Last week, Isabel Hagen’s semi-autobiographical indie feature film On A String took home a “Best Screenplay award in the U.S. Narrative Competition” at the Tribeca Film Festival. As a violist, Hagen has performed in classical string quartets, with post-minimalist auteurs like Max Richter, and even with indie darlings Vampire Weekend.
About a decade ago, Hagen suffered an injury that halted her professional music career which resulted in a pivot to stand-up comedy. She juggled posh string quartet gigs with open-mics at dingy bars. By 2020, Hagen had performed stand-up on the The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and created a multi-episode web series called Is a Violist.
The series calls to mind New York City-centered scripted comedies like Louie C.K’s Louie and the HBO series High Maintenance. In it, we follow Hagen as she finds herself playing gigs around the city: everything from an awkward proposal in Central Park to a woman’s deathbed serenade. Is a Violist is smart, dry and a bit triggering to anyone who’s been through the “music education industrial complex” (cough, cough), and proved to be a training ground for writing On a String.
Isabel Hagen stopped by WRTI in April while on a stand-up tour to chat about her bohemian upbringing, specific moments from Is a Violist, and how she folds her viola playing into her live act as a stand-up.
CREDITS:
Isabel Hagen, Artist
Alex Ariff, Sr. Producer / Host
Tyler McClure, Asst. Dir. of Production / Engineer
Delia Joyce, Camera and Editor
Melanie Spiegel, Camera
Katie Neary, Graphics