Tanya O'Debra
Encyclopedia
Early life
The oldest of five children, O'Debra was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She moved to New York at age 19, where she studied acting at the American Musical and Dramatic AcademyAmerican Musical and Dramatic Academy
The American Musical and Dramatic Academy , is a college conservatory for the performing arts located in New York City and Los Angeles, California....
.
Career
O'Debra wrote her first play (as Tanya Ritchie), Fuck You or Dead Pee-Holes; an American Tale in Thirteen Acts with fellow AMDA students, John C. Bowman and Adam Hardman. Fuck You went on to win the top award at The New York International Fringe FestivalNew York International Fringe Festival
The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, is a Fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It takes place over the course of two weeks every August, spread across several neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan, notably the Lower East Side, the...
in 2001.
After Fuck You, O'Debra teamed up with Diane O'Debra to form The O'Debra Twins, a comic twin sister duo. The O'Debra Twins hosted the hit open mic SHOW & TELL at The Bowery Poetry Club
Bowery Poetry Club
The Bowery Poetry Club is a New York City poetry performance space founded by Bob Holman in 2002. Located at 308 Bowery, between Bleecker and Houston Streets in Manhattan's East Village, the BPC provides a home base for established and upcoming artists...
for five years. They performed all over New York at venues such as Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub at Public Theater is a nightclub that hosts live performances regularly. The venue, which is a non-profit operation, is located at 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in Manhattan, New York City...
, Performance Space 122
Performance Space 122
Performance Space 122, generally known as P.S. 122, is a not-for-profit arts organization and one of the longest standing venues dedicated to contemporary performance art in New York City. Founded in 1979 in the abandoned Public School 122 building at 150 First Avenue at East 9th Street in the East...
, Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction, Luna Lounge
Luna Lounge
Luna Lounge was a bar at 171 Ludlow Street, on the west side of Ludlow Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side. It opened in 1995, and was a popular venue for local bands and stand-up comics...
, Surf Reality
Surf Reality
Surf Reality's House of Urban Savages, also known as Surf Reality, was a 65 seat performance venue on Manhattan's Lower East Side from 1993-2003...
, Collective; Unconscious, The Cutting Room
The Cutting Room
The Cutting Room is an intimate music venue in New York City that opened in late 1999 for music of all varieties.It is co-owned since 1999 by Chris Noth and Berklee College of Music alumnus Steve Walter....
, and The Ohio Theater until their split in 2008.
O’Debra’s play Radio Star opened at The Glasslands Gallery before running at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2009. Radio Star was then presented by the Horse Trade Theater Group
Horse Trade Theater Group
Horse Trade Theater Group was founded in 1998 in New York City's East Village. The three theaters in the group are The Kraine Theater,The Red Room, and UNDER St. Marks...
at The Red Room in 2010. Radio Star is nominated for three New York Innovative Theatre Awards
New York Innovative Theatre Awards
The New York Innovative Theatre Awards were founded in 2004. These annual awards honor excellence in Off-Off-Broadway Theatre and help nurture and promote the Off-Off-Broadway community.-Mission statement:...
; Outstanding Original Full Length Script, Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role, and Outstanding Original Music (Andrew Mauriello).
In May 2010, Tanya O'Debra won the Miss Fag Hag Pageant
Miss Fag Hag Pageant
The Miss Fag Hag Pageant is a pageant contest for fag hags, referring to women who either associates mostly or exclusively with gay and bisexual men, or have gay and bisexual men as close friends.-Origin:...
. The competition was judged by Michael Musto
Michael Musto
Michael Musto is an American columnist for the The Village Voice, where he writes La Dolce Musto. Musto was born in Brooklyn to an Italian American family. He attended Columbia University graduating in 1976. During his studies, he was a theater critic for the Columbia Spectator...
, John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...
, and Leslie Jordan
Leslie Jordan
Leslie Allen Jordan is an American actor and playwright.- Early life and career :Hailing from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and at a height of 4 ft 11 in , Jordan has made numerous appearances in both film and television...
. She also won the Skinny Girl Margarita Online Video Challenge, and the award was presented in a video by Bethenny Frankel
Bethenny Frankel
Bethenny Frankel is an American reality show personality, author, entrepreneur and natural foods chef. She was a contestant in the 2005 series The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and one of the original five housewives featured on the Bravo reality series The Real Housewives of New York City...
.
O'Debra plays Patrice O'Debra in Straight Up Vampire, written by Nick Jones, Peter Cook, and Zak Vreeland. Straight Up Vampire has been presented at Goodbye Blue Monday
Goodbye Blue Monday
Goodbye Blue Monday is the third album from Canadian singer-songwriter Jeremy Fisher. It was released March 11, 2007 on Aquarius Records in Canada and was released on August 28, 2007 in the United States....
, the Bowery Poetry Club
Bowery Poetry Club
The Bowery Poetry Club is a New York City poetry performance space founded by Bob Holman in 2002. Located at 308 Bowery, between Bleecker and Houston Streets in Manhattan's East Village, the BPC provides a home base for established and upcoming artists...
, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Ars Nova
Ars nova
Ars nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377...
and Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub at Public Theater is a nightclub that hosts live performances regularly. The venue, which is a non-profit operation, is located at 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in Manhattan, New York City...
.
Filmography
- Miss Fag Hag
- Letter to Mr. Watts
- 1-800-MOUSTACHE
- Rev Jen’s Really Cool Neighborhood
- I Saw Vagine
- Candy Princesses of the 6th Grade
- Dead Toddler Sluts on the Move
- Coffee Time
- Naked Slumber Party
- Electra Elf and Fluffer Episodes 1,2, 3 & 8