[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Singularities and Safety Pins at The Colony Theatre, written and performed by Carmella Riley and directed by Jennifer Green.
Deep into the Hollywood Fringe, I happily took a break and made my way to the Colony Theatre in Burbank to see Singularities and Safety Pins – a solo play written and performed by the incandescent Carmella Riley.
Singularities and Safety Pins is primarily a story about loss. But it approaches it with humor and logic in a strange yet absolutely relatable way. Carmella Riley makes sense of her mother’s cancer treatment and her passing by equating it to the laws of physics and the universe. Reminding us that we are all controlled by the same forces and that in the end we must give ourselves up to them and trust that in returning to the source we will all be a part of everything else and that when people die, as they will always must, we will never really lose them.
Finding our way through grief is a never-ending process. We never get over the loss, we only get used to it in time and learn to live with a part of us that is missing. Carmella Riley has made this truly beautiful tribute to her lovely mother to share her with us. To share their love and her mother’s life. Her mother was significant. Not just to Carmella, but to her father and her brothers and to all the grandchildren that came from her.
What I felt while watching Singularities and Safety Pins and for days and days afterward was the love. Echos of it, threads of it passing through my world from Carmella’s world.
When art is as good as this, it changes you a little. The words we hear, the things we are shown imbed in our minds and connect themselves to equally important thoughts and feelings. Like stardust and the light from galaxies billions of light years away and long dead, we still feel their presence and see their light because when we look for them enough, we can see them, and they made us.
Singularities and Safety Pins is an absolutely gorgeous way of healing the hearts of those of us who have lost the most important person in our lives. Mother, who made us, who loved us, and if we are lucky, tried her best to make us good.
Carmella Riley’s incredible and perfect play and all the wonderful characters she shares with us felt like a huge warm embrace. A reminder that the love moves on through us forever.
Thank you, Carmella, truly.
More Info
https://www.sondertheatrecompany.org
The Team
Carmella Riley began her career in Chicago, where she cut her teeth at the renowned Piven Theatre and the legendary Second City and received a degree in Radio, Television, and Film from Northwestern University. TV credits include Modern Family, Brooklyn 99, The Young and the Restless, Alexa & Katie, and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. She has voiced characters on animated shows, including Nature Cat on PBS and the Apple TV series Doug Unplugs. She is a proud member of SAG/AFTRA and the Television Academy and has been privileged to work alongside Academy Award winners Viola Davis, Daniel Day Lewis, Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, JK Simmons, and Winona Ryder. Upcoming: feature thriller Down Below.
Jennifer Green is the artistic director of Piven Theatre Workshop and has been active in the Chicago theatre community for over 25 years as a director, literary adaptor, consultant, and teaching artist. She is a Theatre Communications Group New Generation Fellow. Directing credits include multiple Chicago and world premieres. She has been a teaching artist with Urban Gateways, Illinois Arts Council, Changing Worlds, DePaul University, and National-Louis University. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and is currently an adjunct faculty member within Northwestern’s Master’s Program of Learning and Organizational Change where she teaches applied improvisation.
Astro Lab Productions (ALP), a women-led theatre production company based in Seattle, Washington, is helmed by founder and CEO Erin Coomer and associate producer Paula Tharp. ALP is Tony-nominated and an Outer Critics Circle Award-winner for co-producing the Broadway premiere of John Proctor is the Villain. Upcoming projects include the West End premiere of that play, Billie Jean (which will hit Broadway in late summer 2026), and The Interestings, with music by Sara Bareilles and book by Sarah Ruhl and Meg Wolitzer (scheduled for its first production at Berkeley Rep). Their new musical, Signs of Life, has book, music, and lyrics by Christopher DeLair and was released as a concept album in March 2026 with two concerts, one in partnership with STG at Seattle’s Neptune Theatre and another at Jazz at Lincoln Center in April 2026. It is currently in development for a full production.
Sonder Theatre Company, under the management of founder and artistic director Christina Harris, was founded in 2024. Through Sonder, Harris’s goal is to champion artists of all backgrounds and levels of experience, to explore new theatrical works, host community-building events, develop educational outreach initiatives, and create a network of proactive voices to promote positive change within our communities. Sonder provides a creative space for all who wish to explore the profound impact of building community through storytelling. Sonder is currently producing The Women of Lockerbie, featuring a cast of professional actors and community members, highlighting Sonder’s mission to provide a space of artistic integrity to anyone, regardless of background or experience.