Planning for this one-woman show is a somewhat daunting experience. But, it beats me talking about it for decades and doing nothing to make it happen. Dreams remain dreams because making reality happen is so much harder! But it’s worth it. There are so many elements to prepare before we even get down to the performing part! And the whole while I am pushing down my own feelings of self-doubt and honestly, it is not easy to let go of the ownership of this work. I don’t mean the practical ownership like rights, but this whole thing has been in my head so much that as I deal with the mechanics of writing and mounting a show, it is making me a little scared. It is much harder than I expected to let go and let someone else “handle things.” I have been my own producer, promoter and leader for years. No wonder it has remained just a dream for so long!
I must admit I had a fun weekend of working on the show. And I am not talking about writing. We ( Ira & Tom) met with my girl Libby at City Winery Chicago to schedule the reading. The thing about City Winery is that though it is a business, a corporation – it still feels like a mom and pop company. I have the support of the owner Michael Dorf and the folks at the Chicago venue. This is huge. We met in the restaurant and nailed down a DATE! Saturday, December 2nd at 1:00 P.M. That is the day. My first public reading. The idea is to get investors eventually but THANK the Goddess that that falls into the hands of my executive producers. I am horrible at asking for big money for this endeavor. I can focus on work.
But back to the other work. I had to find a graphic designer. I reached out to my friend David Cerda who heads the wonderful Hell in a Handbag Productions and he referred me to their designer Mike Miller. I called Mike and we had a breakfast meeting and overnight he had done a quick rendering that was so spot-on perfect that I started weeping at the table. Just seeing that photo and the show title realized (in some crazy great font that he created) made this even more real! Now to get the final work and send out “Save the dates!” for the reading. Now, I/we/someone has to decide definitively what to put in the invites. Meanwhile, I am still writing.
Don’t think for a minute that my little self-doubt demons have stopped their devilment: “What am I doing?’ “Am I gonna let everyone down?” “What if no one comes?” “Is this material truly representative of me?’ We have the songs picked out for the presentation and it’s an eclectic selection of tunes, all the stuff I love to sing, but my little demon has me second-guessing. Thank the Goddess for my girl Barbara Figgins a 30+ year theatre veteran with more than a lot of common sense and Chicago Theatre experience from both sides onstage and behind the scenes. She got me off the ledge of insecurity. OY!
But for now, I have just told that demon: SHUT UP! I have work to do!
Today, I am writing a piece that includes the death of my mother. I stopped to write this post because I couldn’t stop sobbing. This shit is intense!
Stay tuned!
Random Thoughts from A GREAT BIG DIVA