We recently connected with Sarina Freda and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarina, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I wish I could say creating and producing no no no please no god no, nevermind i’m fine was like giving birth, raising a child, and letting that child become their own person. I am not a parent so this doesn’t seem fair to claim, but I am not sure how else to describe it.

This show was born from a moment in my life when everything cracked open, when a psychedelic trip forced me to confront parts of myself I had been expertly avoiding, and awakened me to sensations I had never felt before. Though the piece wasn’t just about the trip itself, but about everything that came to the surface in its wake: unresolved grief, fractured identity, shame, hope, love, and a reverence for being alive.

Translating that entire experience into a solo performance felt like inviting strangers to witness my most unfiltered, unhinged, and, ultimately, most present self. The process demanded much of me. Technically speaking there were endless rewrites, physical feats, an expertly crafted sound and lighting design, along with every other aspect of marketing, admin, and financing.

But creating the piece was one thing, allowing it to exist was something else. Every single night I had to let go of all control. I had to ride whatever wave the audience was giving and trust the skeleton of the show which we carefully constructed. In that release, I give the project over to whoever is watching. I cannot control how anyone feels, if anyone laughs, or what (if anything) people will walk away with.

In a way, perhaps like a child, it was no longer mine. Every night, all I could do, was bring my entire self to every moment and trust that everything else would be taken care of.

Sarina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Sarina Freda is best described as ‘User Friendly.’ She’s originally from (right outside) LA, and is currently living in Brooklyn, New York.

Together, her and Tom Costello created a one-woman show: no no no please no god no, nevermind i’m fine which debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024.

Sarina has worked on a number of short films and new plays with Clubbed Thumb, Page 73, the Geva Center, the 24-Hour Plays Festival (Nationals 2020), and more.

She is a member of The What Co. Theatre Company, and she is a graduate from NYU Tisch School of the Arts

In her junior year she played Medea in Medea when actress Diane Ladd saw her work and has been closely mentoring her ever since.

She loves to swim. She loves to dance. She has plans of buying a house in Italy for a single euro. And her passion project is finding inner peace.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I feel so lucky to have gotten to work with such talented, brilliant, and generous people. There’s nothing like being in a room of people who are constantly pushing you to go deeper—not because they doubt you, but because they have total faith in you and the project you are building together. This kind of trust allowed for so much magic to reveal itself. And the process would have been impossible without them.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Asking for help constantly and repeatedly is never shameful. It sometimes is all you can do. And I believe not asking for help when you need it is one of the greatest disservices you can do to yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sarinafreda.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarinafreda/

Image Credits

Juan Carlos Quimper and Dante Crichlow