I am honored to have been selected for the cast of Listen to Your Mother Chicago 2014. I’m honored and nervous but perhaps not for the reason others in the cast may be nervous.
I’m not nervous about being on stage. I’ve been doing theatre on and off for more than 30 years. I’m more comfortable on a stage than at a cocktail party. The difference, however, is that for Listen to Your Mother I won’t be playing a character. I won’t be memorizing someone else’s script. For Listen to Your Mother I have to be me. I will be reading something that I wrote. Not a piece of fiction that I wrote. Something that I wrote about me and my life as a mother.
I have a blog, but I don’t write a lot of personal stories. I’m much more likely to write about personal privacy. I don’t like my personal life and my family’s personal life to be on display. That’s my personal comfort level.
Then why did I submit something to Listen to Your Mother?
Honestly? I miss being on stage. I don’t have the time or energy to do full productions anymore (assuming I could scrape together a decent enough audition to get cast). Listen to Your Mother is a small commitment way to tread the boards for a few precious moments. It’s similar to when was in a production of The Vagina Monologues a few years ago, but of course then I was playing a character, performing someone else’s story.
If people don’t like my portion of the Listen to Your Mother show I can’t blame it on the script or the director. I can’t even isolate it to someone not liking my acting. If people don’t like my piece for Listen to Your Mother those people don’t like me.
It’s a terrifying possibility. No. A probability. After all, the pieces get posted on the Internet, and we all know what the Internet can be like.
So why am I doing it?
I do still long to be on the stage, and although sharing my own story scares me a little, I’m not afraid of being afraid. It’s good to do something scary every once in a while.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
If you are in or near Chicago and want to witness my fear first hand as well as hear stories from the entire amazing cast, here are the details:
Listen To Your Mother Chicago
2 pm on May 4th, 2014
Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport Avenue
Chicago, IL
Tickets can be reserved HERE. 10% of ticket proceeds will be donated to Recovery On Water, a program to help women recover from treatment for breast cancer.
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Kim Z. Dale 