Solo Performances: A Tool for Social Justice/ A Tool for Healing

here is a great movement underway in the theater  and simultaneously in the healing community. It has been a long time coming, yet in essence returns us to our deepest community roots from our ancestral egalitarian society’s. We are reclaiming our roles as storytellers, as Hero’s on a journey home, as social justice commentators, as jesters and shamans. In the contemporary theater, we are doing this through the vehical of “The Solo Show”.

The solo show that I am speaking of is the one person show that is conceived of, written by and performed by one man or one woman. It is a show that is the most holistic form of theater as it is born and manifested from one person’s deepest vision. It goes beyond conventional theater in terms of intimacy because the story, experience and perspective is created by the performer.

For me, it has been the richest and most empowering journey I have taken in my lifetime and I have devoted my self the exploration of this form. I have written and performed my own shows, directed and produced countless other solo shows and been a teacher and coach in the development of solo shows. Additionally, I have created and implemented a process to utilize contemporary monologues as a therapeutic form with populations of people with cancer, AIDS, mental illness and survivers of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. There is no form that I have found that has the possibility of being a more powerful testement to the human spirit that the solo show. On a profound level, it is about the willingness to show up onstage and reveal our humanity to one another.

Unlike the artifice inherent in traditional theater, this is no smoke and mirrors euphimism. Solo Performance is based on the direct experience of the performer him or herself. It is based on real life experiences. The emotional story is the performer’s story one way or another, every time. This includes documentary theater such as Anna Deveare Smith and Danny Hoch who are choosing their subjects for interview.It is their personal point of view and choice to frame particular subjects in a particular way that shows us who they are.

What Are You Waiting For? Do Your Solo Show Now!

At least three times a month, I get a call from somebody who is interested in working with me on a one person show. More often than not they start out the conversation by saying something along the lines of " I've been working on my show for years but cannot seem to pull it together" or "I've been thinking about doing this show FOREVER, but have no idea where to begin"

I totally relate to this. In 1984 I knew in my bones that I would do a solo show. But I had no idea where to begin. My path was circuitous. I dreamt about doing a solo show, but kept putting it off. My performance career had become boring to me despite the fact that I continued to be cast in many shows. The material of the plays themselves were just not interesting to me. They felt stale and contrived. I longed to use all of me; my voice, my concerns, my passions, my humor, my life and my ability to perform to create something unique that felt truly "my own" as an artist. At the time I did not know this consciously, but I wanted to expand and take up more space I wanted to take my place in my life as well as on the stage.

In 1992, I began journaling daily. Then I joined a few writing groups. "The Artist's Way" was a brand new book at the time. Morning Pages and Artist Dates became part of my life. Tentatively, I was finding my writing voice. I always was confident in my acting ability, but did not know how I would find a way to write what I really wanted to express.

Slowly at first I eked out the words. I wrote and wrote and began to uncover nuggets of gold. Finally, an experience arrived that matched my insides in terms of what I really wanted to say.

And so, after many years of living with a burning and haunting desire to do a solo show, I wrote and performed "Honeymoon in India"


One of the reasons I do the work I do is to assist people in short circuiting the time on this process. By quite a bit. We work together in my studio, and within four days, you have the raw material for your show.

All of my own experiences with this form are grist for the mill. At this point I have worked on over one hundred solo shows. I'm able to take you straight to the heart of your story. The most essential story. The one you have needed to tell for your entire life.

There is no need to wait. If the strong desire is inside of you to write and perform a solo show, I can guarantee you that it will not go away. No matter how hard you try to get it out of your mind. It will remain and grow bigger. And the longer you put it off, the more it will drive your crazy!

Because your SOUL knows. It knows what it knows. And if you were meant to take this journey, just do it.

Your Soul will thank you and you will be able to rest at night without thoughts of your undone show swirling in your brain.

Best of all, your life will expand. Because when you stand up on that stage and take up that much space, power and energy, things really won't ever be the same.

Don't believe me? Check out one of my favorite solo performers, John Legizamo in the video above. Wouldn't you like to be that engaged? That alive?

Yes, it is possible.

Queer Voice Monologue

From a Queer Voices Monologue Show I facilitated in Santa Fe some years back with the college of Santa Fe. GLBY students each wrote and performed a 10 minute piece over the course of a week-end.

Spalding Gray video

Here is a scene from Spalding Gray's seminal work, Swimming to Cambodia. I met Spalding a few years before he did this show at the Wooster Theater Group.

I saw an earlier  show at the Brattle Street Theater in Cambridge, Ma. in 1984. It changed my life. About twenty of us sat in the audience. He came onstage in his usual way. His voice and style was already established.

He spoke openly about his mother's suicide and masturbating at Walden Pond to feel closer to the Spirit of Thoureau. I was hooked. From that night on, I knew that solo performance/contemporary storytelling was my path. Who knew how far it would lead me.

I love you Spalding. You were my first and the best of the best. Your generosity onstage set the bar.

Creative Empowerment: The Right and Need to Create Your Own Work

I am sitting here in a cafe in my hometown of Santa Fe...pondering.

What do we crave? What do our Souls need? What is the highest path as an artist?

The answers are different for all of us. But, I do see certain patterns in common...either for better or worse no matter what the medium.

My medium is solo performance. It began almost 30 years ago when I met Spalding Gray and saw him perform an original show.

At the time I was studying acting and didn't realize it consciously, but I was already feeling confined.

I had performed in classical plays for years by then. I began as a young teen. Shakespeare, Molier, Albee, Pinter, the Greeks were already in my repertoire. I loved the experience of pouring my own emotional experience into a character. It was amazing. But the stories I was telling were not my stories.

I could relate to some. Many..not so much. Including the pinnacle. When I was twenty seven years old, I was in the Pulitzer Prize winning play "The Kentucky Cycle". It was a well done production, but less than satisfying. I has the realization "If this is the BEST, contemporary American theater can offer me and I am still not getting the experience I was desiring, I need to create my own work.

So, I did. I took the leap. The terrifying, exciting and HUGE leap into the world of creating my own work and helping others create their own work. It was raw, it was hilarious, it was heartbreaking, it was true, it was hard.

And I was hooked.

That was twenty some years ago.

What has my life been since?

It has been authentic. It has been hard. It has been joyful.

Mostly, it has been ALIVE. Vitally and unapologetically alive.

My medium is solo performance. Some will call it indulgent. Some will call it narcissistic. Sometimes it is. But not the way I strive to work with it.

I call it generous. I call it intimate. And I call it fulfillment in the way that conventional theater never could be.

My favorite musicians are always also composers. I'd take a rendition of one of Sam Llana's songs, straight from his own Soul and life over a polished Broadway voice or pop icon calling it in any
day.


My own guide has been "do the most intimate work in alignment with your own soul as possible"And, you will find your true audience. The one who resonates with you.

Be bold. Risk failing. Be true. Be who you are. Put it on a stage and let yourself shine.

"The Artist is Present",Your Presence is Everything

Last week-end I went to see a documentary film on performance artist Marina Ambromovic's installation at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

The installation was called "The Artist is Present" and in it, she sat across a table making silent eye contact with whomever wanted to show up and sit with her during the hours that the museum was open for 3 months.

So, she showed up and was present to whomever and whatever came in front of her. She became a mirror for the Soul. It was simple, brilliant and courageous work. In a culture that tells us in every way possible that our worth is based on doing, it was an ultimate act of trusting the being-ness of who I am and who you are and whom all of us are. Knowing that is not only enough, but based on the huge turn-out for her show, that it is craved.

It reminded me of time I spent in India, at the guru's feet. Same desire. To see and be deeply seen. To be One with another.

It is the best possibility between lovers. If both people are willing to show up and deeply connect through the Soul, a connection can be made that transcends the body.

Same when breastfeeding an infant and gazing deeply into their eyes as they gaze into yours. These moments have been the most joyful and sublime of my life and I know of others.

My mantra to my students is "Your Presence is Enough, in fact, it is Everything"

The best solo shows are the ones where there is a willingness to be deeply embodied in one's own presence. In a way, the story, no matter how compelling the story, is secondary to the presence of the performer.

Your presence, your ability to set aside your ego  and connect with your audience is the offering. It is the gift. It involves doing less and being more.

It is achieved through a deep trust in oneself and a deep trust in life. That is where the real work often lies.

Weaving the depth of your presence with a compelling, dramatic, funny, imaginative, authentic and/or creative story is the heart of your work as a solo artist. It is a journey and a ride, if taken on earnestly, that will take you to every nook and crevice within your own Soul. In your quest, you have offered something true to an audience.

Thank you Marina Abromovic. And Spalding Gray. Thank you John Leguizamo. Thank you Ann Randolph. Thank you Doug Vincent. Thank you to the artists, mothers, deep listeners, dancers, lovers, meditators who are really showing up..on stages and in anonymity.

Thank you for every moment of true presence you offer this wounded world. It alone is the healing. For me, it alone is the art.

My Next Show: " A Woman of Pleasure"

God, this has been a long time coming.

This has been with me through the last 9 years as I watched my life fall apart, built it back up, and watched it fall apart again.

It takes a lot to do a solo show. A hell of a lot. It takes courage. Confidence. Humility. And Help. Lot's of help. From forces both seen and unseen.

I help people write and perform their solo shows. I help people heal by writing and performing monologues about pain and trauma and illness. I am good at it. Because I have been there. And back. Several times in this lifetime. And, I do not look away from it. Any of it. I examine life. Mistakes. Loss. Grief. Trauma.

And now, at last...PLEASURE.

It took a lot of work behind the scenes to move my focus from trauma, suffering, and pain to pleasure.
I deserve this show. I deserve this life. So do you. We all do. But it takes a lot to move in this direction with assurance in this world.

This is a show that has always lived inside of me. I am a sensual being. I have a body as well as a soul. Living in it. Feeling it. Inhabiting it is a tremendous gift.

For years I couldn't claim it. For years I was dissociated from it. No more.

This summer I am 48 years old. And my daughter is turning 15. I have lived through other people's mental illness, through death of loved ones, divorce and my own "fixing nature" that just wanted to love everybody enough to make the world ok.

Enough.

Life is short. Life is precious. Feeling our aliveness is where it's AT.

The next show is about pleasure. A last taboo. Is it really ok for us as woman to be in our bodies in a relaxed and easy way on this planet. To love our sexuality openly and fully. To let go of labels of ourselves and others.

To speak the unspeakable about what we like, what we desire, what we crave and HAVE IT, without apology.

I love Sex and I love God. In this crazy world that would separate the two, it it my intention to bring them back together, in my own body. In my own heart. In this precious, precious lifetime. I am fully human and fully Soul and I will not sacrifice one expression for the other.

20 some years ago, Eve Ensler spoke the unspeakable by asking woman about their vaginas. It was timely and important. It was also very focused on trauma, oppression and pain. That's a song and dance that many of us intimately know.

But there is something greater. Much greater. Moving past the trauma, moving into the full Venus power of our gorgeous and powerful beings. Truly loving ourselves. Each other and loving men, we hold the heart of pleasure in our very hands.

We are much, much greater than the old paradigm abuse/darkness would have us know.

Those stories have come and gone. And we still stand here in our wholeness and beauty.

This is the next wave on the planet and I am grateful to know that I am a part of bringing through this message. Through my own journey of being a woman. Through my stories.

This is my offering now. I am glad I waited 8 years and excited to bring you my new show. This October...

A Woman of Pleasure: A Monologue of Sex and God.

In Santa Fe...with love, Tanya