Melissa Jobe stars as Wallis Simpson in ‘That Woman!” which headlines the Fort Worth Fringe Festival this coming weekend.
Actress Melissa Jobe, formerly of Fort Worth and now living in Los Angeles, is returning to the stage in Cowtown, and she is bringing the critically-acclaimed one-woman play That Woman! Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor with her as part of the Fort Worth Fringe Festival 2019.
That Woman! Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor — written by Scott Edward Smith, directed by Phillip Wm. McKinley and starring Jobe — had its world premiere at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where critics called it the “Pick of the Fringe” and included it among the “Top Shows to See.” The critics in Edinburgh also lauded Jobe for her performance in the show.
That Woman! Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor is one of the headliners for the Fort Worth Fringe Festival, with performances Friday, Sept. 6 at 8:10 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 7, at 1 p.m. and at 7:40 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 8, at 3:20 p.m. All performances are at the FW Community Arts Center in the Vault Theater, 1300 Gendy St. in Fort Worth. Tickets are $10.
The story focuses on Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American woman, for whom King Edward VIII abdicated his throne in December 1936.
According to a press release about the play, “Long before Megan Markle and Princess Diana, Wallis Simpson was vilified by the [British royal family] and branded as an ‘adventuress’ and ‘the king’s whore,’ [and she] became known as ‘That Woman!’
“But Wallis also became an unlikely but potent global symbol of female empowerment and a worldwide social icon,” the press release notes. “This highly-acclaimed new work presents an unexpectedly timely one-woman play examining the life of one of the most divisive figures of her time.”
Smith said he was inspired to write the play because, although so much has been written about her through the years, Wallis Simpson remained an enigma. “I desperately wanted to take the tried-and-true one-actor play about a true-life person and turn it on its head, [to] make this something that wasn’t your parent’s theater. I am very excited about the theatrical experience we have created.”
