Do I Remember How to Do This?

Hey, blog people. Boy, oh boy has it been a minute.

We had this whole pandemic thing, I don’t know if you heard about it. And my entire life turned upside down. Maybe yours did too? And I have to say, here I am three years later, and absolute nothing is the same.

Let’s go through the boxes:

First, my career. I had so much inertia. I was booking like crazy. I was confident AF. Then, the work disappeared. It just *poof* went away. And I spent most of my time stressed out about the whole “our democracy is falling into the hands of extremists and duped people en masse led by an insane modern day orange Caligula” and doing everything I could to stop that. In between, I took gummies and went for long, serene walks breathing fresh air. No work.

My soul was lost.

The good? I started doing some directing, and found I not only love it, but I’m pretty good at it, actually. I did my first Hollywood Fringe show, although it was virtual, but that had been on my bucket list for a while. I dedicated myself to a year of meditating daily and blogging about my experience every single day (myyearofmeditation.com if you’re interested) and it was nice to get into the habit of writing.

Ok, next? My mental health. I had a looooot of time on my hands, so I started doing that deep inner healing work that we never have (make) time for in real life. I went no contact with my mother, whom I realized likely has Borderline Personality Disorder, and learned an awful lot about BPD and the effects it can have on the children who are raised with it. That was hard. Super hard. The hardest part was the confirmation that, if I stopped existing to validate my mom and fawn over her and actually set boundaries and called out any abusive behavior, she really had no use for me anymore. She was happy to end our contact. Sucks to realize you don’t have the relationship you kept willing to be there, pretending you had. But going NC felt like a huge weight and responsibility lifted.

Parenting your own parents isn’t the way things are supposed to go.

Continue reading

It Never Fails…

Covid

Ya know, I live an exciting life. I’ll admit it. I like it that way.

I don’t necessarily mean “exciting” in a way you might think. I’m not casually chilling on yachts with billionaires or flying private jets to exotic locations (though my vision board has grand plans for the future!) I’m not an adrenaline junkie, skydiving and bungee jumping off tall buildings. (I mean, I’ve raced really expensive cars on race tracks- but mostly during these adventures I focused on not throwing up.) Plus, I’m a huge introvert, so a lot of my nights I’m perfectly happy curled up with a book or Netflix and some popcorn, to be honest.

So, no, not exciting to some. But my life is exciting in that it’s never predictable, and it usually flies a mile a minute (with “Introvert Days” baked in for mental balance!) My husband and I are often told people are tired just thinking about our lives. We get a lot of “how do you keep up with it?” and “when do you sleep?”

(Answers: “no idea, but it’s fun!” and “husband never does, but I’m a monster if I go more than one night with less than 8 hours!”)

I’m not saying this to brag (like, at all), but actually to explain a little about this blog, and also, I guess, just where I’m at mentally lately. Because this whole “worldwide pandemic” thing… well, that’s changed an awful lot. Continue reading

Volunteer Trip to Ecuador!

action Ecuador

I have amazing news- an upcoming project I’m incredibly excited about!!

I’ve been cast with a group of actors and artists going to Ecuador this summer. We will be living there for 30 days, participating in a series of workshops, lectures, and incredible experiences.

The BEST part is that we get a chance to give back and make a real difference. Our group will work within disenfranchised communities and with indigenous people, empowering the local youth with theatrical education. We will help them find their voices through the magic of acting and playwriting, giving them the tools to tell their stories.

This will all culminate with the creation and performance of our own original pieces inspired by our experiences in Ecuador. Our casts will preview these works in Quito before performing them in a festival in NYC the following week. Continue reading