Pittsburgh Fringe 2026
Jawsica
Jessica Jade Jacob
Genre: Puppetry
Venue: Attack Theatre Studios - Creative Learning Lab
Festival: Pittsburgh Fringe
Low Down
Jawsica is a one-woman puppet performance interpretation of the movie Jaws premiering at the Pittsburgh Fringe.
Review
The puppet show, Jawsica – adapted from the movie “Jaws” and performed as a one-woman show by Jessica Jade Jacob, is one of many reasons I love Fringe festivals. At Attack Theatre Studios, I was ushered through an alley and into a small theatre, the Creative Learning Lab, packed with other people happily awaiting the promised spectacle of “blood, glitter, and lots of fun.”
The set was a small, crafty, Punch & Judy style puppet theatre frame, and the only time we saw our esteemed hostess was when she entered stage left in a blonde wig and introduced the show before diving behind the frame where she narrated, did voices for characters, and operated puppets. The first character we were introduced to was a naked blonde Barbie doll who goes swimming and dies in a shark attack (as in the beginning of the film) and reappears as a decapitated blonde manakin head, who acted as our narrator for the rest of the show. What followed was a truncated retelling of the movie – there was a scrim on the bottom half of the frame where Jacob showed the underwater scenes, characters were printed screenshots of the actors mounted on sticks with googly eyes, and toward the end of the show, a children’s shark puppet made an appearance.
Most issues with the show were technical that Jacob will easily fix with more experience as she continues to hopefully workshop Jawsica. The scrim was only visible to the front row in that venue, unfortunately, so most of the audience missed the underwater scenes. Jacob also seemed reserved in her delivery, which made the dialogue hard to hear at times. And even though the ridiculous “puppets” on sticks with googly eyes were entertaining, there were long periods of exposition without enough action or visual interest. I loved the shark puppet, but he was only introduced toward the end and not used very much. The entire audience was thrilled to buy into a naked Barbie beginning the show and a decapitated head as our narrator, any audience in the future will buy into whatever else Jacob decides to throw at them. I’m looking forward to seeing this production develop into a tighter, bolder, bloodier exhibition as Jacob gains more confidence.
But as I said, this show is precisely the reason I love Fringes. Jacob had an off kilter idea to adapt her favorite movie into a handmade puppet show with kids toys and crafted characters and we were all there for it. The spirit of the Fringe encourages wacky, in-progress, new, and risky, and Jawsica embodied that spirit. Jacob also promised us fun and she absolutely delivered.
