[NoHo Arts District, CA] – The well-received solo show CASUALTY OF WAR, written and performed by award-winning actor and writer Sharon Lesser, heads to Whitefire Theatre’s Solofest 2025 on Sunday, March 30.
About CASUALTY OF WAR
This solo show tells the story of Sharon’s trip with her 14-year-old son Jack to Normandy and Omaha Beach where things do not go…according to plan. Instead of her perfectly imagined mother-son bonding trip filled with historic sites, road trips, great French food and a visit to Paris, what she gets is a journey with a sullen, heart-broken adolescent whose own emotional D-Day turns him into a hostile adversary pining for home. While trying to make the best of things by attempting to outmaneuver Jack’s everchanging moods (i.e., being a mom), she’s surprised by how the WW2 history they encounter invokes memories of antisemitism and the impact the Holocaust had on her family. CASUALTY OF WAR explores the timeless themes of motherhood, intergenerational trauma, and identity.
You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll crave rosé.
What People Are Saying About CASUALTY OF WAR
“Sharon Lesser had me grinning from ear to ear. Hilarious, poignant, and relatable, Casualty of War mixes the joys and dramas of family travel with profound historic events. It was a performance I will not forget.”
“I was riveted! Sharon held my unwavering attention as she shared a very meaningful and timely story about motherhood and Jewish history during an emotional sojourn to Normandy with her teenage son. I laughed and I cried. If I were president this would be mandatory viewing in schools across this country. We all have something to glean from this profound production.”
“Sharon Lesser’s Casualty of War surprises again and again with its deft comic touch, serious take on family and raw emotion as a mother and son take a picaresque journey though France, D-Day and the history of antisemitism in her family and her own life. I was on the edge of my seat throughout her captivating solo performance. If you have the opportunity, see this show!”
“Casualty of War is that rare piece of art that speaks to nearly everyone. If you’re a mother, you get it. If you’re a child who has lost a parent, you get it. If you’re divorced, you get it. It speaks to the human condition of love, loss and the desire to be one’s best self. With wisdom and insight Sharon Lesser reminds her audience that life’s most difficult moments are best met with a huge heart and rapier wit.”
The Creative Team
Sharon Lesser (Writer/Performer): A native of Manhattan, Sharon returned to performing after a successful career scripting on-air promos for Nickelodeon, Oxygen, and The Food Network. TV credits include: Raising Kanan: Powerbook III, The Deuce, Blue Bloods, Law & Order SVU, Tell Me A Story (Paramount+), I Love You, But I Lied, (Lifetime) Off-Broadway: In the Daylight, (McGinn/Cazale Theater), Twelfth Night, Tartuffe, (Pearl Theatre Company), Captivity Narrative (Playwrights Horizons) and Public Service (13th Street Repertory Theatre). Film credits include Junction, Drug Mule, for which she won the Best Actress award at the Long Island Film Festival, and Off Season, which garnered her the Best Actress award at the Long Island International Film Expo. BA in English Literature from Middlebury College. Proud member of Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA. www.sharonlesser.com
Austin Tooley (Director) Tooley is an NYC-based director and dramaturg who received his MFA in Dramaturgy at Columbia University in 2021. Austin most recently worked as associate director at the Geffen Playhouse on Every Brilliant Thing. Additional recent directing work includes Argonauts, by Jacob K Robinson, at Columbia University, The Outposters, for PrideFest at The Tank, and Narcissus, a Roman pantomime live-taped in partnership with PBS. Recent dramaturgy includes play development residencies in Waterford, Ireland for Purgatory, by Colm Summers and Ciara Ní Chuirc, and at the Catwalk Art Residency in Catskill, NY, for Barbies, by A.A. Brenner.
Anisa Rose Threlkeld (Dramaturg) is a NYC-based dramaturg, actor, and musician. She received her MFA in Dramaturgy at Columbia University and a B.A. in Drama and Psychology from Vassar College. She also studied opera performance at The Bel Canto Institute and Queens College Baroque. As a dramaturg, she has developed work for Syracuse Stage, City Lyric Opera,
Breaking the Binary Theatre, Queens Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, HERE Arts Center, NYSAF/The Lark, The Tank, #HealMeToo Festival, NYU Tisch, Vassar College, and Columbia University. She believes that the ultimate purpose of theater is to disrupt habit.
Tickets: $25. For tickets and information visit: whitefiretheatre.com or call 818-687-8559. The Whitefire Theatre is located at 13500 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks 91423.
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