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Here’s my interview with Tanya Thomas, the creator and performer of the solo show “Naturally Tan,” which tells her story of growing up South Asian in Singapore and her journey to self-acceptance as an adult in the U.S. “Naturally Tan” won all of the things at the 2021 Hollywood Fringe and at the Whitefire Theatre’s Solofest 2021, and it has since been featured in Binge Fringe at the Santa Monica Playhouse and the prestigious LA Women’s Theatre Festival.
If you are a solo performer – or if you think you’d like to be one – you do NOT want to miss this interview!
We discuss:
- Tanya’s beginnings in Singapore doing radio and epic prank calls (I deeply regret not asking for a demonstration of the latter…yet another reason I’ll have to have Tanya back on the show!)
- The story of how she came to write and perform “Naturally Tan” (spoiler alert: it took many years and several BIG life changes before she decided to go all in!)
- The important role Tanya’s children played in her decision to tell her story…and the age at which she plans to let them watch the whole show
- The question director Jessica Lynn Johnson asked Tanya that unlocked the show’s irreverent drag queen narrator, Tanvi
- How RuPaul and Lady Gaga helped Tanya to answer the question “Can a woman portray a drag queen?”
- The real-life inspiration for Tanvi…and what happened when he* met Tanya’s husband!
- Tanya’s BIG long-term plans for this show inspired in part by Cush Jumbo, Bridgerton, and Tanya’s desire to show a more complete picture of Singapore than the one we saw in Crazy Rich Asians
- Tanya’s advice for anyone thinking of doing their own solo show!
Catch “Naturally Tan” at ARTSpace Black Box Theater in Simi Valley, CA for 3 Saturdays in May! Ticket information available here.
*I’m using he/him pronouns for Kumar based on this interview.
Tanya Thomas