With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Hollywood Fringe Festival: Shiny White Diamonds

From L to R: Jemima (Natalie Miston), Dummy (Kat Valentina), and Travis (Russell Sams) in 'Shiny White Diamonds.'
- by Stephanie Taylor for LAist
If you’re wondering what happens when an AWOL soldier, his agoraphobic sister, a strung-out artist/socialite, and a life-sized voodoo doll combine, look no further.
The Fringe (and world) premiere of L.A.-based Australian playwright Sarah Doyle's Shiny White Diamonds borrows elements from the theater of the absurd to boldly and frankly explore the nature of reality and sanity while maintaining a caustic wit.
Slowly acquiring dementia, Jemima (Natalie Miston) lives alone with no other companionship than her life-size doll Dummy (Kat Valentina), a security blanket for a woman who ventures into public merely once a week for her routine purchase of Pantene from the grocery store. That is, until her brother Travis (Russell Sams) appears mysteriously after a decade-long separation. A wanted man, Travis promptly begins a descent into alcoholism, and then one day a drunken beauty queen, Claudia (Kym Jackson) knocks on the door looking to make a phone call. Simultaneously repulsed and fascinated by the misfits she has stumbled upon, she becomes a regular fixture in the siblings’ lives, enticing Jemima out of the house but begging her to bring Dummy along. Beguiled but hardly trusting, both siblings fall prey to Claudia’s charms to varying results.
As Jemima’s dementia increases, the reality of this tentative world grows hazier and hazier. Claudia, determined to achieve lasting greatness as a multimedia artist, attempts to expose the siblings’ secrets with shocking results.
A metaphysical paradox, Shiny White Diamonds calls into question the accuracy of human memory while all the time endowing it with a damning potency. Jemima’s self is obstructed by an opaque veil of what she thinks has occurred, concealing the ultimate reality from herself, her world and the audience.
Sams and Jackson both give solid, albeit uninspired, performances, but Miston’s ethereal Jemima tersely captures the childlike innocence of insanity with a skilled pathos. But Valentina’s Dummy manages to be simultaneously funny and spooky, proving the significance of physical characters.
Predicated by workshops in Australia, New York and London, Shiny White Diamonds came to Doyle while living in New York City in 2005, inspired by a “general populus equally as materialistic as it was neurotic.” Doyle was initially concerned how to create a character arc for a stuffed toy, a feat she has gone on to accomplish quite adeptly. Shiny White Diamonds embodies the spirit of the Fringe in its quirky willingness to ask questions and refuse to provide platitudes as answers.
Tickets are $8. Remaining performances: tonight @ 10 pm and Fri., June 25 @ 7:30 pm. Fringe Central (Theatre of Arts @ 1625 North Las Palmas).
At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.
But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.
We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.
Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.

-
Doctors say administrator directives allow immigration agents to interfere in medical decisions and compromise medical care.
-
The Palisades Fire erupted on Jan. 7 and went on to kill 12 people and destroy more than 6,800 homes and buildings.
-
People moving to Los Angeles are regularly baffled by the region’s refrigerator-less apartments. They’ll soon be a thing of the past.
-
Experts say students shouldn't readily forgo federal aid. But a California-only program may be a good alternative in some cases.
-
Distrito Catorce’s Guillermo Piñon says the team no longer reflects his community. A new mural will honor local leaders instead.
-
The program is for customers in communities that may not be able to afford turf removal or water-saving upgrades.