SALT LAKE CITY — Becoming an Honorary Crone was written and performed by Lori Prescott Hansen and is a collection of stories about a woman’s life growing further into adulthood. It was produced by The Great Bear Folk Theatre at the Salt Lake Fringe Festival. Hansen begins by asking the audience, “Do you believe in fate?” and shares some history about the three fates from Greek mythology. She muses on what makes a woman valuable to herself and how can she lead girls younger than her into that strong future.
Show closes August 6, 2017.
The stage was set with a spinning wheel that she sat at during her fairy tale of the spinners, and to the side there was a small table with a mirror on top, which she referenced at the beginning, talking about really looking at herself in the mirror and accepting everything she saw.
This show was full of storytelling and she references various fairy tales like “The Little Mermaid” and “Little Red Riding Hood” before starting into her own tale called “The Three Spinners.” It reminded me of “Rumpelstiltskin” with enough of a twist to make it new and enticing. This story ends with a beautiful moment between mother and daughter and further understanding from the girl about the value that is gained though aging.
The first portion of her show was hard to follow at times, but once she started the fairy tale I was engrossed. Hansen strung along a line of her own experiences that were amusing and interesting, but I wasn’t sure where she was going with it at first, or how all her experiences working at Smiths were all pointing to the theme of her performance. She finally talks about her mom and comes full circle with a powerful ending, which was profoundly moving and satisfying. Her experience with her mother was a priceless story for me—and perhaps for any daughter or mother—to hear.
While most of the shows I’ve seen at the Fringe have been risque, this show is definitely “squeaky-clean” as they say on the Fringe site. I recommend this especially for women, primarily because of the pressures on women to be outwardly beautiful all the time and how Hansen addressed these issues. The show is the longest I’ve seen at the Fringe, just under an hour yet still engaging, even with Hansen jumping from one story to the next. If you get the chance to see this, I recommend to follow the advice Hansen gives in one of her stories, “I’ve learned that when somebody says, ‘let me tell you a story,’ that is a really good time to listen.”
