California-based performer, writer and producer Michelle “Midge” Lema is heading to the Edinburgh Fringe this year with the third instalment in her series of Bean shows: ‘Bean vs. The Robots’. A solo musical that explores grief through a sci-fi lens, this show is told through the eyes of Midge’s character Bean and features original songs, live keyboard playing and plenty of space references. With a fascinating career so far, featuring a long stint working for Disney, a trio of solo productions and involvement in regular sketch shows, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to ask Midge some questions about her upcoming festival run.
How did you get into performing, producing and writing?
I first started writing and performing in childhood. I had just seen a Broadway show and immediately began mimicking what I saw, singing weird little songs, and jumping out at family members from behind my favorite household plant to perform self-written monologues. They loved it. Or at the very least, encouraged it.
I studied theatre in high school in California in the U.S., and went to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to perform for the first time as a 16-year-old student. It changed my life. I could not believe what I was seeing. I saw some wild shows and brand new concepts that altered my perception of what theatre can be. I couldn’t wait to go back.
In adulthood, I moved to Los Angeles and studied theatre at the University of Southern California, earning a Bachelor of the Arts degree. After that, I dove into the L.A. theatre and film scene. I very quickly realized that the best way to get my own writing out there was to make it myself. I began solo performance as a way to always have something of my own creation to showcase.
You previously worked with Disney for over a decade. How has this shaped your career trajectory?
My career at Disney took many interesting turns. I originally started scooping ice cream at a Disney ice cream shop in Hollywood. Sometimes I would put the ice cream on Mickey-shaped waffles. I later took a role in the legal department at Disney. I would do legal work by day, and work on plays or short films during my time off. I eventually made my way to a creative role, where I became a writer for one of the Disney social and digital brands. At some point, I got thrown on camera and started hosting red carpets and interviewing Disney talent at press junkets. I travelled, wrote articles, and captured social media content for years. In my last years at Disney, I became a manager of creative development.
I loved working at Disney so much. It changed the way I approached creative work. I learned how to do good work, under pressure. I learned how to care, so deeply, about the work I was doing. It pushed me to examine my career not as one single path, but a multitude of paths. And now, I get to put all that I learned there toward a creation that’s all my own.
‘Bean vs. The Robots’ is your third solo show. What inspired you to look to space for this original musical?
In recent years, every creative idea that has popped into my mind has been set in space. I can’t help myself. I love space. I love sci-fi stories. I’ve never tried to put sci-fi elements on stage. To explore this, I started a variety show/open mic night called Space Stories in Los Angeles. It was there that I first practiced my monologues and songs about space. My whole personality became “space”. Which I am okay with.
It was when I asked myself “why space?”, as this very question is asking, that I first came up with the original concept of the show. And that concept continues to evolve as I keep asking myself that question. The person who first inspired me to look to space is long gone, and the grief of losing that person is intrinsically tied to space because of that. It’s an infinite question and topic that I hope to keep exploring in my next work as well!
‘Bean vs. The Robots’ looks at the way grief seeps into our lives and takes away our memories, and draws on your own experiences of grief. How has it been expressing these emotions through art?
I hadn’t intended to explore grief when first creating this show, but the feeling of grief kept coming to me as I wrote. Even when I was writing songs about robots. So I finally gave in and decided to go with the grief, through a comedic lens. This has helped me understand my own grief, in that there is no real understanding of it. However, within grief, at least for me, there is always some amount of joy and comedy to be found. And grief, like creative work, is constantly changing.
What can you tell me about the character of Bean?
If you meet Bean for coffee or tea on a regular day, she will probably stare at you, wide-eyed, muttering about space. If you meet Bean after stumbling onto her spaceship, she will not stop talking at you about all the things she thinks and knows. She will most definitely sing at you. She typically does not want to talk at all, until it’s time to talk, and then she will talk until the moon rises.
The musical is currently in workshops. How are you developing the material ahead of the Festival?
After one of my workshop performances, I decided I wanted to take ‘Bean vs. The Robots’ to both the Hollywood Fringe Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I began making production decisions while attempting to revise the script. As anyone who has done Fringe knows, the whole process includes a lot of decision making. It can be overwhelming and daunting to do alone!
Recently, I started working with Riley Rose Critchlow and Alison Zatta, who are co-producing the show. Riley is also directing the show, and we’re currently in rehearsal as I simultaneously rewrite and rework the script. It has been the most amazing experience to now have a team to work with, after being in my own head for so long. We’re rehearsing the show and getting it ready to play with audiences at Hollywood Fringe, where we will have four performances, and then will continue to work out the show on the way to Edinburgh.
What are you most excited about, taking the show to Edinburgh this year?
I am so excited to feel the energy of Edinburgh again. I have such amazing memories of frolicking through the streets, flyering, going to see shows, meeting new people, and performing.
This will be my third time at the festival, but my first time in over a decade. In some ways, I have been chasing the feeling of being at Edinburgh Festival Fringe my whole life.
I can’t wait to see a ton of new shows. I am also incredibly excited to perform ‘Bean vs. The Robots’ almost every day. I have no doubt the show will change, and the Bean you meet on day one of the festival might just be a different Bean by the end of it. I’m intrigued to find out how the show changes and how I change with it.
Catch ‘Bean vs. The Robots’ at the 2026 festival
It certainly sounds like Midge is excited to return to Edinburgh and I love the idea that the performer is open to the show evolving throughout the run. Definitely a musical for the space fans among us, I think we can all relate to Bean’s admiration for the Solar System and the unknown. ‘Bean vs. The Robots’ is based at Theatre 2 at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (venue 53) from 7th – 29th August (not 16th and 23rd). Performances run for 50 minutes and start times vary, so please check the EdFringe website for the specific date you’d like to attend.
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