Philly Fringe 2026: Lemonade Stand presents Carly Polistina’s Jane Eyre Wasn’t a Whore

Accessible shows speak for themselves. Avant-garde shows are probably what most people think of when they think of Fringe. Audacious shows might take over entire buildings or ask the audience to step fully out of their comfort zones. And arcane shows are the inside baseball of Fringe: by artists, for artists. Jane Eyre Wasn’t a Whore combines the accessible and the arcane.

A big Brontë break

In Jane Eyre Wasn’t a Whore, Polistina plays Anne Brauer, an aspiring actor trying for her big break on Broadway. Specifically, she’s hoping that the break will come in the form of an adaptation of work by the Brontë sisters—which, in Polistina’s fictional Manhattan, is suddenly proliferating. From an old west Jane Eyre to a burlesque Vilette to “Wuthering Heights by Lin Manuel Miranda” (one of the show’s biggest laughs), Anne is auditioning for them all.

Along the way, we meet Anne’s best friend and her romantic interest, Graham, a fellow actor who keeps winding up at the same auditions, usually as the reader. Oh, and we also see Anne break into a scene from a Brontë novel the way a character from a musical would break into song. If you’ve seen a Hallmark movie or a jukebox musical, you know the tropes. Polistina keeps them fresh while juggling personas. Polistina does an excellent job distinguishing the characters through voice and manner, which is part of what makes the show so approachable.

For those in the know

Jane Eyre Wasn’t a Whore is, first and foremost, a story about an aspiring actor. From the moment the lights go up, we see Anne auditioning. She continues to audition throughout the hour-long show. Anne and the other characters (whether played by Polistina or prerecorded, disembodied voices) throw around theater terminology that’s second nature to those in the biz, but are likely less familiar to anyone in the audience who lacks a performance or production background. Fortunately, during Fringe, chances are good that a lot of your audience is in the know.

But it isn’t just the theater jargon that tends toward the arcane here. The Brontë of it all means there are plenty of jokes and references that might land better for those who have spent some time with the 19th-century sisters’ novels. Do you need to have read all of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne’s books to follow the plot? No. But you might have a clearer understanding of where Anne Brauer’s head and heart are if you’ve got at least some grounding in the source material.

Enjoyable for all

All in all, even the most arcane moments of this show prove to be relatively low barriers to entry. Whether you’ve read Agnes Grey a dozen times or just know about Wuthering Heights because of the recent film adaptation; whether you’ve been in hundreds of audition rooms yourself or simply like going to the theater, Jane Eyre Wasn’t a Whore will welcome you. But if you understand the arcana of these worlds, you’ll find it especially enjoyable.

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