[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Stage Mamma: From Child Star to Leading Lady, written and performed by Rheagan Wallace, presented by Soaring Solo Studios and directed by and developed with Jessica Lynn Johnson, heads to the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025.
What happens when your fiercest advocate is also your most formidable challenge?
In her world premiere solo show, STAGE MAMMA: From Child Star to Leading Lady, Rheagan Wallace invites you into her extraordinary life with raw honesty, poignant reflection, and unexpected humor.
Presented by Soaring Solo Studios, directed by and developed with Jessica Lynn Johnson the play chronicles Wallace’s unique Hollywood coming-of-age, starting from a small town in Texas to navigating the high-stakes world of LA, all under the relentless guidance of her unforgettable mother—a true “Stage Mamma.”
Ultimately, STAGE MAMMA reveals the resilience forged within a complex mother-daughter relationship. It’s a testament to the transformative power of telling your own story—the key to finding her voice, healing, and finally becoming the lead in her own life’s story. Experience this deeply resonant journey, told with abundant humor and heart.
From a small town in Texas to the glitz of Hollywood, this poignant coming-of-age story navigates stardom and the complex relationship between a daughter and her mother who is both her fiercest advocate and greatest obstacle. Rheagan’s one-woman show explores themes of resilience and healing while infusing humor, heart, dynamic characters and a myriad of multimedia including actual home videos.
Experience the dizzying highs and crushing lows of child stardom through Rheagan’s eyes. In a virtuosic solo performance, Rheagan embodies multiple characters – from her formidable mother to industry players and younger versions of herself – wrestling with pressures, ambition, and identity. Blending intimate storytelling with actual home video, she creates a dynamic multimedia theatre experience that brings the past vividly, sometimes painfully, and often hilariously, into the present live on stage.
The Team
Developed with Jessica Lynn Johnson, Artwork by Mary Lou Sandler, 3Cubed Studios, Videography by Justin Sandler, 3Cubed Studios, QLab Design, by Nick Foran, Solo Coach: Heather Dowling.
Rheagan Wallace is a Texas-born actor and comedian who’s been stealing scenes since before she could even spell the word ‘audition’. After kicking off her career in Dallas with Walker, Texas Ranger, she moved to Los Angeles and quickly built a résumé packed with memorable roles in TV favorites like Malcolm in the Middle, That’s So Raven, 7th Heaven, ER, and NYPD Blue, as well as films including the cult-classic Six-String Samurai and Texas favorite Deep in the Heart. Her starring role in the short film Amazin’ Grace won her Best Actress honors at the Bare Bones International Film Festival.
As a filmmaker and comic, Rheagan brings a heartfelt authenticity to projects that amplify women’s voices, provoke conversation, and invite audiences into deeper reflection.She believes storytelling is fundamental to human connection, that laughter bridges divides, and that the most meaningful art arises from the courage to share our truths.
Director, Developer, Jessica Lynn Johnson is a published playwright, recipient of BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST AWARD, Advisory Board Member of the LA Women’s Theatre Festival, co-executive producer of the Joshua Tree Solo Theatre Festival, and founder and CEO of Soaring Solo Studios International. Jessica has aided in the development, direction and producing of over 175 solo shows (and still going strong)! As a performer, Jessica has “edu-tained” international audiences touring her own one person shows ZE and OBLIVIOUS TO EVERYONE for over 15 years. Jessica’s projects have taken home awards such as TOP OF FRINGE, HFF ENCORE PRODUCER AWARDS, TVOLUTION BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE, LARRY CORNWALL AWARD FOR MUSICAL EXCELLENCE and several other accolades! Jessica was also awarded the LAWTF Rainbow Award in 2024 and was nominated for the Female Director of Distinction in Theatre by Girl Trip LLC at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival and Best Director of a Play by Broadway World 2023. http://www.SoaringSoloStudios.com
Heather Dowling, Soaring Solo Instructor, is an award-winning writer, actor and director. Heather brought to life 50 distinct characters in her critically acclaimed one-person shows, Unemployed. Finally. and Fertile. Both shows won the PRODUCERS’ ENCORE AWARD and were nominated for BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2015 and 2019. Both shows were selected for the prestigious L.A WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL and both were deemed BEST OF FEST at SOLOFEST, the largest solo theatre festival on the West Coast. Unemployed was selected to be part of UNITED SOLO, the largest solo festival in the world, on 42nd Street in NYC. On the heels of her personal solo success, Heather started coaching alongside her director and founder of Soaring Solo Studios, Jessica Lynn Johnson. In 2022, Heather directed five shows that gathered 5 award nominations at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and one of the shows she directed and developed, Asexuality: A Solo Musical, won BEST PREMIERE and the TOP OF FRINGE out of more than 250 shows at the festival that year. Learn more about Heather at HeatherDowling.com.
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