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I started crying almost as soon as I started singing. On a recent Saturday, I stood alongside forty other singers at a large church in Huntley. It was a rehearsal for a reunion concert made up of former singers who had sung in Concert Choir at the University of Illinois sometime during our director’s 27-year tenure (1982-2011).

We had one day to rehearse twelve songs and to prepare for a concert that night.

Everyone came willingly, and you could sense the magic in the air of being a part … [Read more...] about An Antidote to Loneliness

In 7th grade I couldn’t speak. Well, in my social studies class, that is. I can still remember raising my hand to answer a question posed by the teacher. My mouth was moving but no sound came out. 
If you’ve ever had a dream in which you’re trying to scream or run away from the monsters but your voice is constricted or your legs won’t work—that’s what it felt like for me.
The “monsters" in this case turned out to be my classmates. I had accidentally been placed in the wrong level class. My … [Read more...] about Finding Your Authentic Voice

I first met Tim in high school when I was cast as Ado Annie and he was cast as Will Parker in the musical Oklahoma. It was the beginning of an amazing friendship, one that is still going strong 40 years later. 
Any occasion was a chance for Tim to perform, and when I’d come to pick him up at his house in those days, he was usually just out of the shower with a mop of wet blonde hair. 
As his captive audience, I’d sit on his bed as he wildly danced to some 80’s tune, hairbrush for a microphone, … [Read more...] about I Got To Know His Dance Moves in High School…Then They Went Viral

I am sitting on the toilet in the bathroom of our new apartment perusing books on the shelf directly in front of me. I pull Think Again by Adam Grant off my black bookcase just an arms-length away from my “seat.”

I open the spine to a random page and read: “Questioning ourselves makes the world more unpredictable. It requires us to admit that the facts may have changed, that what was once right may now be wrong…” 

I replace it face up on top of the others—to be continued next … [Read more...] about The Joy of Putting A Bookshelf in My Bathroom

It’s the morning of April 19, 2011 when I receive the email. It's from a friend who has an acquaintance in desperate need of an actress to step in to an original play due to open in ten days. They have fired the current actress and need someone—PRONTO.

“Here’s the phone number to call, if you’re interested,” the email reads.

I’m scared to make the call, but I’m intrigued because the play is written and directed by three former Second City guys, and I think it would be cool to work with … [Read more...] about Learn to Love the Bomb