Next Project: My One Woman Show!

I'm currently in the process of creating my first One Woman Show. As this is a new endeavor, I'll be honest in saying that I don't know what I'm doing. So I enlisted the services of a Mr. Kamau W. Bell (Kamau has been profiled in The San Francisco Chronicle on three different occasions, including not ironically during Black History Month. The SF Weekly called him, "smart, stylish, and very much in the mold of politically outspoken comedians like Dave Chappelle and Margaret Cho". He currently has his own One Man Show playing at The Climate Theater in SF). He is also the instructor for the Solo Performance class I've decided to take to help in my process of writing my show.

Now, I won't say too much as I do not want to give away any of the surprises, characters or content of my own piece. But I will say, that this is the hardest creative endeavor I've experienced in my whole 10 years of performing. As compared to stand-up comedy, this most certainly took longer to get over my own fears of judgment and condemnation. As the topic of my show is very near and dear to my heart...I had to come to terms that in order for me to expressively shine through this project, I had to tear down the walls that kept me safe and secure from strangers and even worse...fellow comics.

Last night, I was finally able to do that (after three weeks of being in this class). I was able to have fun and finally feel free on stage with my writing and with my piece. I admit there's more work to be done with my writing, my commitment to my characters & my story's arch. But at least the hard part for me is over.

And so this morning (as I slept through my alarm for bootcamp! darn it) I had another one of my crazy dreams. I was inside a house with four friends, we hear this growing sound getting louder and louder. As we look out the window, there's thousands of helicopters flying above us. All in one direction. Like a swarm of thousands! All different colors, shapes, types, sizes...A lot of them very colorful. And so I looked it up when I got into work. And this is what I found...

Helicopter
To see a helicopter in your dream, represents your ambition and achievements. You are in full pursuit of your goals. Alternatively, you may be experiencing a higher level of consciousness, new-found freedom and greater awareness.




Hmmm...Awesome!

Inspired by...Dr. Horrible!

So my BFF from NYC sent me this viral video...with acute bronchitis & 3 hours of "resting" time before I head out to the closing night of my own Musical (Love in the Time of Breast Cancer)...it was exactly what I needed.  Thank, Em!

It's 45 minutes, but SOOOO worth your time:

It's Official....and inspiring...

America has elected it's first Hawaiian born/Black-American President...Barack Obama!

The feelings of hope and inspiration overwhelmed me as I sat on my couch that evening, thanking God for all the people that came out to vote that day. Showing the masses that Love does overcome Fear, that Hope does overcome Terror & that Change does overcome Stagnation & Decay!

As someone said:

"Rosa sat so that Martin could walk...
Martin walked so that Obama could run...
Obama is running so we all can fly!"

With that said, "YES WE CAN!!!"



Oh and on another INSPIRATIONAL note, another thing became official that week... which I feel is equally blog worthy...I officially got to open for Dave Chappelle at the SF Punchline!!!! As some of you know, I landed a 5 minute guest spot for him this past June. But last week I got a whole 10 minute opening spot...meaning it was just me and Dave on stage that night.

Dave is a really stand-up guy. I wrote more on the subject on my Myspace Comedy Page (www.myspace.com/spiderpig07707). But here's one of the pics we took that week:

I'm a PRODUCER..."I produce dreams, baby!"

So it has been a very long and bumpy road to the opening night of the musical "Love in the Time of Breast Cancer". Exactly a year ago, Maggie Suarez & I had this brilliant idea of doing a musical written by women, directed by women, acted by women...that would inspire women.

Little did we know the drama filled road ahead of us! From day one we experienced drama with past cast mates, to fighting for funding, to finding the perfect team of talented/committed artists, to finding a venue, to personal life drama...there were plenty of times we both wanted to say "forget it". But we didn't! We stuck through it all...And reminded each other, "Just wait until opening night!"

And that night finally came! Last night was our OPENING night. And as the cast came out for curtain call and the crowd came to their feet with applause and jubilation, all Maggie and I could do was laugh! From sheer exhaustion and appreciation that the long road to that moment was over!!! We finally accomplished what we set out to do. And it was beautiful.

This morning I found an article online about our little musical that could...in Asian Week. There were many times in my life that I've been proud of my accomplishments, but this moment is one of the few that makes me SUPER proud of what I can accomplish with just faith, support (from my team/community) & my dope ass hustlin' skills!

Read the article here:

Not the Usual Song and Dance: New musical raises breast cancer awareness in the APA community

SAN FRANCISCO — October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, has come and gone, but everyone must continue to shine a spotlight on the disease to overcome it, especially Asian Americans. While the incidence of breast cancer among APAs is generally lower than among most other ethnic groups, recent studies have shown that they are also rising the fastest.

Breast cancer awareness is the goal of the new original musical, Love in the Time of Breast Cancer, presented by Pinays Maintaining Sisterhood Through Art in conjunction with the South of Market Health Center, playing through Nov. 8 at the Off Market Theater in San Francisco.

Written by Gayle Romasanta and directed by Fides Enriquez, the production is both funny and inspiring, and meant to encourage every woman to be the “author of her own story.”

The show follows the story of a breast cancer survivor and her journey to live life to the fullest in the aftermath of the devastating disease. It is filled with music and movement pieces, complete with dancers costumed in chemotherapy outfits along with both normal and cancer cells.

Nicole M. Villanueva, the show’s co-producer, emphasized its relevance to Asian American women.

“This musical is especially important because of the rising rates of Asian American women diagnosed with breast cancer today,” she says.

According to the American Cancer Society, cancer is the leading cause of death in the Asian American community, and in fact breast cancer is the number one cause of cancer mortality among Filipino American women.

“That is why 90 percent of our cast and crew is in fact Filipino American,” Villanueva said. “From our lead actress, our writer, our composer and our director, down to our light operator and box office volunteer, we are a group of talented Filipino American artists giving our time and talent to such a worthwhile cause.”

The music was composed by Brandon Bigelow with musical performances by Esperanza Catubig, Roberto Divina, Giovannie Espiritu, Michael Dorado and Stephanie Sampang.

Pinays Maintaining Sisterhood Through Art aims to inspire women to have the courage to break through belief patterns and societal conditioning that has traditionally left them unable to realize their full potential. The group uses creative productions in hopes of changing the biases against Filipina American women and creating an avenue for open dialogue among Filipinas.

Love in the Time of Breast Cancer, Nov. 7-8, 8 p.m. (special matinee performance Nov. 8 at
2 p.m.), Off Market Theater, 965 Mission St., San Francisco. Tickets are $20 ($15 for seniors/students) at Brownpapertickets.com.