Notes on Collagen
Written and performed by Fabiana Mattedi
Presented by the New York City Fringe Festival
Sat April 4, 2026 at 7pm, Sat April 11, 2026 at 3:40pm, Mon April 13, 2026 at 8:10pm & Thu April 16, 2026 at 8:10pm
Like a pocket cabaret, UNDER St. Marks offers a light bar, tight conversation, and the opportunity to be truly reflective about who we are now and who we used to be.
Notes on Collagen is about a woman just over 50. Originally from Bahia, Brazil, with an Italian father always wishing Cent’Anni, Fabiana copes with the L train and the desire to be a great artist. She considers that incessant knowing that she's not that 22 year old, anymore, rich with natural collagen in her body and resilient, even emotionally, with the kind of supple strength.
Honest and respectful of her own culture, Fabiana has discovered her own formula for explaining the mystery behind the botox. With only a pink, rolling stool and a mirror in the compact black box theater, Fabiana finds free samples of face cream and something to drink with a straw, with or without preservatives or additives. She sculpts a lavender balloon-like ball, testing its plasticity, shaping and molding it.
Being 50-something is so different than being 22 years old. Youth might betray us, so it’s important to respect the years and the people who have traveled with you. Having moved to NYC in her 40s, she remarks the journey through immigration. When we hear about waits in airports and safe passage back to her homeland to visit her mother, there is the troubling reality of closing doors, forcing a somber mood. While Fabiana’s past never sounds like a departure from erudite education or political assault, we never know. She looks for the collagen in other people, particularly at that 22 year-old on the subway, discovering her own beauty. Her truth is not vacant. It’s not desperate, agonizing, or contemptuous, but rather, frighteningly quiet, stern and contemplative. Are there new answers there?
Like a Capoeira practitioner moving through a difficult land, Fabiana moves forward. She cannot be like a little ghost stunned at how eyelids or breasts take shape over the years. Unlike a classic care warrior, Fabiana Mattedi is not locked in a phantom witch-hunt about how her body became that way. She knows she’ll keep being beautiful, even as she gets older.
So, don’t ask for the truth behind what is almost a wrinkle.
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Marcina Zaccaria.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on April 15, 2026. All rights reserved.
