TL;DR: EMOJI 🤷🏽♀️ is ALMOST HERE!!! Tickets here.
HELLO, MY LOVELY COMMUNITY! 💖
I can’t believe we’re less than TWO WEEKS away from opening night of my solo show EMOJI: The Hieroglyphs of Our Time, or how I learned to stop worrying and send the risky text 🤷🏽♀️ at the NYC Fringe Festival! 😱 I’m cycling between terrifically excited, excitedly terrified — and also zoning out because I have ADHD and forgot what time was…it’s like so crazy being your own role model. 🥲
Why EMOJI 🤷🏽♀️ will change your life… 🤔
It’s a poetic hilarious love letter concert lecture— you know, just another one of those!
With… original songs 🎶, a sexy glimpse into the ~my receipts archive~ 🧾 well-written jokes about emoji! art criticism! and a LOT of big feelings!!! 🤣😫💀🥰💩🫣🫦🌝 about relationships👯♀️, texting 💌 language 💬, power 🔋, connection 🫂 , and the SUPERMOON. 🌕
This show is:
✅ Funny AF 😌
✅ Full of tangents that give language to things you kinda always thought
✅ Nerdy in a fun way, NOT in a "um, actually" kinda way 🤓
✅ Featuring videos, slides, and MUSIC (🎶makes the people! come together!🎶) I channeled from the collective consciousness 🎶🔮
If you’ve ever…
☺️ Craved community
💬 Wondered why some people text a novel — and others send a single heart 💜
🤔 Felt the crushing weight of an awkward miscommunication
📱 Sent “no worries if not” when you actually meant “I’ll do it this time I SWEAR”
🍆 Wondered the true meaning of the eggplant emoji (Guys, I think it’s just an eggplant?)
👀 Loved a show that makes you laugh, feel, & bond for life with the person sitting next to you…
… then you should ABSOLUTELY come see this show. 💁🏽♀️🪄
And guess what? Time Out New York thinks it’s cool too. 😎
🎟️ GRAB YOUR TICKETS NOW! 🎟️
📍 Location: Under St. Marks Theatre, East Village
📆 Dates: April 5th, 10th, 18th, 19th.
💻 Can’t make it IRL? There are streaming options!
Grab a friend (or three) to scream-laugh with 🤩! Lives will change, friendships will be cemented, maybe even babies will result… who am I to question fate? Be careful. 👀🔥 Can’t wait to see your gorgeous face. 😍
HOW “AM” I? 🤔
I am in the THROES!! 🌊 It feels amazing! And scary! But I’m riding the waves.
While working on this show:
I’ve written 4ish songs
made 150ish slides
> than 20 videos (a few of which you’ll find in the final product!)
had ~1.5 billion conversations about emoji with members of my community — some of which I’ve caught on tape, and will be posting on my social media
had 2 fundraisers with a combined total of 14 acts!
i cant run any more numbers y’all my attention span is so bad
Point is..
This show is a culmination of years of work — as a writer, musician, comedian, & teacher…
I would not have been able to make it without all of the incredible support that YOU 🫵🏽 have shown me along the way.
From the enigmatic stars ⭐️ who volunteered their time + energy to perform in our 2 AMAZING fundraiser shows, to all of you in the audience, to all of our generous pals who’ve donated to our Indiegogo campaign, to all my friends, (blood🩸& soul 🫂) family, mentors, collaborators, crushes 🫦, and to those with whom I’ve shared community & space….as I’ve gained the skills + intuition + courage + stick-to-it-iveness to undertake this loving and maximalist project.
🎶DID YOU EVER KNOW THAT YOU’RE MY HEROOOOO🕊️?!!🎶
🧠🚗 memory lane - get ready for an unhinged font change…
When I moved to NYC in 2017, I had literally zero friends. And last night, after fundraiser 2 of 2, watching the brilliant Moxie Sketch Lab, I couldn’t help but get a little 🥹 thinking about all the moments that brought me here. Looking around at so many people I know, love, and have laughed with, I felt so freakishly aware that every bathroom freakout, sidewalk-crack, awkward pause, 'like/um,' acoustic cover of “Creep,” and risky text led me to this exact moment.
WAYS TO HELP OUT 🤌🏽
1. Buy a ticket! 2. Donate if you can. 3. Support art, not fascism.
4. Scroll down for ways to be in community at-large.
Because of your incredible generosity, we HIT OUR FUNDRAISING TARGET ON INDIEGOGO!! 🎉 That means we can begin to recoup festival costs AND begin paying my badass, brilliant production team: Jess Ducey, Sam Lochs, Annie Moretto — and my fearless director Dominique Nisperos.
BUT if you still feel like giving (after you read the post-script too), please do so!
The $2K we get from Indiegogo is the tip of the iceberg in terms of costs (festival fee was $1300)! I’m trying to pay my producers and director a fraction of their worth (knowing number is impossibly high)!
Every extra dollar helps us PROPERLY pay the team (because artists should be paid?? Wild concept!!) and prove my literal thesis that almost anything is possible within community.
Or if that’s annoying, send fee-free donations with a memo: “EMOJI” + your favorite emoji to me @aarushifire on venmo/zelle, or to my producer Jess Ducey @thejduce on venmo.
ART is ANTI-FASCIST ✊🏽
Even if you don’t give a 🦆 about my show, now is the time to be supporting artists! Artists imagine and create a new and better world. The political landscape we are in is part of what called me to make this show and it feels incredible to be doing it with the support of my community. Scroll down for this cute at-a-glance calendar of shows you should support this month!!
We will get through this shitty mess together, and we will not get through this without each other.
I love you all so much. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. Hope to see you at the show!! And stay tuned—I’ll be dropping some silly pre-show content soon. 🎥
Please scroll down for more updates from Aarushi, and some other ways that you can engage with our beautiful community of artists in NYC!
Much love,
Aarushi Agni 🤷🏽♀️ & the EMOJI Team 💜💙💛
Some other Aar-updates from me, because there’s way too much happening…
Listen to me talk about EMOJI 🤷🏽♀️on Stage Whisper Podcast 🎙️
I had the pleasure of guesting on the Stage Whisper podcast. They gathered a bunch of theatre artists who’ll be featured in NYC Fringe, and we talked all about our different shows and our best theatre memories! Shout-out to one of my comedy mentors also featured on the podcast — Joanna Briley — whose show, Swipe This! My Life in Transit will also be featured in the festival!
Shoulda Coulda Woulda on 4/6 🎟
☕️ If you want the piping hot tea, Shoulda Coulda Woulda is back on April 6th—it’s my show (with Allisha Edwards and Djuna Knight) that uses improv + the multiverse to give people love advice. This month we’re featuring the iconic Saidah (@applesaidur). It’s been tough for me to promote this month’s show, but my team is holding me down! Tickets here.
I’m 3/3 on naming Boogie Teams.
✍🏼My new Boogiemanja sketch team, Elec!tric Panini, has their sophomore show on Wednesday April 16th at the PIT. Read more about us here! And if you’re curious, the other ones I named were Wicked Triplet and Attainable Crush. I will name anything for you for free if you come to one of my Fringe shows hehehehe.
Read my piece about Synesthesia in Motley Bloom 🎺 👁👅
I wrote this piece about synesthesia for this pub targeted toward neurodivergent folks! I became an expert on synesthesia and had to cut like half the article — I’ll never get sick of the subject, so we can chat about for a good hour next time I see you. ✨
OTHER GOOD CAUSES 🍉💜
🛏 As of writing, someone wonderful is looking for a roommate so let me know if you’re looking for a room, or know someone trustworthy who is.
🇵🇸 The siege has restarted. My friend Omnia in Palestine could use direct support. There are other ways to donate here✊🏽🍉
💜 The absolutely extraordinary org I work for as a teacher — Octavia Project (named in the legacy of Octavia E. Butler) — is trying to raise $40k by March 28th. Your donation would provide free, super-effective STEAM programming to girls and nonbinary youth with the mission to imagine and build better futures. Especially now, let’s give generously to safe and transformative programming for kids. 🪴
SHOWS YOU SHOULD SUPPORT THIS MONTH — an at-a-glance calendar
Not an exhaustive list of course, but it features some of the BEST PERFORMERS in the WORLD!
March 25th — THEATRE: The Improvised Play at UCB, featuring famous auctioneer Wilfredo Diaz (2/23 benefit), and friends of the show Sydney Duncan, Ray Cordova, Sebastian Martinez! Buy tickets here.
March 26th — Munecas Sucias at Purgatory, the gay love-child of Papirossa (performed on 3/23 fundraiser and was an auctioneer) and Michelladonna, highlighting QTBIPOC comedians! Buy tickets here.
March 28th — Bad Advice at the PIT 6 PM, hosted by our very-own, super-talented producer, Annie Moretto! Improvisers give advice to the audience, so don’t leave your problems at the door! Buy tickets here!
March 28th — The Improvised Solo Show by Sunny Atwal also at the PIT 8 PM. Friend of the show Sunny Atwal is doing his improvised solo show in an intimate setting… it’s definitely gonna sell out, but he’s doing it again 5/17! Buy tickets here.
March 31st — Comedian Traitors, it’s comedians doing the TV show Traitors, featuring Discount Disco from our 2/23 fundraiser aka Christopher Morucci and Kendall Davis, and featuring our LITERAL PRODUCER ANNIE MORETTO, and more friends of the show including Kalynn Chambers, Colleen Cass, Michelle Chan Bennett, RJ Williams, Bibek Gurung, and Chloe Hale. Buy tickets here.
April 2nd - Aarushi’s Birthday — not a show but it’s my birthday. wish me happy birthday! also on the low, my show poster will be up in Times Square that day at midnight? 😅 okay universe. More updates to come on Instagram.
April 5th - 🎉 OPENING NIGHT - EMOJI: The Hieroglyphs of Our Time, or how I learned to stop worrying and send the risky text 🤷🏽♀️ opens at 10:20PM at Under St. Marks Theater. Part love letter, part stand-up set, and part iPhone commercial (jk), Aarushi Agni blends music, comedy, and a multimedia slideshow in this loving, ADHD-friendly deep dive. Are emoji the universal language of our time — or the last hope of a society clinging to digital crumbs of human connection? Get tickets!
April 5th - A few hours before my show if you’re looking for a double feature!! Qué presents: Fifty Shades of Qué? 7pm at Brooklyn Comedy Collective! Tickets here!
April 6th - Shoulda Coulda Woulda featuring Saidah at 8:30PM at Brooklyn Comedy Collective. Our guest's love life is a damn mess!! But not to fear! Our licensed improvisers will run a simulation on our special Love Life Simulator Pro Max Mega 3000, guiding our guest through three improvised scenarios: What they SHOULD do (the most reasonable advice we’ve got), what they COULD do (hey, is the advice a little risky? Sure, but the payoff could be huge), and what we WOULD do (the messiest possible outcome). After the audience has their say, we find out how the story ends – or will end! Tickets!!
April 7th — Maude Night featuring 11:11 and Ponyboy at UCB. My badass director Dominique Nisperos is an incredible, sharp writer, so go see her sketch team at UCB. Heard of it? Tickets!!
April 8th — Improvised Columbo at Brooklyn Comedy Collective! Now in its third season, cast favorites join series regulars for an absurd melodramatic, completely made-up full-length episode of the original 70s TV Series. Features live musical accompaniment and the chance to pick who in the cast will play the iconic wife-loving detective. Featuring the famous Aaron Appleby, who ran the auctions at my two fundraisers, Jared Kirsch (the non-Spanish speaker in ¿Qué? who also performed 2/23!) and friend of the show Alida Zimmerman. Buy tickets to that here.
April 10th — EMOJI 🤷🏽♀️ show #2 at Under St. Marks!
April 12th — PWI x POCs at Brooklyn Comedy Collective, the excellent trio that performed on 3/23 fundraiser has a show where they feature POC comics, hence the title! Tickets via their Instagram.
April 16th - Boogiemanja Presents: Electric Panini and Hit It, Joe! at The PIT. My sketch team and our sister team. Any Wednesday there’s a Boogie show and each one is incredible, go check ‘em out! Tickets here!
April 17th — Chet Siegel’s My Dead Wedding at UCB Theatre NY. An immersive nervous breakdown and funeral for a cancelled wedding. Chet is like, the blueprint. She’s an incredible performer and she did our 2/23 benefit. Tickets here!
April 18th — EMOJI 🤷🏽♀️ show #3 at Under St. Marks! Get tickets!
April 19th - EMOJI 🤷🏽♀️ CLOSING NIGHT! 😭 at Under St. Marks! Get tickets!
AND OF COURSE, ANYTHING IN THE NYC FRINGE FESTIVAL from April 2 (my bday) til April 20th. 💨
……………………And if you somehow miss all of that 😕, there’s another Shoulda Coulda Woulda on May 5th featuring my darling friend of the show Andrea Coleman. 🥳
Thanks so much for reading this. I went really overboard and I’m scared everyone is mad at me. It’s a real risky text scenario. 💬😬 k thx luv u bye! 💖
aarushiagni.com / Instagram @aarushifire
