Join us at the Kennedy Center for a screening of Social Practice Resident Angelina Spicer’s comedy special, The Waldorf Hysteria. Featuring a post-screening panel with Angelina Spicer and other maternal health advocates.
The Waldorf Hysteria ain’t the curated Instagram version of being a mama—it’s the pain, the truth, and the funny! We meet Angelina Spicer, a young, ambitious, up-and-coming stand-up comedian who suddenly felt trapped and overwhelmed by the demands of her vagina bustin’ newborn. Spicer thought being a new mom would be filled with magical moments she saw in Dove commercials. Instead when Angelina became a mother her world immediately started to crumble—her body, her marriage, and most importantly, her identity. After trying to pray it away, (like Black people tell you to do), Angelina decided to do what White people tell you to do for depression—she went to a therapist.
Within a few visits, this new therapist recommended she check herself into a psychiatric hospital. Enter the Waldorf Hysteria! For a mama who felt like she had lost her mind, this was like an all-inclusive getaway to the Bahamas. It was complete with gourmet meals, lovely clean bedding, and every hour they’d push pills like candy on Halloween. It was the best vacation Blue Cross Blue Shield could buy. Now on the other side of this—and by the way, in love with her daughter Ava (who is alive)—Angelina is ready to relieve mothers of the BS shame and guilt with levity and humor.
The target audience of The Waldorf Hysteria is women: women who are mothers, women who expect to be and or hope to become mothers, and their families who have been left in the dark. Postpartum Depression (PPD) is the most common pregnancy complication. One in five women develop PPD, and Black women are three times more likely to get it, and less likely to seek treatment. Unsurprisingly, many of those left out of the PPD conversation are women of color. This comedy special is different in that it does not exclude specific audiences but will show that Postpartum Depression is an issue for women of all races, ages, and socio-economic statuses.
