“Paula (Arina Dara) stood out as the obnoxious teenager, complete with unwavering support for Nick and hysterical ability to torment her parents. Dara executed the complexity of this character with wild energy, quick delivery, and belly-aching hilarity. Her physical expression and natural comedy were a hit.”

Siobhan – July 21st, 2022

“A Friend of Dorothy was such a wonderful way for me to finish my festival experience! It was so funny and a great queer take on the rom-com and musical form. Arina Dara, who both wrote and starred in the piece as Penelope, totally blew me away! She had a mind-blowing voice and exceptional comedic timing! The script follows Penelope, a queer woman, who is trying to determine whether her crush is also queer. What follows is a hilarious, along with warm-and-fuzzy, performance with some wonderful songs and excellent performances. The phrase ‘a friend of Dorothy’ made me laugh so hard in this musical context because I’ve always thought that Wicked would have been 100x better if Elphaba and Glinda had been queer lovers. I feel that through the character of Cindy, Dara’s script also touched on something that I know I have personally struggled with in the queer community where there seems to be less acceptance towards bisexuality because if you aren’t gay then you must be straight. Overall, this performance was just so wonderful and I would love to see it workshopped into a longer piece!”

Georgia McKenzie – September 1st, 2021