FringeNYC Previews

Baby Cow

Produced by Frokie Co.

Author: Christine Renee Miller; developed with Matthew Hoverman

Baby Cow is a young woman's struggle to find her own voice. Surrounded by a cast of crazy and hilarious characters, including my over-bearing Korean mother and a sex-craved Black-loving Brit, I take on their personas — and take in their absurd advice. This is my raw (and witty) coming of age story that reveals the painful realities of marriage, sex, family, race and religion.  I rediscover my independence and bare it all — in more ways than one!

Baby Cow is relatable to a diverse audience. The many characters I portray break boundaries and offer fresh perspectives on identity. This show brings together a variety of real characters that all have something to say about how I should live my life. Haven't you ever wanted to scream when someone gave you bad advice? Well, this show is like that but in a storytelling kind of way (and a bit of mockery on the side). What is successful about Baby Cow is that it speaks to everyone's connection to identity whether it's their culture, race, gender, or their societal role.

I began acting at age 12 in Dallas, TX. Casting directors and agents wanted me to check out Hollywood and so with the encouragement of my parents, I left home at 15, moved on my own to Los Angeles and pursued a career in acting. Hitting the books and being a working actor were the most important things to me. After high school I studied French and TV production at Pepperdine University in the ridiculously shi-shi Malibu, CA . It was there that I wanted to do more with my acting than work on television. I wanted to say something, make people think and push boundaries. The idea for a solo show started when I followed my husband to his professor job in upstate NY. Folks up there were intrigued by my early independence of leaving home and working in Hollywood at a young age. To me, that was just part of my life and seemed very natural. I started thinking about what "E! True Hollywood" story I wanted to tell. But nothing about Hollywood seemed to capture my interest. Instead, what did capture my interest were all of the projections and expectations that people had for me; expectations of the woman I should be, the wife I should be, and expectations to abandon my passion and "move on". This is the story I want to share because I found myself struggling to listen to my voice in the midst of so many others. I couldn't tell where I began and others intervened. Who I wanted to be slowly became the portrait of what everyone else wanted me to be. And so evolved Baby Cow — the story of holding onto independence and not being afraid…of being terrified to hold on.

Christine Renee Miller, writer/performer