Creating is a Mind-Opening, Perspective-Spinning Experience and We Want More!

I’m an advocate and raving fan of creative ambition. I think I was born that way and then I went out into the world and earned my stripes (so to speak). I believe wholeheartedly that when we shine, we show other people how to shine too. Inspiration is contagious in the best way.

I see shining, acting, and any kind of creative work as a service profession. Actors are in service to their audience. When an actor is truthful and compelling, they take their audience on a journey into a world where that audience thinks and feels and laughs and escapes the daily grind in an exceptional way. If an actor, or any artist, is honest, their audience is transported into an empathic state which can change them in a significant way. In this crazy chaotic disconnected world we need artists to bring us back to the world of the living, back to our common humanity, and back to our hearts and our smiles.

This same kind of “transportation” happens in a creativity workshop when the participants connect with one another and become catalysts and co-conspirators in each others’ dreams. Every one of us needs to be the star of our lives.

Starring in our own lives is in conflict with so much of what we are taught about how to be “good” by putting ourselves last. Is that what we want to model for our children? Is that the way we want to spend this one lifetime – which may end at any moment? What does anyone in this world gain when we postpone our creative dreams? Maybe you get your kitchen floor so clean your family can eat off it, but – yuck! Wouldn’t the people who love you be so much happier watching you shine at your gallery opening, than eating off your shiny kitchen floor?

Why I created The Performance Lab and Who I created it for…

• To support people with creative ambition who are ready to commit to their art in a big way. 
• To connect with people who want to surpass the mundane and add their unique creative vision to the world.
• For people who aren’t satisfied with the status quo, who are compelled to make something new.
• For people who are determined to share their truth through their chosen creative medium.
• For people who want to smash their self-imposed and externally imposed limitations and take center stage as the star they know they are meant to be.

Here’s my Bio Thingy!

I basically grew up in the theater. I spent my youth dancing and acting and when I couldn’t get enough of that I went to Stephens College to get my BFA in Acting and still wanted more so I went to Penn State and earned my MFA in Acting.

Then I slogged it out in NYC for awhile and worked around the US at various regional theatres and finally got that golden ticket, the Actor’s Equity card! Then I quit.

I became a mom, then an ex, then a single mom and I went on this marvelous journey that introduced me to the world of psychodrama where I embraced the work of healing myself and ultimately sharing that healing with others, like me, who may have lost their way on their creative path.

What does all this mean? It means I’m a kick-ass acting teacher. And it means I am a passionate advocate for creative expression and creative fulfillment. If you have an inkling to create, to perform, to sing out, I want to cheer you on and help you build the foundation for your dreams.

As I said, I am a passionate advocate for creative ambition and my own life is a testament to that. I have learned to say, [cite]I’m all that. I’m an actress – a damn good one. I’m a director, a writer and an inspired teacher. And I am a firm believer that if you truly want to live a creative life, no matter what valid reasons you have for not following your dream, that you can and must go for it.[/cite]

I will help you, the same way I have helped myself. I will help you create your own venue and step into the light. I know how scary it can be. I know how tired and stressed out you are and I also know none of that is going to go away. It’s life. If you truly want to create, you have to do it. I tell myself this every day. In order to write this I had to get past a pile of resistance. But it’s worth it. Finding your creative voice and your community, having an advocate, and capitalizing on your willingness to learn and grow – DOES make you a star.