Three years ago, Cat Cohen lay hopelessly in a hospital bed. Despite being only 31 years old, she had suffered a minor stroke, and doctors discovered a hole in her heart. It felt like the end of the world to her. However, Cohen, an actress, podcaster, and comedian, realized that this experience provided fantastic material. "It really was a spark," she says. She began taking notes on the events, what the doctors said, and her family's reactions; these elements, aside from the trauma, were genuinely funny to her.

A news story she saw on her phone after the stroke had reassured her. "I read that Hailey Bieber had a stroke like mine, and that was the first spark of the thought, 'I will be okay too,'" she says. "She was already doing well! She had a baby, she had her life together. While looking at her Instagram, I thought, 'I will be like her.'"

This experience became the inspiration for Cohen's new one-woman show, "Broad Strokes." She will stage her performance at New York's famous Lucille Lortel Theatre from July 14 to September 5. With stage experience, Cohen's show will also feature six songs in her own style. However, this marks her first appearance off-Broadway and is a significant step as a work with a specific narrative flow.

As Cohen prepares for her show, she expresses that she always wanted to be extraordinary and the main character, but after experiencing an intense and story-defining event, she said, "I was tired of this job." Cohen also plans to address her healing process and states that she will leave an open ending to her show.