Last January, a poised and elegant woman walked into my studio. She told me she wanted to create a one woman show...She mentioned that she wanted it to be insprational and uplifting....

Many people in Santa Fe (and many other places) know Linda Durham as an art dealer, activist and world traveler....She oozes charisma and is powerful and a great speaker.

Intuitively, I know that if we relied upon any of the above "talents" or "accomplishments", that we would never get to the deeper invitation for her show.The intimacy,the core, the rawness of the human heart.

We started the yearrwith improvisations and storytelling...Linda is a natural, so the stories flowed out of her like honey...These were stories of her world travels and adventures.

But what really moved me one day was when Linda came in and started talking to me about her mother and how she told her as a child that she disliked Linda's freckles and  told her that "in Ireland, they put urine on children's freckles to get rid of them"....another story began to emerge; one of lonliness and a lifetime of wandering in search of true love.....the deeper and more personal inspration behind her travels started to splill out.

The transformational arc in stortytelling is what we all deeply want to hear. It is not self serving. It is not gratuitous. It is not about finding "the slilver lining".....It is about showing in a very specific way where we've come from and where we have gotten to...Not in an external way so much as what we have discovered about the workings of the human heart...our heart..how it has been wounded, broken, how it has collapsed and then risen above, how it has learned to forgive and where it shrieks in rage...how it  tries and fails to forgive and where it stumbles...all of it...every raw, real, funny, cruel, loving human moment is grist for the mill of a solo show....But, you've got to be willing to walk into the fire of truth...Let go of editing yourself or trying to "look good"

Two of the most courageous moments I've ever seen on stage will be revealed in Linda's show....because, she was, in the end willing to let go of "looking good'  and "being inspiring" to being human and real and funny and warm and cold and vulnerable....

Her show will succed because she surrendered her ego and tells the truth...It  is an act of radical courage. In this tech week, when things are crazy, I realize how I have come to adore her...which is very different than  the energy of "admire" , yes? And, yes, be inspired by the willingness to embrace everything.

So, if you want to do your own solo show, it means getting fearless...walking into and through the fire of your fears and sharing a story of depth and meaning (as the self or in charcters you've created)...You must give everything or it doesnt mean anything....

Hope to see you all at the show~

In love,

Tanya