Created by Katie Fanning & Phoebe Brooks (A Manly Enterprise)

Produced by Isabelle Russo

At once a theatrical experience and an “alternative health” information session, The Amazing Doctor She Medicine Show launches audiences on a quest to recover Doctor She’s purported “Miracle Cure,” a wellness supplement lost since the 13th Century, much like the story of the miraculous doctor herself.

Our show uncovers the history of misogyny in western medicine. Oops, we mean the history of women in western medicine! (Somehow we always get those two things mixed up!) Using a madcap blend of humor, games, speculative fiction, interactive storytelling and totally gross medical facts, this piece imaginatively reconstructs the life of Doctor She, a literary figure from Bocaccio and Shakespeare whose story stands in for countless other forgotten and discounted female healers throughout history.

The Amazing Doctor She Medicine Show was dreamed up by Phoebe and Katie in the Winter of 2023, culminating in a weekend of workshop performances at Columbia University’s rehearsal studios. Based on the joyful creative process and the overwhelmingly positive response from initial audiences, we knew we had a show that could go much, much further!

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the biggest and most exciting performing arts festival on earth, with performers of all specialties coming from all over the world. It is an unique opportunity to perform among an incredibly diverse range of artists and companies. The Festival is famous for its audiences who are excited to try new experiences and take a chance on the unknown. 

Performing in this context will undoubtedly inform the development and trajectory of The Amazing Doctor She Medicine Show (and future collaborations between Phoebe and Katie). We’d get direct feedback and connection from audiences coming from a wide variety of backgrounds, allowing more discovery and growth in the performance itself. We’d be connected with a huge network of professionals and have the opportunity to meet theater heroes and like-minded artists. The festival’s huge footprint in the international theatrical landscape would provide useful context and positioning as we connect with our local theaters about the future of Doctor She and other possible collaborations.  Could we become the next Fleabag, Freestyle Love Supreme or Six: The Musical? (We admit it's unlikely, but all those projects also got their start in Edinburgh!)

Beyond the professional impact, there’s also the personal: Phoebe and Katie have both attended the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as audience members and experienced the awe and impact of its unique setting. Phoebe went while still in college, she saw a show called Outland where the audience watched the play from inside a pillow fort and it inspired her to try her hand at directing. For Katie, attending the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in high school gave her the first peek into the possibility of life as an actor and completely opened her artistic world. We love a full circle moment!

If Joy & Wit could be exchanged for airplane tickets, The Amazing Doctor She Medicine Show would pay for itself! But alas, we are in need of more universally accepted currencies.

This is where we need your help!

For a successful & exciting series of performances in Edinburgh, we need:

Phoebe Brooks is a theatre creature interested in establishing a Theatre of Joy for artists and audiences alike. Her work combines comedy, heightened text and gender performance to uncover hidden histories. As a deviser/playwright, The Amazing Doctor She Medicine Show, The Forgotten Columbia Exposition,Dance Telephone, SCRAPS and Working Title I & II (Drawing Room Brooklyn). Selected directing credits include The Fantastical Fellowship: Final Quest for the Crisis Crystal XXVII (Frigid), Charles Ludlam’s Der Ring Gott Farblonjet, LOVE (Among Dreamers) and Jyoti’s Bridge by Kanika Asavari Vaish (Columbia University), Mary Stuart, Could This Meeting Have Been An Email, The Country Wife, Becky Shaw and Measure for Measure (Spicy Witch). Assistant/Associate Director credits: & Juliet (Stephen Sondheim Theatre), The Da Vinci Code (Ogunquit Playhouse), ROCK MEDEA (Joe’s Pub) and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (NYU). Phoebe is an SDC Fellowship Recipient, one half of A Manly Enterprise and serves as Programming Director for Spicy Witch Productions. Phoebe holds a BA from Northwestern University and an MFA in Theatre Directing from Columbia University's School of the Arts. 

Katie Fanning is a classically trained Equity actor and arts educator with a strong accessibility practice. Originally from England, she received a BFA from New York University and an MFA in Acting from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She is one half of A Manly Enterprise and has performed over half of Shakespeare’s works, including Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Ulysses in Troilus and Cressida (Redgrave Theater, UK), Bolingbroke in Richard II (Hip to Hip Theatre Company) and Rosalind in As You Like It (Adirondack Shakespeare Company). She is passionate about theater that directly connects, embraces, and implicates the audience in the act of storytelling and meaning-making. In addition to performance, Katie is the Accessibility Programs Manager at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where she collaboratively designs and delivers a wide range of programs for varied and specific disabled and nondisabled audiences with the goal of strengthening community connections and experiencing awe, wonder and inspiration through the arts. 

Isabelle Russo is a London based New York born Italian - American actress and producer. She holds a degree in Political Science & Theatre from Skidmore College and a Masters degree from LAMDA. Her acting credits include Hamlet, The Relapse, The Misanthrope, La Vida Es Sueño and Merrily Merrily.  She is a co-producer and founding member of the NY based feminist theatre company Spicy Witch Productions. When not acting or producing, Isabelle is also a Certified Classical Pilates Instructor and semi-professional world traveler.

March 2024 - after a Winter development session, Phoebe and Katie have an updated and snappier script based on the experience and feedback from the 2023 workshops.

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