Pittsburgh Fringe 2026
Learning to CELEBRATE! When Life Hands You a Dysfunctional Family
Amy Rose Scoggins
Genre: Autobiography, Interactive, New Writing, One Person Show, Theatre
Venue: Commonplace Coffee Garfield
Festival: Pittsburgh Fringe
Low Down
CELEBRATE! immerses the audience in a surprise party for the artist, Amy Rose Scoggins, inviting them to become participants in the celebration and witnesses to Amy’s spectacular brand of storytelling, simultaneously vulnerable and playful. Through monologues and a few party games, Amy shows that celebrations are not always the fun affairs we want them to be, especially when those we share them with are the very people who cause us the most trauma.
There is always a reason to celebrate according to Amy, though, and we did just that at CELEBRATE!, even making a wish and blowing out a candle. This is the best kind of immersive production for those audience members who don’t think they like immersive shows because the audience involvement is minimal, yet it is impossible not to feel connected to Amy and her party.
Review
Upon entering Commonplace Coffee Garfield for CELEBRATE!, my companion and I were welcomed by a host, who suggested we take party hats if we wanted to, and then to find seats over by the other “guests.” We all, it turns out, were present for Amy’s surprise party! The first part of the event did, in fact, proceed just as one would expect of a surprise party, complete with the phone call from the host to lure Amy to our location, all the guests popping out to yell, “surprise,” and a few interactive games (e.g., musical chairs, guide the blindfolded Amy). Rather quickly, though, we discovered that the storytelling that Amy so deftly weaves into this performance is heartfelt and sincere in a way that moved me far more than I had expected.
How does one celebrate holidays and milestones in life when the people with whom we are to mark those moments and events are detrimental to our wellbeing? Everyone’s family is dysfunctional to some extent — I mean, is anyone really “normal”??? — but there is a line between typical chaos and the toxicity that leads someone to cut ties with their loved one. This, we learn, is what Amy had to do with her alcoholic mother after enduring years of emotional trauma and neglect. All the special days most of us look forward to each year –birthdays, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve — will never be the same again.
One of the most powerful moments of the evening occurred when Amy, as a therapist, attempted to confront her mother, imagining her responses. As is so often the case in real life, resolution or even a kind of understanding between the mother and the daughter remained elusive.
The point, though, of CELEBRATE! is ultimately positive. Amy asked us all early on how we celebrate and what we celebrate, asking us to consider events outside of the expected list. That message still resonates with me today – how anything can be celebrated in any way we want to and with whomever we want! Whether our parties are small and full of chosen family or large, loud, extended family events, we are not wrong in how we mark our moments. And as we did at the end of Amy’s surprise party, we will always be able to light the candles, make a wish, and blow them out.
