PORTIA & ELLEN
Written by Heather Seltzer Directed by Amanda Xeller
Produced by Daniel Hoyos, Heather Seltzer, By Hart
Presented by the New York City Fringe Festival
Performance Dates including year: April 5th, 8th, 9th, 15th 2026 - SOLD OUT!
Real life cousins, Heather Seltzer and Sarah Hartley, play real life wives, Portia and Ellen, in a fictional imagining of the final days of Ellen's daytime talk show. A theatrical fever dream about marriage, “cancel culture”, and the limits of personal growth, the production has kicked off a sold-out run at the New York Fringe Festival.
Here is a parody-peek inside the lives of a super-famous couple. It’s a hard time for Ellen with the end of her television show looming. She is being canceled. Did she molest her staff? No. Did she expose herself? No. Ellen was not nice, and that’s enough to condemn her. All the while, Portia soaks in a hot bath reading Pinter and Chekov and planning her artistic return; Louis C.K. stages his comeback and Kathie Griffin tries to climb back onto the D List.
The subtly of what some folks can recover from in the zeitgeist is not lost on anyone. It's that Ellen had the nerve to appear “nice”. No one can look Woody Allen or Kevin James in the eye, and no one complains about it. Did she have awkward celebrity interactions? Sure. But who hasn't? Are not Fallon, Letterman and the rest guilty of the same? How many times can Ellen be canceled and still come back?
If you ever wanted to be part of Ellen’s studio audience, this is your chance. Harltey’s portrayal is spot on - from dance moves, cadence, glances - a nuance study to be sure. Seltzer’s Portia lends voice to the more silent partner, while he script gives voice to a timeline we didn’t know we wanted to relive. The production is replete with skilled video highlights, applause prompters, and the illusion of Ellen’s well known studio set. This is quite the full scale production which makes it somewhat difficult to function in the limited Fringe environment. The flow suffers from the slowdown of set pieces coming in and out frequently. In a large space, the constant striking and setting may not be necessary allowing the scenes to not lose the momentum. I fully expect that this show, already fully sold out, will see a larger stage and following in the near future.
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Nicole Jesson.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on April 10, 2026. All rights reserved.
