‘Milf’ a mix of theatre, standup and is ‘pure genius’
At the time divorce — and then reentering the dating pool — may feel like the worst thing ever, but Anne Marie Scheffler assures it’s not.
"You may no longer be 20 but you’ve never been better. The person you are now is so much more interesting and powerful than you were when you were younger. You really are the queen of your life and you get to behave that way,” Scheffler said this week.
The Toronto- and L.A.-based actress, writer, comedian and voice artist is at the Esplanade on Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m. with her show “Milf Life Crisis.” Scheffler said a friend of hers recently described the show as a mix between theatre and standup comedy and called it pure genius. The onewoman show sees Scheffler play an exaggerated version of herself — a recently divorced woman in her 40s — as well as other characters. One of those is her friend Kendra, who has been divorced a little longer and has gotten the hang of it.
“She just loves being divorced. She’s dating two guys in one day,” Scheffler said. “The people who’ve seen the play are like ‘oh my God I can’t stop laughing. Kendra is so funny, Kendra’s voice is in my head.’"
Scheffler said after her divorce she — and many others, she learned — felt as though she failed, a feeling she didn’t like. She created the show after friends began talking up her recent divorce as a whole new adventure in front of her and decided that was the attitude she wanted to take.
“As I was writing this show, there’s so much joy and so much fun and there’s so much material in dating again that it was so fun to write. It gave me hope, it made people laugh,” she said.
Much of the material comes from the differences between dating the first time around and then after a marriage and children. She said she and other people dating in their younger years are looking for a partner for the rest of their lives and someone to have a family with.
“Now that you’re in your 40s, you’re more mature, you’re not so desperate as my character says in the show and you come with a sense of sophistication and worldliness. You don’t need to go find someone to have babies with, you have your children. You don’t need to hurry and get married again, you’ve been married. So there’s a different reason now for finding a date or a lover or a friend with benefits. It’s a completely different world.”
A different world with more options, it turns out. There was no Tinder, no Plenty of Fish, no OK Cupid when she was first dating. Options like those help put confidence in the lives of those back on the market.
In the show, the Kendra character has a line about being single and being like the sun with the planets revolving around her. And by the planets she means the men.
It’s one of the most memorable lines for the star and those who’ve seen the show.
“You’re doing everything different and you’re stronger,” Scheffler said. “You must remember that you are the sun and you let the planets revolve around you.”
In the course of creating the show Scheffler found hope but also created an event, she’s realized.
"You get to grab your girlfriends, dress up in your leopard print shoes, put on some nice makeup. There’s a cause to celebrate and that to me is more than just telling my comedy on stage,” she said. “I’ve created this event for women who are in a similar position — and men, men love the show too — to come out and celebrate their ‘dating again’ status. It’s an incredible girls’ night out.”
Tickets, $25 plus service charge and GST, are available at www.tixx.ca, by calling 403-502-8777 or in person at the Esplanade box office or the Medicine Hat Mall customer service desk.