I Resolve to...

Time: January 1, 2007

It's that time of the year again. Time to assess the highs and lows of the past year and make plans for the new one. I love new beginnings. I always have. A new school year, a new week, a new day, a new class. The blank page is so exciting, my imagination and dreams cover it with words and images.

It's the New Year and I've got a feeling this year's going to great. Hanging out with my family in Austin, Galveston and Temple has been a blast. Mom's home cooking, I sure have missed you. I feel safe and secure, and buoyed by the fact that I've created something that I'm proud of. A few weeks ago, I penned "The Interview", a series of nine monologues in which nine New Yorkers are asked the common questions of an interview process. Their answers, however, are anything but common. Each respond, in truth, their truth. Initially, I'd envisioned each monologue being performed by different people. Five women, four men of various ethnicities, backgrounds and experiences. But as I perform it for my family, in the comfort of warm living rooms and supportive eyes, I begin to open myself up to other possibilities. That said, when my dad suggests that I perform all the monologues together, as a one-woman show, I don't balk at the idea. I embrace it, tentatively at first, then more confidently. "Yes!" I say to the proposition. Why not?

I've always enjoyed writing but I've never considered myself a writer. I've always been the type to write when I HAD to. When my emotions are struggling to burst free and the only way I can express myself is to take pen to paper. But unlike acting, where the playwright/screenwriter decides your parameters, writing gives me freedom to set my own. To scream on paper, to whisper, to rant. I'm an actor, yes. But I've discovered that I don't have to be one thing, I can be many. An artist, an actor, an actress, a writer, a poet, and God knows what else... Why limit yourself by staying confined to your self-made playpen when there's more out there for you than you can ever imagine.

Writing "The Interview" was a liberating experience in many ways. Now that I've learned what type of actor I am, I also know what kind of material speaks to me. Complex, raw, human, truthful writing where the soul is exposed even if you try to hide behind a mask. I wrote and will continue to write material I want to perform, and I've decided to enter the series into The NY International Fringe Festival. The deadline's February 15th, 2007. I've already downloaded and printed out my application, copywrighted my piece with the Library of Congress and started on revisions. Who knows what this year has in store for me, but one things for sure, I'm going take risks and "go forth confidently towards my dreams."