Jake Mace
Amy Veltman is the writer-performer of PSA: Pelvic Service Announcement, an upcoming musical comedy show headed to EdFringe next month. Amy told us “Everyone has a pelvic floor; the show’s not just for women. I believe pelvic floor health is the new menopause – a topic people haven’t previously spoken about but that affects millions every day.” We caught up with Amy for a pixelated pint to find out more about what inspired the show.
You can catch PSA: Pelvic Service Announcement from 1st to 23rd August (not the 10th or 17th) at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (Haldane Theatre) from 10:50 or 11:50 (50mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Amy, your upcoming EdFringe show PSA delves into pelvic floor issues through a ‘multimedia extravaganza’ – tell us about what inspired the show and what the process was like of bringing it to the stage.
Amy: I created the show because I was having some medical issues that had a negative impact on my quality of life. For a few years, I tried a cocktail of denial that I had a chronic problem and optimism that things would get better on their own (because that’s always what happens with aging!), all topped with an additional jigger of denial. My challenges didn’t seem like such a big deal—they were only costing me about one day a month. But then, I added up how much total time I would lose if I hit a similar life expectancy to my forbearers, and it came out to more than a year. Suddenly, I felt an urgency to address these problems, which included leaking a bit of pee when I would jump or jog or cough and some strange digestive woes. Were these issues related? I didn’t know how to find out, and I was too embarrassed by both my issues and my confusion to ask any of the doctors in my family for advice.
Alas, it turned out my issues were connected to each other—and to my pelvic floor. I became an evangelist for how life-changing pelvic floor physical therapy was, thanking my doctors for the amazing recommendation. But how could I spread the word further? There was only one option: create a solo show with original songs, characters, and videos.
I pushed myself to make sure that I found everything in the show fun to me— from sound cues to fake medical charts to bonkers characters to singing serio-silly songs, and, of course, sharing useful information nobody asked for.
While it’s mostly been a joy to perform the show, at one festival, there was a tiny audience, which included two people I’d dated in college, my cousin (younger, male) and my husband’s best friend from childhood. As I pranced around, sharing the details of my bodily functions and woes, I saw their well illuminated faces before me and wondered what in the hell I was doing. Since then, I’ve upped my compartmentalization skills.
Jake: Tell us about what the audience can expect coming into the show, and what they might not expect about the show.
Amy: Audiences can expect a couple pints of silliness. They might be surprised by a few drops of social commentary and the slice of poignance as a garnish.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Amy: I want people to have such a good time that they don’t notice until later how much they’ve learned about their pelvic floors. A friend told me that, after seeing the show, she finally sought help for similar issues, and her life is better as a result. Hearing that was the greatest award the show could ever receive (though I am still open to receiving other awards).
Even if people don’t have pelvic-floor related issues, I hope the show can inspire people to prioritize taking care of something urgent or uncomfortable to improve whatever remaining time we have on earth.
Jake: With Edinburgh Fringe 2025 just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Amy: I’ve never been to Scotland, and I’m excited to explore Edinburgh over the course of a month and find my own routines and favorite places. While I plan to savor as many moments of the Fringe as possible, I may be most excited to know how I’ll be changed at the end—as a performer, as a creator, as a friend, as an endurance athlete, and even as a self-promoter. It could go so many ways….
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Amy: One of the characters in my show, Kaytee Trembleaux, Registered Dietician and Nutritionist, says that I should stay away from fennel tea and she recommended that I drink 100 oz of water a day. Even though that’s my answer, I swear, I’m fun!
A reminder, you can catch PSA: Pelvic Service Announcement from 1st to 23rd August (not the 10th or 17th) at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (Haldane Theatre) from 10:50 or 11:50 (50mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
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