A fine ‘Mess’

Jen Stephenson turns trauma into art with one-person show

During the pandemic, Albuquerque performer Jen Stephenson realized she had developed a serious alcohol and drug problem. After three overdoses, hospitalization and rehab, she decided to turn her trauma into art.

“Big Fat Mess of a Lady” opens at The Box Annex, 100 Gold Ave. SW, on Friday, April 19.

The original, one-person show is a journey through talk therapy, monologues and original songs in a portrait of love, sobriety, transition and survival.

“It was born out of a little bit of trauma,” Stephenson said. “It was very intense. But I realized I hadn’t been on stage in three years.”

Immunocompromised, she thought if she wrote a solo show, she could mandate masks at the door.

“That’s basically how this was born,” Stephenson said.

The play includes a conversation between her and an AI therapist. Stephenson also sings and writes her own songs.

“It has things about my history; about recovery and my mother and my father, who’s trans and came out when I was 17,” she said.

She described it as “equal parts hilarious and devastating.”

Stephenson has been acting on Albuquerque stages since the age of 6, joining more than 80 separate New Mexico productions. She spent nearly a decade working with Mother Road Theatre Productions.

“Life has become much smaller for me,” Stephenson said. “I needed to find a way to do what I love (acting on stage) while also protecting myself and other immunocompromised people. I found a theater with better than average air recirculation. I’m also asking the audience members to mask with respirators I provide.

“I soon recognized this was a chance to create the specific parts of performing I’ve been missing and write something personal to me. I ended up with something I love.”