OVERVIEW
Andrea is an award-winning solo performer available for bookings. Her plays speak to her own personal engagement with the world. Often her plays work well with a lecture component accompaniment. Learn more about her plays below.
THE VOICE BANK
A play based on a true story
Written and performed by Andrea Caban
Directed by Amanda McRaven
The Voice Bank tells the story of one woman who defies her ALS diagnosis to fight for the privilege to keep speaking. Caban plays both herself and Terry, a woman with an indomitable spirit and a passion for performance, as they manage Terry’s progressing symptoms through voice and accent training. The play also gives voice to Caban’s emotional struggles as the practitioner working hard to hold space for a person facing a devastating diagnosis. She is a voice teacher trying to save someone’s voice. In sessions with Terry, she is cool and calm; alone she is crumbling as fears about losing her own mother surface through a series of nightmares.
At first look, the obstacle of this story, a “love story” in a sense between Andrea and Terry, is the disease. But the play is also a David and Goliath story: Andrea and Terry versus individuals in the medical community. Terry’s successes and Caban’s expertise are questioned by individuals in the medical community, so the play then asks, “Who owns the knowledge of our bodies? Who owns the knowledge of our experience?”
But perhaps more importantly, the play is a meditation on letting go.
The play is based on 40+ hours of actual transcriptions from voice and accent sessions between Caban and Terry, and real conversations between Terry and her doctors and Caban with other medical professionals. So in a sense this play really happened and is very real but in another sense the play is quite theatrical and dreamlike, toggling back and forth between what is said and what is thought, what is experienced and how that experience gets conveyed to and received by others.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. ALS is characterized by stiff muscles, muscle twitching, and gradually worsening weakness due to muscle wasting. This results in difficulty speaking, swallowing, and breathing.
Lecture Accompaniments:
“Accent Modification and ALS: An Unexpected Application of Actor-Training”
“The Role of Creativity in Patient-Centered Care”
QUESTIONS MY MOTHER CAN'T ANSWER
A play based on a true story
Written and performed by Andrea Caban
Directed by Rachel Eckerling
Nominated for Outstanding Solo Performance NY Innovative Theatre Awards
Questions My Mother Can’t Answer is a moving and funny one woman show written and performed by Caban, directed by Rachel Eckerling, long-time collaborator of Francis Ford Coppola, with sound design by Grammy Award-Winner, Marcelo Anez.
In a tour-de-force performance, Andrea goes on a mind-body-soul healing mission after being hit by a New York City cab. She interviews eight “women- of-a-certain-age” including a sexy Moroccan ballroom dancer, a donations-only prostitute, and her Aunt Shirley. Hoping to redefine “navigating life” and to interpret the ticks of her biological clock, Andrea looks for guidance from a variety of female role models, only to find that there are no role models...that we are all flawed and life is not about avoiding accidents or tragedies, but how we deal with them.
Lecture/Workshop Accompaniments:
Transcribing the Soul ™: Developing Solo Performance from lived experience.
Trailer – Questions My Mother Can't Answer
YOU GOT QUESTIONS? I GOT ANSWERS!
A play based on a true story
Written and performed by Andrea Caban
Directed by Caitlin Moon
Winner-Outstanding Solo Performance NY Innovative Theatre Awards
Nominated for Outstanding Short Script NY Innovative Theatre Awards
Nominated for Outstanding Performance Art Piece NY Innovative Theatre Awards
You Got Questions? I Got Answers! tells the story of 10 New Yorkers—when they feel the most isolated and when they feel the most connected to others. A simple piece about the importance and difficulty in feeling connected.
Trailer – You Got Questions? I Got Answers!
“I left the theatre feeling like I had gained something I didn’t even know was missing.”
“Caban does a truly stellar job of making us believe she is each of these wildly varied people...”
“...a cohesive presentation of unique philosophical value, a humorous narrative that can inspire tears and that possesses a kind of healing mojo.”
“A wonderful and thought-provoking performance.”
“We are grateful to Andrea Caban for bringing this meaningful material to us and for encouraging us to share it nationwide with the ALS community. We have heard from people living with ALS and their circles of support who have watched a performance of ‘The Voice Bank,’ and feel that it presents an honest portrayal of life with this disease, including but not limited to the devastation, limitations, fear, anger, grief, and the inspiration to fight back.”