The bodacious, unapologetic Art that is; Stand- Up Comedy, has led me to places that I could’ve never imagined, as the youngest daughter of an unwed Baltimore inner-city teen mom. At-a-glance; the ebb and flow has been obtuse; from sharing a panel with the former past president of the NAACP (Benjamin Todd Jealous) and the late great Ossie Davis; in the syndicated documentary; Walk a Mile in My Shoes: A 90 year Look at the NAACP (1999) to the becoming a Social Justice Fellow of the Open Society Institute, (2010-2012). From Baltimore’s, Center Stage (Stoop Story Telling: Across The Great Divide; and Open Society Institute’s BIG CHANGE 15 year Anniversary) to the cast of an inaugural musical based on a nationally syndicated comic strip (Zippy the Pinhead; Baltimore Theatre Project). In the traditional stand up comedy sensibility, while surfing channels; I may pop up on current premium and network shows such as Nickleodeon, BET( Black Entertainment Television), STARz and CBS. And as if this weren’t amusing enough, it’s afforded me the title of Goddess/Comic Momma by the Founder, Rebecca Hoffberger; of the American Visionary Arts Museum.  Never would I imagine that my angst and mishaps as a mom determined to live her dream as a Stand Up comedienne, would become an award winning, one-woman play, written and performed by yours truly, Directed by Image Award Winner,  Rain Pryor.  Diary Of A MILF (Mom I'd Love to FOLLOW) chronicles a day in my life in one act . Yet, when I consider the extent of the journey thus far, it seems farfetched that stand up would introduce me to stages and performance spaces with the likes of the legendary, Dr. Maya Angelou, BB King, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Kinney and Stevie Wonder to name a few. Most surprisingly, an unlikely invitation to THE OVAL Office for face-time with President Barack Obama (2009) only to be serendipitously thrilled nearly a year later (2010) to receive an invitation to a women’s only intimate gathering in Washington, DC; where I performed and met the FIRST LADY, Michelle Obama.
There was no way to ever imagine that an art form as pure and unadulterated as, stand up comedy; could provoke, kidnap and incite me, after 3 years of matriculation in a doctoral program (Temple University, Department of School Psychology), to take an extended leave-of-absence, to immerse myself in a quest to study, perform and someday carve a niche in the world of Stand Up Comedy; and yet it most certainly did! The road from 1999-2018 was extremely uncertain, with no true precedent. It took 10 years of standing on stages, in between, the beautiful surprise of marriage and motherhood (3 times) before I discovered and proclaimed to be, the Indie-Mom of Comedy. This is a glimpse of my Artistic hajj thus far!

The INCUBATION: This content, shares the rough, rocky, road, to finding my voice as a Stand Up Comedienne. While its brutally honest and pure, at best; its humbling, cringe-worthy at times and simultaneously enlightening and refreshing to see my beginnings. I unapologetically share them to place the inaugural blots on the canvas.

Midtown International Theatre Festival "Variety" is proud to bring you MESHELLE IN FUNNY, FIERCE, FABULOUS: THE CABARET MESHELLE, 2014 winner of “Outstanding Solo Performer” shares another stage persona with the festival. A child of musical comedy from Carol Burnett, Jackie “Moms” Mabley to Lena Horne; MESHELLE will share tales from her life through song, funny stories and all points in between. Accompanied by Mike Scott Jr & Friends, this CABARET will make you laugh, sing and maybe share a gag or two! (Cabaret)

Performance Dates: Sun 8/2, 7:00pm

Running time: 45 minutes

Venue: Davenport Theatre, 354 W. 45th Street, NYC, NY 10036, US
Black Box, Second floor, between 8th and 9th Avenues

Since it's orginal debut at the Midtown International Festival, MESHELLE has  had annual SOLD OUT Performances of  Funny, Fierce, Fabulous; THE CABARET which has become not only a touring show but an annual signature event at Baltimore's Creative Alliance.  This event has been SOLD OUT for 5 years at the Creative Alliance, MESHELLE serves as HOST and Key Performer bringing comedy, and award winning musical talent to this Artist Incubation and Performance Space in SouthEast Baltimore.  Previous featured artists have been: 
Grammy, Oscar and Dove Award Winning Songstress - Regina Belle
Stellar Award Winner- Y'Anna Crawley
Multi-Platinum Selling R&B Artists- Ruff  Endz
As well as Comedians as seen on HBO, Comedy Central, BET, and TruTV.  

It has been a NIGHT to remember for all who attend!

Partnerships, Collaborations and Design Highlighting Indie-Mom of Comedy Events
Over the years working with some of the entertaiment industry's top exeucutives and comedians have allowed my comedy and reach to expand exponentially from appearances at the World Famous, APOLLO THEATRE in Harlem, NY to the theatre mecca of Midtown Manhattan gracing the stage at the THE PUBLIC THEATRE and Theatre Row's 42nd Street.  What an amazing journey it continues to be!

Fully immersed and actualized as the Indie-Mom of Comedy, no longer searching for "how I show up" on stage. Delving deeper into the nuances that created this "Stand Up Comedy" point of view, my laugh and art started to unconsciously integrate and resonate with women from all over the globe. Charged with sharing the universality of the messaging, the theatre became and continues to be the natural progression. After a 24 hour melt-down, consumed in tears and post nursing trauma, I was feeling as if my MOM life was taking over my innovative, independent spirit. The stage was a distant but faithful lover and I really needed its panacea for the pain. My husband couldn't bare my mom-induced "funk" and ordered me to...WRITE! "Write your way to the theatre and I will find a space to perform!" That's exactly what I did. I wrote until the tears dried and I began to laugh. I wrote as an insider looking out of my life; and an outsider looking in. Those writings became what is now my treatise of sorts, and an award winning play and performance. Diary Of A MILF: Mom I'd Love to FOLLOW; suggests that, while we are coerced into following moms on reality television who don't cook or seem tonprovide one-to-one care for their children, there is an authentic alternative. While my life seems fabulous to some, the day-to-day could easily grant me a stay-cation in the nearest psychiatric ward. Which could possibly be great fodder albeit a little restrictive and inconvenient.

Premise:
MESHELLE "The Indie-Mom of Comedy" invites you to experience the balancing act that is her REAL LIFE! Can women have it all marriage, a dream career, and maintain their MILF status with 3 kids in tow? MESHELLE’s Diary boasts three key ingredients: a little mania, a touch of OCD and lots of laughs. FOLLOW as she juggles 24 hours during the Christmas holiday season; from the first grade classroom Kwanzaa presentation; to the country school secret Santa swap and holiday family dinner at Nana’s house, all of which birth 5 unforgettable characters refusing to take a backseat in her Hybrid SUV! MESHELLE closes the show in the one place that provides the panacea for her pain; the comedy club: performing her signature “Indie-Mom” Stand Up; fearlessly sharing some of the funniest stories you’ve never heard! After a day in her life you'll certainly want to FOLLOW her!

There is a saying, " There is no such thing as BAD PRESS". Having never had a publicist, marketing team or even a town crier; getting the word out and sharing my artistic journey as a stand up comedienne, has been arduous. Relentless in my work ethic, and always ready to share a laugh, the word has begun to trickle. Sharing this part of the Indie-Mom journey has been revealing.
I began as a single graduate student, simply Meshelle Foreman, once married two years later the brand and name changed , Meshelle Foreman Shields, taboo in the industry. And when I was told I HAVE IT, the one name personality, I went for it, dropping all but MESHELLE. Three children later, it became apparent, that there were more layers to this onion, thus, MESHELLE "The Indie-Mom of Comedy" and the buck stops there! Therefore, my press, had a bit of identity crisis, up to now. I embrace it all, and someday it will make for a great late night show couch story. Yet, another blot on the canvas.

Moments shy of a decade of marriage with three midwife assisted home births under my belt, I finally grasped the notion that being a Mom was dominant in my life and was screaming for a space on stage, never to back away again. The stage continued to be my paramour, beckoning me daily, as any stand up will confess, once its in your system, detoxing is not a option. It will manifest and have its way with its courier no matter what. Previous incarnations became unlikely allies for the stage. Over 20 years of mentoring, advocacy, program development and implementation for inner-city and underserved girls and women, gave me license to speak and support individual and organizations who sought to serve. As a daughter of a teen mom raised by conservative southern transplants, living in the once working class community of Park Heights, now openly marginalized by post Vietnam drug disease, I shared my story in hopes of garnering support. My professional predisposition, stand up, made the stories palpable, often building empathy with the most sensitive issues and challenges. From race, education, social change, gender specific content, to fund and friend raising. Stand Up and social justice, uncommon bed fellows for my contemporaries, became an organic progression for this self-proclaimed "Indie-Mom of Comedy".

Why and Indie-Mom? Moms are loved and yet boxed into a paradigm, of nurturing, playing it safe for the sake of their children of partner. An Indie-Mom, debunks the notion. Independent. Innovative. Individuality. I never fit the stereotype and stand up is believed to be commandeered and dominated by men. Essentially, I allowed the gift of humor to speak truth to power, with a burst of laughter to soothe the sting.

Birthing shares the emerging and transcending presence of my stand up. Declaring; I think. I speak. I write. I am...The Indie-Mom of Comedy. A myriad of writings, humorous talks, and clips add to the canvas and make the case for the maturation of the Indie-Mom of Comedy.

Creating a distinct comedic voice and allowing it to breath, stretch, morph, fail, restore, ascend, only to go deeper into the abyss; that is the art, of Stand Up. My naïve fearlessness offered more opportunities. While I found space on television through traditional stand up showcases, touring the country as a result; it was the non-traditional invitations that insisted I trust my Indie-Mom instincts. Peppering my bits with self-discovery, epic mom failures, marital jousting and chronicles of a social change agent, I discovered derivatives of the art that had only been considered by a few.

Story-telling on the Stoop to sold out audiences at CenterStage, co-hosting and guest appearances on PRI affiliated talk radio shows (Marc Steiner Show, Michael Eric Dyson Show, Dan Rodricks Show); soap-box moments (Women of the World with Mary Chapin Carpenter) laced in laughter at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, and crowned a Goddess alongside Kathy Kinney by American Visionary Arts Museum Founder, Rebecca Hoffberger ushered me into a new light. From the Jewish Community Center's, Gordon Performing Arts Center, to the Oval Office of the White House, there seemed to be a contagion for laughter.

Meshelle, the “Indie Mom Of Comedy” records her LIVE debut national Comedy Album, “Funny As A Mother…” at Creative Alliance, October 8, 2015; 7:30pm. A native Baltimorean, Meshelle is an off-Broadway award winning comedienne/actress whose television appearances include Nickelodeon, STARz, BET, TV-ONE, ASPIRE TV, ABC and NBC. For her national comedy album debut, MESHELLE has signed with Comedy Dynamics out of Los Angeles, CA and opted to record in her hometown of Baltimore!

NPR’S NEWEST PODCAST, HIDDEN BRAIN, PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 22, 2015
With Host Shankar Vedantam, NPR Science Correspondent
MESHELLE "The Indie-Mom of Comedy" is a reoccurring contributor.
August 10, 2015; Washington, DC – NPR listeners have consistently expressed their love for Shankar Vedantam’s Hidden Brain social science stories with comments ranging from “a morning Hidden Brain segment is like a shot of thought-espresso” to “I stop talking to the cats when Hidden Brain is on.”
The fans have spoken and NPR listened: Starting September 22, Vedantam’s (full name pronounced SHUN-ker veh-DAHN-tahm) insights on human behavior will be available for download anytime, anywhere in a weekly 20-minute podcast. A teaser is available now at NPR.org.
Like Shankar’s engaging radio reports, the Hidden Brain podcast will connect science with listeners’ everyday experiences. Linking psychology and neurobiology with art, music and literature, Hidden Brain will reveal patterns that drive human behavior, biases that shape our choices, and imperceptible forces that influence our relationships.
“The goal of Hidden Brain isn’t merely to entertain, but to give you insights to apply at work, at home and throughout your life: the way you park your car, the way you read restaurant reviews, will be different once you listen to Hidden Brain,” said Anne Gudenkauf, Senior Supervising Editor of NPR’s Science Desk. “Shankar has been covering these topics his entire career and will bring not just his knowledge but his humor and personality to the show.”
“You can take ideas seriously without taking yourself seriously,” said Vedantam. “We hope the podcast will help you see your life differently, with fresh eyes -- like a tourist. And provide excellent fodder for dinner table conversation!”
Each episode will find creative ways to make social science research accessible. Recurring segments include “Mad Scientist,” where guests try to predict what an experiment found, and “Stopwatch Science” – a rapid-fire exchange of ideas. Topics from early episodes include “Switchtracking,” which is what happens when two people think they are talking about the same thing but are really on their own tracks, why the bond between students and teachers makes a big difference in education, and how a female poker champion learned to use the stereotypes her rivals had about her to her own advantage.
ABOUT NPR PODCASTS Since 2005, NPR has produced and distributed some the country's most popular podcasts – longtime favorites Fresh Air, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, Latino USA and All Songs Considered, as well as newer shows including Invisibilia, Microphone Check and TED Radio Hour, one of the most downloaded podcasts in the English language. Hidden Brain is the newest add to NPR's podcast catalogue – more than 30 programs covering science, music, pop culture, comedy and news which together account for an average of 72 million downloads each month. Each week, more than 26 million radio listeners tune into NPR programming and nearly 9 million unique
visitors access NPR.org, making NPR one of the most trusted sources of news and insights on
life and the arts.
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Press Contact: Isabel Lara / mediarelations (at) npr.org

Promotional Media Kit for MESHELLE "The Indie-Mom of Comedy" 2016