The lovely Alison Arngrim, the actress who played the hateful and hated Nellie on Little House on the Prairie wrote a cult classic book; CONFESSIONS OF A PRAIRIE BITCH: How I Survived Nellie Oleson And Learned to Love Being Hated. The book quickly made its way onto The New York Times Best Sellers List and in time the actress-turned-comedian decided to transform the book into a stand-up comedy show of the same name. Ms. Arngrim has presented the one-woman tell all show – in which names are named and stories that many in Hollywood would likely prefer not be told, are indeed told – to sold out houses across America and even more so in Europe. In fact, when Wanzie Presents brings CONFESSIONS OF A PRAIRIE BITCH to The Footlight Theatre in May of this year, its star will have come to The City Beautiful fresh from a long running engagement in France.
Little House on the Prairie is known worldwide and has played in 140 countries. It is still in continual reruns here in the United States, and you can buy the shows on DVD. As Arngrim said, “If you were going to be a child actor on a TV show, it was a pretty great show to be on.”
The 90-minute performance that will take stage at the Parliament House is a mix of stories from Arngrim's time on the show and memories of growing up in Hollywood. Her father managed Liberace’s career as well as his daughter Alison's; her mother was the voice of Casper the Friendly Ghost, Gumby, and Underdog’s girlfriend Sweet Polly Purebred, among others. Before the show, audience members will be asked to write down questions for Arngrim. She will spend time answering random questions as well as the standard ones about her friendships from the show, her favorite episode, was that her real hair (no, it was a wig), and where was the show filmed (no, not in Minnesota). Ms. Arngrim reports there are 10 standard questions that she always gets and the audience definitely wants answered. It will, however be the random questions gleaned from those in attendance at The Footlight Theatre which will provide the actress the opportunity to improvise and fit the show to the audience.
There are also video segments, which this very funny lady will deconstruct for the audience, with what can only be described as adult humor.
