Christy Igo as Mae West

On Sunday, July 20 at 2:00 p.m., actress Christy Igo will transform herself into Mae West for Lakewood Public Library’s “Sunday with the Friends” series. She will entertain us with stories and jokes during her 40 minute program which will be followed by a short Q & A session. This program is geared to adults although Christy uses no crude jokes or language. Mae West was the master of innuendo and Christy’s interpretation is a testament to this.

Christy’s portrayal of Mae West has been awarded “best program of the year” by several local civic organizations. The evening that she performed the program for the Cleveland ACLU, they had more new members join than in the known history of the organization!

Christy is a professional actress who has worked throughout the northeastern U.S. for over ten years. She earned a B.F.A. from Ohio University’s Professional Actor’s training program and she also studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She has a two-year degree in History from Lorain County Community College. Igo combined her joint interest in theater and history and formed Herstory Productions in 1998. The company strives to educate as well as entertain the public about women’s history. Christy says, “Women have contributed vastly to the human condition, however their stories are often ignored or overlooked by society.” Christy presents her programs at schools, museums and civic organizations throughout the United States. She portrayed Annie Oakley in a 2004 film produced by the Annie Oakley Foundation and she was invited by the curator of the Lizzie Borden Museum in Fall River, MA to present her Lizzie Borden program there. She also performed her program about Florence Nightingale for the Ohio Nursing Association in Columbus.

Christy became interested in Mae West because she views her as a pioneer among women actors. Christy says, “Mae handled all her finances and career moves and in 1934 she was the highest paid entertainer in the United States! Mae was a self-made woman who defied the stereotypes of women in her time by making fun of them.”

It usually takes Christy between six and nine months to research a program and another two or three months of rehearsal. She generally visits the homes and memorable places connected to the women she portrays and she reads as much original source material as she can in order to speak using her subject’s own words. Come up and see Christy Igo as Mae West on Sunday, July 20 at 2:00 p.m. in the Main Library auditorium at Lakewood Public Library.