Midge Lema Premieres "Bean vs. the Robots" at Hollywood Fringe

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Performer Midge Lema brings her sci-fi grief comedy to Hudson Backstage Theatre, with Edinburgh Fringe to follow.

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Midge Lema will bring Bean Vs. The Robots: A Solo Show Musical to Hudson Backstage Theatre. Performances will run June 7-21.

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Bean is trapped inside her spaceship, and now you’re trapped with her. Unfortunately for you, Bean lost her memories and must play sad little songs on her keyboard in order to get them back. While she sings, you start to lose all sense of time. But don’t worry, in space, there’s always time…or is there? As Bean unravels, she remembers why she (and perhaps you) needed to go to space in the first place!

The sequel to Midge Lema’s Bean, named “Best of Hollywood Fringe, 2011”, and called one of the “top ten shows not to miss” at the 2012 Fringe World Festival by The West Australian.

Bean can’t remember anything about her life, or even why she went to space. She’s been trapped inside her spaceship for a very long time. Surprised that an audience wandered aboard, Bean takes the opportunity to sing them sad little songs from her weird little space solo show. As she sings, Bean begins to remember a mysterious entity, perhaps someone important, that she lost. Afraid of remembering or, even worse, disrupting her solo show, she deems it easier to trap the audience inside her spaceship forever! Who needs memories anyway?

Also aboard Bean’s ship is a disgruntled hot robot and an optimistic Elijah Wood . Bean loves but despises the hot robot who encourages her to become a robot herself. She adores Elijah Wood who inspires her to be a good hobbit. With help from these companions and the audience, Bean allows herself to remember why she’s been trapped on her spaceship. She learns that while space travel is very hard, it is very worth it.

Midge Lema’s third solo show Bean vs. The Robots is about the way grief seeps into our lives and pilfers our memories. And sometimes we turn to robots to help us fill that void.

Says Lema: “As a kid, I tormented my family and classmates with little pop-up plays and monologues, usually set in a spaceship, always containing a character inspired by Elijah Wood . I would sing creepy little songs that probably still haunt everyone who heard them.” Still at it as an adult, Lema wrote and performed her first solo show Bean in 2011, and (Refried) Bean in 2014.

At the time she worked in a legal department, and spent nights and weekends performing in theatres and comedy clubs. This blissful, sleepless routine was interrupted in 2015 when Lema experienced a significant loss. It was a horrifying, beautiful, and oddly humorous time. Comedy and grief - a classic genre - was the seed for Bean vs. The Robots, although it would take a decade to get the show launched into space.

After this loss, Lema moved into a creative job as an editor and host, writing and conducting on-camera interviews of many luminaries across the entertainment industry. For nearly a decade, Lema launched herself into this work, as some memories began to slip away into space: “...all that mattered was my life at work. I didn’t even write one weird little song. My keyboard lay under my bed, crusted over with dust. I felt the grief would never go away, and I didn’t want it to. But then came a new grief for a weird little kid who sang songs about space.”

This new grief drove Lema to return to developing her own work, including Bean vs. The Robots. She dusted off the keyboard and started writing sad little songs about space travel and Elijah Wood . One seemingly random song became the driving force for the show. She realized why she retreated into that imaginary spaceship as a kid. The weird little songs came at a feverish pace.

Workshopping Bean vs. The Robots in 2025, Lema felt she was back where she belonged: “all I want to do is to continue performing this show, absorbing the energy of the audience, and keep making it weirder… and always a little sad, for anyone who likes those types of things.”

Michelle “Midge” Lema is a writer, performer, producer, on-camera host, and founder of Lemabean Productions. Lema earned a degree in theatre at the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts, and spent a summer studying Shakespeare at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England.

Lema worked with Disney for over a decade, most recently as Manager of Creative Brand & Development, overseeing content development for Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Disney+ digital and social platforms. She was previously the editor and head writer for Disney News and Oh My Disney, as well as head writer and host of The Oh My Disney Show. She managed editorial calendars and writing staff, oversaw content strategy, and wrote countless articles and scripts. She also appeared on-camera interviewing Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel Studios talent at press events, red carpet premieres, in-studio interviews, and the Oscars. Lema and the team she worked with earned multiple Webby and Shorty Awards.

Lema has written, directed, produced, and performed in numerous plays including productions in Los Angeles (REDCAT Theatre, Open Fist Theatre, Hollywood Fringe Festival), Scotland (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, This Bridge Theatre), Germany (International Shakespeare Festival), and Australia (Fringe World Festival). She first travelled to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a student when her high school was invited to participate in the American High School Theatre Festival. She later joined a professional theatre company, This Bridge Theatre, and performed in four shows in rotation at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of which she co-directed and one of which she co-wrote. In the Los Angeles theatre scene, Lema was a member of the Open Fist Theatre Company for many years, taking on numerous directing and performance roles, as well as serving as Fundraising Director. Through this work, Lema participated in the second Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2011, and continued on to be a part of several productions at the Hollywood Fringe over the years, including her previous two solo shows.

Lema also writes screenplays, specializing in the sci-fi and comedy genres. In 2024, her sci-fi comedy television pilot script Space Correspondent! was a Quarterfinalist in the ScreenCraft Comedy Competition, a Semi-Finalist in the Emerging Screenwriters Action & Adventure Screenplay Competition, and a Semi-Finalist in the Filmmatic Sci-Fi & Fantasy Competition. Her very first play, which she co-wrote as a teenager, was originally titled Shakespeare Made Easy and is now called Shakespeare for Kids. The play was published and has been performed by students throughout the U.S. and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Currently based in Los Angeles, Lema occasionally writes entertainment coverage for the popular media brand The Everygirl, which reaches millions of women around the globe. She also produces and hosts the ongoing live show Space Stories: An Open Mic and appears in the live sketch comedy show This Week This Week.

Lema originally wrote and produced her solo show, Bean, in 2011, which was awarded Best of Hollywood Fringe and called one of the “top ten shows not to miss” at Fringe World Festival by the West Australian in 2012. She went on to produce her second solo show in 2015. Her newest solo show, Bean vs. The Robots: A Solo Show Musical, is currently in workshop performances and will be debuting at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe later this year.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/BEAN-VS-THE-ROBOTS-A-Solo-Show-Musical-Will-Come-to-Hollywood-Fringe-20260514)._