Fairytale Facts

To piano music from behind a back curtain, Lisa Seldin Dontzin can be heard suffering: “I’m trapped in this f...ing dress!” When she appears out front, wrapped in strapless white organdy dotted with aqua leaves, she wears an astonished look. But short, curly-hair dusted with sparkle accent her neck surrounded by jeweled stones as spotlight-catching as her earrings. Quite a contrast with the predominantly chartreuse gym shoes under her billowing skirt. Fitting, though, for a person pointing out contrasts between her present status as actress and certified fashion stylist and her past.

With energy, she recounts her youth as “all the boys’s best friend” and then, in 1960, a physical challenge along with a desire to play Snow White. From then on, her life continues with contrasts--waiting for Prince Charming, trying pot in a commune, learning about Lao Tzu. She matures into a soup-kitchen worker and then a mother.

In her life and in her art, Dontzin doesn’t leave her Cinderella story. She admits she still wants love. After more about her experiences looking for it, much of the audience gives it to her heartily.

I won’t say Dontzin’s story isn’t my proverbial cup of tea but rather that during my time in universities, I was served it with the same flavors and in the same way so very, very often that it’s become rather cool to my taste.