It was May 17, 2021. At the recommendation of my friend, Nancy Juetten, I watched the movie ‘La La Land.’ I loved every minute of it, just like I thought I would. In the movie, a young woman has the goal of producing her own one-woman show. She does. There are only 10 people in the audience. An utter disappointment. Or so she thinks. But it turns out there is one person in the audience who notices her. She is ‘discovered’ and goes on to become a big star.
The next morning after watching this movie, a Sunday, I woke up but didn’t get out of bed. In my head I saw myself on a stage in a small theater, entertaining and inspiring an audience. Bit by bit, I re-engineered my ‘Confidence Equation Virtual Keynote and Workshop’ to live theater.
After grabbing a cup of coffee, I opened my email and sent a message to several women: Valerie Stafford, owner of The Concrete Theatre, Nicola Pearson, author and playwright, and Marcia Kester, singer-guitarist.
All I wrote was “I have a crazy idea I’d like to share with you! When can we talk.”
After this, I joined a virtual meeting with some friends and announced my plan for my live stage performance to everyone. Saying it out loud was powerful accountability.
Later in June, I met online with my ‘proposed cast’ and I shared the idea of producing a three-woman femme-centric show to blend our talents with an appreciative audience.
At this time we were all expecting to come out of the Covid lockdown as many people had been vaccinated. And for a short time, we were full speed ahead.
Then came the Delta Variant. Would we cancel the show? Would we reschedule? Many thought we should. Wondered if we would.
As performers, this was the very LAST thing we wanted to do. Seeing my vision so clearly I felt utterly compelled to move forward whether anyone else came to the show or not. Even willing to fully cover the cost of the theater myself.
A song started in my brain called, “I’m doing this for me.” My whole life I have written silly lyrics to existing songs, but have never written my own lyrics with my own original tune. This one came easy. These soulful lyrics downloaded into my brain: “I’m doing this for me. I’m feeling better now. I see the blocks in front of me, I’ll make it through somehow.”
Most of us have experienced so many disappointments in the last two years. But if you have a dream that keeps coming back, you simply must listen and do what you can to step toward it. Do it for you and no one else. There is soul-lifting power in that.
We are moving forward with what we are calling ‘Possibility Playhouse’ on September 18th in the afternoon. As of this date, we have sold only 11 tickets. Hey, it’s just like ‘La La Land’! But the show WILL go on. Hearts will be lifted. Even if it’s just a few. It’s worth every ounce of effort.
If you’d like to join us, you may purchase a ticket here: https://possibilities.bpt.me
