeply felt experience, although still, somehow, I felt as if I were the only other person in the room. 

A NoHo Arts theatre review of “Crossroads” written and performed by Renee Santos and directed by Kimleigh Smith of  Embrace Your Cape Productions as part of the Hollywood Fringe Adjacent – A Festival of Solo Shows.

Under the genius guidance of the caped crusader herself, Kimleigh Smith, Renee Santos’s revelatory “Crossroads” is an extraordinary epic journey through the life of one woman. Through foster care, brutal assaults, a minefield of gender dysmorphia and on and on, this beautiful, intelligent, funny truth-teller warrior woman opens up her soul for us to see and it is breathtaking…

Here are some words from Renee Santos herself on the show:

I believe performing is my ministry and most of my creative work feels like my way of being of service to the world. Here’s my weird list so far…I have been acting for 20 years and I love bringing another artist’s vision to life, I have done it on Stage, TV, and in film. I have created and written my own Stand-Up Comedy content many times, culminating in a 1 Hour TV Special, called “OUTSIDE THE BOX” available on AmazonPRIME, Roku, and TubiTV.   I am in Pre-Production now for my Sophomore special. I have also written a full-length dramatic Screenplay called “In the Absence of You” that has competed in Screenwriting Film festivals. The seeds of that script transformed into the One Woman Show that I brought to this festival. For over 15 years I have been a professional Stand-Up Comedian sharing my experience through that jocular platform. But this journey has been a very different one, turning the caricature of jest into a dramatic solo performance. My current endeavor creating my very first Solo Show, “CROSSROADS”  was a new hat I have been wanting to create for many years.  I am eclectic and strange and find a spiritual pull to do it all.

I think what separates me from others, is the fact that I don’t need to categorize or easily reference what it is I do definitively. I wake up each morning and say to my higher power…”Use me source, so I may know the joy of being used by you.” Then I get out of my own way and allow the universe to inspire me into action.

I am beyond grateful that I have been able to consistently work, even when life has really come at me. I think the thing I am most proud of is my endurance. My endurance to do the work because it is my purpose. I would love to manifest recognition for what I have put into the world because I believe I could make a larger difference with a larger platform, but I am proud that I truly feel happy, joyous, and free in my journey to my becoming. I am not attached to the results. One of my favorite quotes that I live by was said by American humorist Erma Bombeck. “My hope is that at the end of my life I would stand before God and say ‘I used everything you gave me.’”

A NoHo Arts theatre review of “Crossroads” written and performed by Renee Santos and directed by Kimleigh Smith of  Embrace Your Cape Productions as part of the Hollywood Fringe Adjacent – A Festival of Solo Shows.