It’s been a long while since I made any post on my website, but that’s because I’ve been busy as Santa’s reindeer handlers in December. (Honestly, I love the meme that’s going around about the reindeers being all female because they have antlers in December still). I don’t have the capacity for editing, so this is very stream of consciousness writing right here.
I’m working in theatre. And I mean working - toiling, trying, creating, starting over, doing over, trying again, throwing myself out there in the wind. I performed in 13 shows this year - 12 of them improv and 1 of them a staged reading of my one-act space comedy MANY BOTHANS DIED which I was utterly delighted to put on at Kickstand Comedy in Portland on May-the-Fourth 2024—with friends and creative colleagues. I’d never get it done without the guidance and partnership of Darrell McGee- thank you D! Honestly, I really put myself out there this year and have continued to hone improv skills in rehearsal and onstage. One of my favorite moments this year came during Funhouse Lounge’s UNREAL WORLD: NERD CITY and Lady Loki (Mellissa Buchta) and Leeloo Dallas Multipass (me) had an argument in the living room about whether tortellini is even pasta and why Loki should run for public office because “felons can do that now!” [the day Trump was convicted]. I love my tiny theatre community and really my brain is there most of the time, when I’m not actively playing Ninja Turtles with my kiddo, grocery shopping, doing laundry, or trudging into my healthcare work…which, by the way, 2025 will look a LOT different.
I took an online directing course with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and it was extremely formative and useful -f Alasdair Hunter is an absolute gem of a human and goldmine of experience. I utterly enjoyed every part of that weekly class and the assignments it came with. My brain has spent 11 weeks inside Lauren Gunderson’s SILENT SKY and now I’m even more obsessed with LG’s writing and career than before. Gulping down her playwriting podcast - and everything Jon Stewart has to say on the Weekly Show podcast too.
Exercising kind of [lifts heavy coffee thermos repeatedly, switches arms]. Paying attention to my aging body as much as able. Keeping up with the public school calendar, work calendars, show calendars kind of - but honestly I’m really into this whole Winter Means Rest theme. As if Mother NAture puts up her feet and says, “Fuck it, I’m tired, I’ve dos in my sne enough this year.” And then tiny Humanity runs into the living room zooming their hotwheels and trying to do last minute holiday stuff—”Enough Humanity, GO TO BED!” Mother Nature says.
I’m so proud of myself for all the stuff I did this year, and more than anything for all the times I said No. Or No thank you. And for recognizing the smaller insanities in my life and doing what I must to change them.
I’m working on a longer play about motherhood, and for each character I’ve written down a sentence of dialogue that sums up themselves, and for one of the characters - a mother and an emergency room physician - her sentence is: “I am plagued by the knowledge of Life’s impermanence.” And God, do I feel that daily.
But maybe what I - and what Dr. Beachey - need to realize is, that plague is also a gift. And I don’t plan on wasting it.
2025 is going to be filled with big change and challenge, and honestly I’m proper terrified. But sometimes best things are the scariest - run to the danger, as my improv troupe espouses each time we gather.
I’m so thankful for my counterparts in crime onstage at the Funhouse and elsewhere in Portland’s small regional theatre scene. I want to dive in more and more in 2025. I’m so thankful for my spouse who is my nrock and my biggest cheerleader. I’m so thankful for my kiddo, who inspires me daily and yanks me out of fits of exhaustion and desperation into worlds filled with hope and adventure. Just ask our Batman, Ninja Turtles, Hot Wheels, Play-doh kitchen, and the 160 stuffed animals that get thrown from one end of the living room to the other.
Sending love & light to you and yours in this winter season. May you achieve rest by stopping what you are doing and noticing that the world continues to spin while seated.
