Frances Floats
July 17 - July 20, 2025
Frances Floats: From Broadway to Back River Road: One Woman’s Journey Through Life.
Frances Floats is written and performed by Frances Mercanti-Anthony, a Broadway actress from Southern New Jersey, who left the footlights behind, and followed a burly, bearded, wood-chopping man to Midcoast Maine, where she learned to love the rural life, and found her forever home in the great wild north. It’s exactly like a Hallmark movie, but with much, much more profanity. Along the way Frances went from fat, to thin, to fat, and figured out what is really important to her. Hint: it’s not her dress size. She skewers everything from 1980’s diet culture, to Maine fashion, to her own illustrious dating history. With compassion, humor, and heart, Frances weaves her love story with tales from her time in NYC, and takes the audience with her on a journey of manifestation, self-acceptance, and gratitude. Frances Floats is one woman’s voyage to finding the life she always wanted in her 40’s, and only looking back to write more material.
Performance Dates
Thu, July 17, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Fri, July 18, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Sat, July 19, 2025 at 4:00 pm
Sun, July 20, 2025 at 2:00 pm
Ticket Prices
Adult: $35
Student: $10
30 & Under: $10
Age Suggestion
All Ages
Seating
General Admission
Run Time
1 hour with no intermission.
Ask the Star! A Special Q&A with Frances Mercanti-Anthony
What surprised you most about moving from New York to Maine?
The lack of people! Having lived in New York City for almost two decades, and growing up in New Jersey, outside of Philadelphia, I was used to people being on top of each other 24/7. There is no such thing as, "no traffic" in New Jersey, unless you are down in the Pine Barrens, and I was only there for summer camp, and occasionally to hunt for the Jersey Devil. Now, the nearest stoplight from my house is 8 miles away. When I started looking for apartments to rent before I moved up here, the real estate websites laughed at me. I'm still getting used to not being cursed at in my car on a daily basis.
Your show dives deep into body image, identity, and aging with humor and grace. How has performing this story changed your relationship with yourself?
Performing this show has made me appreciate my life, my body, and the love in my life even more than I did before.Each time I tell my story, I feel like I am reaching across the audience, and sharing my message of acceptance, and grace, and shining it straight into people's hearts. We all spend so much time in doubt, in fear, and in worry. The world is a hard place, and it can be a very cruel, and cold one. Connection, and community are all we have to bring us together. No one person is stronger than all of us when we stand together. Each performance helps me remember what I value most in this world, and that is love. It's the most powerful force in the universe, and whether it is self-love, or the love of another person, or the love of your child, or your dog, or your favorite flower, that love is everything. It's all that matters in the end. Every show reminds me to cherish that.
What has Maine taught you about yourself that New York never could?
Maine has taught me that I need so much less to be satisfied in life. In NYC it's all consumption all the time. People walking by with $50,000 handbags, who own 300 pairs of shoes. I think I have maybe 5 pairs of shoes now? I haven't taken my high heels out of storage since I moved here in 2018. I never knew that I could be happy in a place with no decent takeout, two stop lights, and a mud season, but here I am. I've learned to live with less, and I've learned that I'm happy with less. I have everything that I could ever want, and if I need something, and they don't have it at Reny's, I can probably get it at the True Value in Wiscasset.
If someone comes to this show expecting a traditional solo performance, what might surprise them?
I think of my show like a voyage. I take you on a little journey floating through my life, and at the end, we sail off together into the sunset! There is nothing typical about me. I can tell you that. I'm fairly certain I am the only Frances Mercanti-Anthony in the world. They broke the mold!
You’ve lived a life full of stories: Broadway, backroads, and everything in between. What inspired you to turn your journey into a solo show?
I spent my whole life wishing that I could be thinner. If I were thinner, I thought, I would be a famous actress. If I were thinner, I thought, I would find love. When I discovered that my size had nothing to do with my happiness, it was a eureka moment that I thought might resonate with many people. We all have something that we wish we could change about ourselves with a magic wand, and we all imagine that if we could just fix this one thing, everything would be perfect. But, it's never really about that thing. That perfection that we chase doesn't exist. It's a story we tell ourselves, and it holds us back from finding our happiness. When I finally found mine, I wanted to share it with the world.
What do you love most about performing this show live in front of an audience? Has it changed since the first time you did it?
I love to make people laugh. I always have. When I was a bullied kid in junior high school, I discovered that the bullies would leave me alone if I could make them laugh. Humor became my weapon of self-preservation, and it got me through some of my most trying moments. There is nothing so terrible in the world that we can't find the comedy therein. Darkness cannot exist without light. It runs in my family. I don't sit next to my Aunt Mary at funerals, because we will break up laughing. In Steel Magnolias, Truvy says, "Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion." It's mine too.
How has living in Maine influenced your creative voice?
Living in Maine has made me more reflective. It's softened me. The harshness of city life, the hustle and bustle, the traffic, the noise, the energy, all of it can be quite draining to that creative spark. It takes so much effort just to get through your morning commute in NY, and NJ, that at the end of the day, there's not much left to give. Maine is slow. You watch the ice melt, and the trees change color. You can sit at the harbor, and watch the ships come in, and no one will tell you to move your car before you get towed. The pace is glacial compared to stomping through Times Square to make it to the theater by call time. It's given me the space to take in the beauty of the world, and the wisdom to appreciate it. I am forever grateful to Maine, and how it has changed me for the better.
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Click here for a PDF , or email Gusta Johnson for more info: gusta@goodtheater.com