A theatre is certainly a place for learning human magic, a certain kind of magic born when the curtain rises. United Solo, the world's largest solo theatre festival, has unveiled this magic.

This year, the United Solo Theatre Festival featured 120 stage productions representing six continents, performed mostly in English, and impressed the vibrance of a thriving global theatre community. Yet, there was a more surprising event that marked a historical moment: For the first time in its history, a Turkish artist's play has been staged.

Turkish American co-production "Muse 90401" is a one-woman play written and performed by award-winning actor Fadik Sevin Atasoy. The work sets out to reenvision the lives of three famous women from art and literature through the perspective of a rebellious "the Muse." Staged at world festivals with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye, the play was praised as a "genius" written piece by Aida Takla, president of the Golden Globes Awards. It also returned with the "Best Production" award from the Boulder Festival in 2021.

Some visitors had an unforgettable experience at the Theatre Row in New York City. "The Muse" is filled with simple, small instigating points that will not let you forget Atasoy’s performance.

When I entered the theatre, I was amazed all over again by how magnified this project's importance has become, far beyond being a play or an artwork. "Muse 90401" is a depiction of a "muse" who was sent by the "Planet of the Arts" to Planet Earth. Her mission is to inspire Shakespeare, Da Vinci, and many other world-renowned artists. Though she tries to encourage Shakespeare to keep Cleopatra alive and Da Vinci to draw Mona Lisa with a smile, she is brought before the court to defend her failures.

Throughout the play, especially the Mona Lisa part gives the audience dazzling moments. As "the Muse's" deepest desire is to be a human, she expresses her justifications through her songs in the play. Accompanied by a live musician, who also happens to be her attorney, she stands before the audience, who will ultimately be her trial jury. Ingenious, humorous, thought-provoking, and bold, this non-stop tour de force lends Cleopatra and Mona Lisa a new voice by recreating history. The play also transforms the tragic endings of these women, offering the audience an empowering vision of who they were and could have been.

The muses are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts in Greek mythology, as there were mainly nine Olympian Muses.

In the play, Fadik Sevin Atasoy stages a cutting-edge adaptation of the Muse’s seemingly absurd drama. The powerful story she tries to bring across, it’s life, happening right in front of you and the artist is all alone, establishing eye contact and entertaining the audience, making it so intimate and exciting simultaneously. Even performing a solo play is something that requires the full use of your intellect and emotional breadth.

There’s a sense of wonder around "the Muse" experience. Everything from the outfits and hairstyles, to the dance moves, to the non-stop rising acts filled the atmosphere. It is a one-woman play performed in the style of "Modern Female Encomiastic," an interweaving form of the Western and Eastern theatre disciplines.

"Encomiastic" (Turkish storyteller) is an ancient Turkish theatre form mostly performed by a single male storyteller. Atasoy deconstructed this male-dominated tradition and reformed encomiastic storytelling into a contemporary one-woman musical theatre. The art of encomiastic was included among the oral and intangible heritage recognized by UNESCO in 2003.

Also, the festival lineup includes Emmy-nominated actor Sharon Lawrence as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham in "The Shot." Opera singer and actor Shelley Cooper appears in "La Divine: The Last Interview of Maria Callas," which has already garnered many theatre awards. On Nov. 20, the Closing Gala will present "She Has Wings," a special performance developed by festival artistic director and founder Omar Sangare and the festival's assistant artistic director Wendy-Lane Bailey.