‘One Drop of Love’ (Theatre Review)

(Hollywood Fringe Festival)

Plans free for tomorrow evening? I recommend catching the final performance of One Drop of Love: A Daughter’s Search for Her Father’s Racial Approval at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Race is an uncomfortable, and often confusing, subject for us “mixies,” and Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, co-founder of the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival, addresses it head on in this one-woman play about identities, stereotypes, and family frustrations.

Part of the CSULA Goes to the Fringe program, featuring the work of MFA students, One Drop of Love will make you laugh and maybe even cry a little as Fanshen Cox recounts life growing up in the 1970s onward. She weaves her own personal stories with those of her “white” mother, Jamaican father, doting grandmother, and equally mixed brother, showing off some real character acting capabilities. What makes the script really powerful, though, is its open-endedness, perhaps showing that there’s still room for growth in learning how to confront issues about race.

Yesterday, we saw the second of Fanshen Cox’s three performances at the Lounge Theatres on Santa Monica Blvd. One Drop of Love will be showing one last time on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 6 pm. Because of some of the language and sensitive issues covered, no one under age 16 is permitted. Check the show’s website for future performances and the upcoming documentary film.