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Prospect-Lefferts Gardens Working Moms Fundraise for New Web Series

 Laura Frenzer, right, and Rohana Kenin, left, are working on a web series about life as working mothers in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. In one scene, Kenin's character combs lice out of Frenzer's character's hair.
Laura Frenzer, right, and Rohana Kenin, left, are working on a web series about life as working mothers in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. In one scene, Kenin's character combs lice out of Frenzer's character's hair.
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Laura Frenzer and Rohana Kenin

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS — Brooklyn residents Laura Frenzer and Rohana Kenin know there’s no secret formula for dealing with the pressures of careers, aging and motherhood for women in their 40s.

But the lead characters in a soon-to-be-filmed web series, “47 Secrets to a Younger You,” haven’t quite gotten that message yet.

Frenzer and Kenin — who are both actors and became friends after moving into the same Prospect-Lefferts Gardens building more than a decade ago — thought up the show by drawing from their own experiences.

“You’ve got kids, you’ve got your relationship — with either your spouse or if you’re trying to have a relationship with another person — you’ve got your own health things that are jumping up and surprising you and making you go ‘Oh, I’m getting older,’” Frenzer said. “And then [you have] your parents [and] your career.”

All of those pressures create a “perfect storm,” which Kenin and Frenzer hope to explore in the web series. They hope their show will be an antidote to the “glossy version” of mother characters shown on network sitcoms, Kenin said.

“We like shows that represent real people and real situations based on a real world,” she said.

The web series follows two friends, Julie Dooling (Frenzer) and Karma Kaufman-Castro (Kenin), who play “exaggerated versions” of themselves as they grapple with real life issues, like dating after divorce or an ill-timed kid’s ear infection, they said.

"It's the wrench that gets thrown into your day," said Frenzer about the everyday obstacles that the show will portray.

Unlike the actors who play them, the show’s characters are still searching for that magical trick or shortcut to make life easier — hence the name of the web series, which was inspired by headlines on Facebook ads and women’s magazines that claim to have all the answers, usually involving ways to stay young.

“Instead of buying into this ‘You’re over 40 now, you’re done” [mentality] … we’re embracing it and saying, no, this is where we are right now and we’re still creatively dynamic and active,” Frenzer said.

“You’re allowed to keep trying things,” Kenin added.

The more than 20 years each has spent in the entertainment and production industries includes work in voice-over, theater, film, improv comedy and television. Locally, they’ve produced six seasons of Shakespeare performances in Prospect Park through PLG Arts, an organization founded by Frenzer in 2006. Kenin is a board member.

Now, they're fundraising online through IndieGoGo to raise $18,000 to get their web series off the ground. They're offering cookies, DVDs of the future show and voice-over lessons as incentives for people to donate.

The show will be shot in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens in June and will feature recognizable neighborhood hangouts, like the Bluebird restaurant on Flatbush Avenue, which will serve as the backdrop for the local watering hole in the series, they said.

As of Sunday, the pair have raised $6,198 with three weeks left on the campaign and they're feeling positive about the feedback they’ve received so far about the script and concept.

“That makes us feel like we are hitting that note of… ‘Oh, I get that! That really happens to me!’ which is what we were looking for,” Kenin said.

For more information about “47 Secrets to a Younger You,” visit the IndieGoGo campaign website.