Shanice Stanislaus wants $200 million from audiences

The Singapore actress and clown's upcoming show at the New York Comedy Festival aims to raise funds for another show

- John Lui

It began in August as a show in the back of a bar in New York.

Now, Singaporean performer Shanice Stanislaus and her American collaborator Rachel Resnik will do their act at the New York Comedy Festival on Nov 16 and 17.

The show, $$$ (pronounced "dollar sign dollar sign dollar sign"), was born from Zoom chats she had with Resnik, a friend from when Stanislaus was a student at an arts academy in France.

"As we talked, the topic of money kept coming up - in the arts, the maths never adds up. You invest a lot into a show and the returns are not there," Stanislaus, 30, tells The Straits Times in an interview a few days before leaving for the festival.

"In the arts community, we have a saying: 'We pass around the same $10 note.' I go to your show, you come to my show," she says.

Since money was also a topic that piqued everyone's interest, the duo had their concept: a show that tries to raise money that goes towards another show.

"It's about trying to raise $200 million in one hour for an unconfirmed Netflix special. It's making fun of how we always fundraise in the arts, and the crazy things that we do to try and get the money," she says.

After testing $$$ in a New York bar in August, Stanislaus returned to Singapore.

"I thought, okay, we made a show that was amazing, the short test went well, and we didn't expect it to go further," she says.

Then she got a call from Resnik telling her that they had been invited to perform the show at the New York Comedy Festival.