When I was a young actor I wanted to be as much of an actor as I could be. So I took ANY job that even remotely resembled acting. I lived in Cincinnati for a year and a half dressing up as an alien from Star Trek at a theme park nearby. I was 21…
Most improvisers are so afraid of being cliché or “repeating themselves” that they try to avoid archetypes and typical relationships. Maybe they’re thinking, “You’ve seen one lovers-getting-together scene, you’ve seen them all.” But these are the stories that audiences crave to see and hear the most. If this was not the case, nobody would know…
That place on W2 forms where you list exemptions is important. I need to change mine. Uncle Sam is getting a lot of money from me this month. Sometimes when you sit down to write about something, you write about something else entirely. I forgot how much I love Sherman Alexie’s writing. I need to…
Writing a show is: 1 part inspiration 1 part discipline 2 parts putting your insides on the page 1 part playing Scrabble on facebook If you’re going to try to double that last one, you better double the whole damn recipe.
I told a friend recently that I was writing my next one-woman show. She asked me about my process. I’m not really sure what my process is. I think I’m still figuring it out. I can tell you what my process feels like. It feels like my process is: announce to everyone I’m writing my…
Ugh. This whole thing upsets me. As an artist, it upsets me when performers think they have to change a truthful story to make it “theatrical.” There are so many ways to dramatize truth without lying about it. If you have to lie to make your theatre good or poignant, then you’re just not creative…
After I lost my sister, a dear friend gave me a book on grief. It’s called, Transcending Loss by Ashley Davis Prend and has been incredibly helpful. Dealing with the death of a loved one is not something I can encapsulate into a sentence or even a blog entry. At least, not right now. Or…
Oh, Theatre! Thou art my true, lasting love You’ve stood beside me, steadfast, all these years Methinks that thou were sent from hea’en above To grant me laughter and some humble tears. Expression is something we humans need To find our truth and look it in the eye Good theatre happens then, I feel,…
Twenty years ago, I had just started performing improv. Admittedly, it was pretty bad improv. Bar-prov. Improv in bars, is not the most artistically satisfying experience for a performer. Performing improv in bars is like doing a cooking-demo in a strip club. Nobody gets what you’re doing. Nobody cares what you’re doing. You’re just a…
Sometimes, I wish life was as simple to live as a Rumi quote. Sometimes, it is. Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love. ~Rumi Sure, if you follow your dream, life can be really challenging. But you know what? Life can be really challenging if you don’t follow…