I’M A STORY TELLER

I tell stories. That’s what I am. I tell them when I write and I tell them when I’m acting. Being able to understand a playwright’s words and interpret them is what I’m good at, actually what I’m excellent at. I refuse to be labeled as an egotist; I’m honest about how I feel about my portrayal of a character, whether acting or writing.

One director said I totally became the person I was playing. A young woman, who went on to become a stage and television actor, told me of her mother, grandmother and sister with whom I spent time talking to in the green room. One or two of them would come to rehearsals or performances and sit back stage, but when it became time for me to go on stage they would go out into the theater to watch me. She said that they always asked her if that was me, because they can't believe it when I became someone else.

If someone says to me, you were wonderful in the role, I thank them, but it goes in one ear and out the other. Some people think that’s what an actor wants to hear. I’d rather hear it from other actors or directors who understand just what I accomplished.

So I wrote a book in the first person, telling a story directly to the reader. Then other characters tell their own stories directly to the reader. My book is one person to another telling a story of what is happening in their lives and my story telling evolves in that way.

I refuse to try to be what someone else says I should do or how I should write. This is my story and some people will be enthralled by it or not, but I will not change it to another person’s view as to what it should be. 

I love my story, I tell it only to you who are willing to listen to what I have to say.