When you are creating solo material, it is very important that you give yourself total permission to be free in your exploration.........this means that you do not edit yourself at the beginning stages of this process.

It means.....begin with stories. It means be as specific as you can but give yourself permission to "speak the unspeakable", if only to yourself. To be emotionally honest,onstage one has to begin by being honest with oneself. About what? My experience has been, about everything.........Does this mean that every moment in your life will show up in your show? Of course not.........Later in the process, it will be very important to focus on themes and create a monologue that reaches OUT to your audience. Not one that only reaches IN.

But, in your creative process, one must often go all the way IN to oneself, to bring something of value OUT to others.

Here are a few excersises to open your FLOW:

Write without stopping on any of the following topics:

(15 minutes each.....do not pick pen up from paper.....do not stop to edit...follow your first thoughts....write into the emotion rather than around it......just don't stop for 15 minutes no matter what unless the house is on fire!)

The first time......at 2:00 in the morning....my best day.......saying goodbye........first kiss.......the kitchen table..........my father.............my mother.........the last time...........side effects..........virginity................NYC.............Christmas morning........I can't remember...........stolen moments..........morning light........

Next: Walk around your room slowly and speak on a topic first as yourself, then as your 5 year old self, then as your 16 year old self, then as your mother, then as your father, then as your first love.

Embody the character. How do you walk at 5 or 16? How do you talk? Embody your mother......How does she walk and talk? Does she have any mannerisms. Allow each character to tell a story through you....start with any topic like: home or chocolate....or .......by the sea......or...... the first time........or ......my teacher..... or..... the hospital.

Choose a moment in life and tell us the story......speak the story.......feel the story........smell and taste the story.....become the story....embody the story.

Begin here...........with the story.

Feel free.....do not judge.....speak through it..........move your body as you tell it...write through it........swim to the other side.

o.k....so I said I would continue this five days or so ago...I lied...sorry!

Containers about solo performance other than first person storytelling:

Original character monologues centered around a particular theme: I love this format. It is great for an accomplished actor to work in this format. This is John Leguizamo in "Mambo Mouth".....this is Danny Hoch in "Jails, Hospitals and Hip Hop", this is Sarah Jones in "Bridge and Tunnel"........

I remember seeing "Mambo Mouth" when it came to the Greer Garson Theater at the College of Santa Fe many years back. There was a scrim in the center of the stage. John used this to go behind to transform from one character to the next. He used lighting and music so that we were "in" on the transformation. And he was going from "little boy in the tenement" to "transvestite hooker" in about 30 seconds.....sneakers off...stilettos and wig on....all in front of our eyes.

All his charaters were loosly related through connections that he would refer to in the monologues and by place (a neighborhood in New York). He gave himself a tremendous amount of freedom in this simple structure and could showcase characters that were quite obviously inspired by people he knew (and himself as a child) in his predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood.

When you are creating original charaters for the first time, work close to home. That means begin with the characters that already "live inside" so to speak. That means your grandmother, your father, your crazy Aunt Daisy, your neurotic first cousin Marge........Play with them through improvisation....walk around your room...assume their walk or posture or all three. Tell a story out loud from their point of view. Repeat a phrase that they repeated over and over until it jumpstarts your imagination and leads you into a story.

Or, interview someone. can be anybody. A store clerk, a housekeeper, your child's teacher, your child.......ask them to tell you about their life, family, where they came from...doesn't matter. Then, go back and write a monologue based on your interview. See what it feels like to become them.

This technique is how my former student, Michelle Vest created her show "Sole Surviver's" about immigrants stories. It all began when she asked her Mexican housekeeper to tell her story.

This technique of interviewing served Anna Devere Smith well. It's how she created her Pulitzer Prize winning script "Fires in the Mirror" as well as"Twilight:Los Angeles" I saw her perform "Fires in the Mirror" back in '96 when she was touring with it. She chose, in both cases, a provocative, racially divisive event (Rodney King and LA Riots) and interviewed people from all sides of the issues. She played African Americans, Caucasiens, Asians, old, young,in-between with varying levels of success (in my humble opinion)..regardless...she creates theater thatreminded me more of a documentary film than anything else.....but I digress....

If you are an actor, this is certainly a bold choice. Basically, the idea is to create either short (Ms Devere-Smith did about 50 or 60 short monologues in each show) or longer (Michelle did four, fifteen minute monolgues), John Leguizamo probably did 8-10 monologues that are cenetered around a general or more specific theme. through each monologue, you contribute to the over-riding theme of your show.

Oh and I have omitted what began as a one woman show but is now usually performed by several actresses at once and that is "The Vagina Monologues" o.k. well this is a teaser........I will devote an entire blog to my mixed feelings about "The Vagina Monologues" at a later date...ok, let me throw in one phrase right now "The Emperer (or should I say Vagina) has no clothes." But technically, this world-wide phenomenan (good title, Eve!...even better P.R!) is in the same category as the other shows mentioned. Rent them if you can find them or look for excepts on youtube or online. Also, order the scripts. They are excellent models.

When I am teaching my solo performance classes, I like my students to watch a variety of shows to get them familier with certain "forms' or "containers' that are commonly and successfully used regardless of the content of the piece.

The first is the autobiographical monologue. Usually, this form is a compelling, lifechanging story where the performer is the protagonist. This form of embodied storytelling has been used by many famous monologuests, from Mark Twain to Spalding Gray to Julia Sweeney ("God Said Ha!"- pure genius...you can rent the DVD) The key to this type of show being a success, in my experience, is the storyteller really having an interesting personal story to share that has hurdles and obstacles to overcome. This is the classic "Hero's Journey" type structure and is ultimatly about transformation. We, as the audeince should feel that we have personally engaged in this journey with our hero and come out changed (as is she or he) on the other side. There must be a compelling reason for the performer to share their story. If it has humor, interesting characters that we meet thru our protaganist along the way, high dramatic stakes,high personal stakes and a really committed storyteller, then chances of having a successful show go up.

I must put a word of caution out here. Autobiographical Solo Perfomance can be funny, brilliant, intimate and fulfilling at it's best.

At it's worst, it can be narcissitic, self absorbed, sloppy and even embarrassing for the audience to watch.

This is the crux of the issue for professional solo performance artists and this is the most important work I do with my clients and students. Here's the magic key:

THE STORY MUST BE BIGGER THAT YOU. You may say "But wait...this story is all about me" Wrong-o. The story may be autobiographical but it must reach into universal themes, it must have movement, it must be humble, it must be authentic, it must REACH YOUR AUDIENCE. You are using your life as your artistry but that doesn't make it any less an art.

This is sometimes why some critics have been wary of solo shows.  If you are using your show to aggrandize your ego, play the victim/martyr or hold the audience hostage to validate your childhood dramas, please get therapy. I really don't mean to be glib. Come back to the solo show format when you have something to offer; an adventure to take us on, a journey-either inner or outer, some wisdom to share based on your direct experience (not judgements or opinions-more about that in another blog).

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are processing heavy emotional material (a divorce, death, chilhood abuse etc.) you do not want to work with that material in a show until you have gotten some distance from the experience. This is not to be confused with a theraputic monologue process (which I have developed and worked with extensively with trauma survivers). Yours is an artistic process with different goals and higher creative standards. It doesn't mean you can't ever use the experience as material. You just can't use it until you have some emotional distance and perspective. Ho. Amen. Om Shanti.....in spiritual terms that means "Trust me on this one!"

O.K. I have to sleep......more on the other solo show formats tomorrow.

By the way, my first show, "Honeymoon In India" followed this format to the tee. You can watch an excerpt on my youtube page which is connected to this blog. Good night!

One of the most enjoyable people I've worked with on her solo show is a performing and visual artist named Michelle Vest. I remember that when Michelle initially began working with me, she thought she wanted to do an autobiographical show about her journey into motherhood.

What a surprising twist~ Her art and inspiration took her in an entirely different direction once she began to create. One of the assignements I always give to my students is to create a monologue based on an interview with someone they don't know very well.

Michelle interviewed a woman who helped her out with her child and housekeeping. This woman came across the border from Mexico and told Michelle some of the harrowing stories of her life and what she had to do to come to the States and work. I will never forget when Michelle came to class and performer her monologue of this woman. She completly embodied her. There was a depth and power in the work. This excited Michelle and set her on her path to create "Sole Surviver's"; a show where she plays four immigrants form Mexico and El Salvador, based on personal interviews she had with these people. In this work, she really gives voice to those that are generally "voiceless" in our culture.

Once again, we see the invitation of solo performance to offer us a window of intimacy into people's lives that we might never see or know otherwise. A window that offers us more understanding, more empathy and more power we choose to view each other. How can we stay seperate and experience each other as "stranger's"?....we cannot, once we hear each others authentic and vulnerable stories.We are brought together in our humanity when we really drop into these monologues and just listen.

Michelle is performing her show in Philadelphia this month and in October at Stage Left Studios....I am thrilled that others will see this amazing world she has created. Blessings, Michelle. Your artistry and presence is a blessing. www.MichelleVest.com and www.StageLeftStudios.com