Mandee’s New Special
“It’s what good art should be. It brings you a challenging subject in a way where you’ve got just enough distance that you can laugh about it, you can think about it, and you can move, you can change, and it’s a safe but nudging space for that to happen.”
“I love that she can make a punchline hit and then just keep going with it to the point where my stomach hurts because I’m laughing at all the little bantering she’s doing by herself on stage.”
“She’s so courageous. She is fearless. And she’s hilarious. There’s not many people like her.”
Infertility, miscarriage, and abortion aren’t exactly a barrel of laughs… until you hear Mandee tell it. Developed to standing ovations at Fringe festivals across the Midwest, this dirty, irreverent, and deeply compelling show paints a picture of two women fighting for what they want, despite what their bodies have to say about it.
This project began with an Artist Enrichment grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, who empowers feminist artists in Kentucky.
Meet the Production Team
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Mandee McKelvey
Named one of Thrillist’s “50 Best Undiscovered Comics in the Country”, Mandee McKelvey unflinchingly tackles subjects about women, their bodies, and how they navigate the world with candor, a touch of vulgarity, and her infectious sense of humor.
Expertly incorporating storytelling and comedy, she reveals an earnestness and vulnerability that invites us to find the humor in tragedy. In 2022, she was featured in over 123 shows across 23 cities, headlined more than 70, and launched her second “One-Mandee” show.
She’s toured alongside the likes of Whitney Cummings, Michelle Wolf, Tig Notaro, Laurie Kilmartin, Todd Barry, and Anthony Jezelnik. Some of her proudest accomplishments include making thousands of people laugh, hundreds of people cry, and exactly seven very angry men storm out of her show in protest.
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Jessica Lynn Mathis
Jessica Lynn Mathis (AKA Divinity Rose) is a multi-award and grant winning comedy performer, screenwriter and producer/director who just added three 2023 Telly Awards to her honors for a project about women with PTSD.
Her experience in the entertainment industry ranges from performing for stage or screen with notables like Lisa Lampanelli, Nora Dunn, and Al Snow to producing for live shows, TV, commercial projects and web series in addition to working freelance crew on various projects for individual clients and networks like ESPN, Discovery, and ABC.
Her TV writing has placed her as a finalist for prestigious writing fellowships like Sundance Episodic Labs, Ron Howard’s Imagine Impact and as a semi-finalist for the Disney/ABC Writer’s Fellowship. As CEO and founder of She Dreams Content Development and Production, LLC, she develops female forward entertainment with strong female leads and themes related to identity and trauma recovery.
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Madeleine Dee
A classically trained performer with over 20 years of experience, Madeleine Dee is an actor and screenwriter. With her timeless looks, expressive eyes, and strong sense of humor, she thrives in period pieces and often plays clever rebels, offbeat mentors, leaders, and brave women who are just as complex as she is.
Madeleine trains with Risa Bramon Garcia & Steve Braun’s BGB Studio. You can find her lurking in dark corners of Amazon Prime, Hulu, Showtime, and HBO. Her own projects, including “Law & Coffee Order”, “The Seasoned Cynic”, and “Finding Miss Collins”, can be found on her website with her demo reels and writing samples: MadeleineDee.com.
A former chef, Madeleine spent 12 years as a small business owner. In her spare time, she plays video games, writes, studies a handful of languages, sings really badly, collects vintage clothing, travels, drives too fast, solves puzzles, bakes, eats everything she can find, and spends plenty of time in her garden. She’s looking forward to selling one of her screenplays and earning a professional home within FX Networks.
