Well, friends! I have been SWAMPED! All good things, (I think) but transitions are hard and I promise not to complain about it here, since no one likes complainers anyway. Suffice it to say that I am both nervous and exhilarated!

I am sharing above, an excerpt from the adult clown show I co-wrote and devised with my creative sister and best friend, Gillian Hastings, or the clown Gilly Willy, as it were. We play hyperbolic versions of ourselves where Gilly Willy has gone full woo-woo and my clown is a tinfoil hat-wearing lunatic. What’s it about, you ask? Well, here’s a snippet from our marketing materials:

Gilly Willy and Toni Woni have had a huge revelation and are now preparing themselves for... something... although they can’t seem to agree on what it is. Spiritual enlightenment? The apocalypse? Only time will reveal the answer. In the meantime, the system never sleeps, and so they must work… on internet content for you! Steeped in silly, this show offers a philosophical journey through a range of existential questions, perfectly suited for the perplexing modern era we inhabit.”

I really hope you send your eyeballs to the Silent Theatre Substack if you wish to know more about this project, or if you would like to collaborate on producing it in your neck of the woods. We are clowns for hire!

What I am certainly most excited about is the fact that Mary Poindexter McLaughlin, fellow theatre nerd, Substack Sister, a woman I am lucky enough to call a friend and who is crazy enough to agree to be our first director for this show, has agreed to co-produce this little play in Florida! I am beyond tickled to go on a roadtrip with my bestie and spend 10 days with Mary!! As much as my life is absolute chaos, I have a remarkably eclectic and wondrous existence! Thank you, Universe!

If you have been here for a while, you know that Mary Poindexter McLaughlin is a beautiful writer and poet and she even wrote a review of our show last year:

Thank you, Mary, for adding your artistic juju and unique lens to our journey!

EDIT: In a very drumroll turn of events, Mary is also launching her new production company Art of Freedom LIVE, and your humble writer is simply over the moon for what it can bring culturally to us as a society. Check out these vision goals:

My vision is twofold:

1) to produce this staged reading as a living example of varied viewpoints co-existing on the same stage, and

2) engage the audience in a talk-back after the performance to encourage open-hearted listening and dialogue.

Ultimately, my vision is to harness the inherent power of theatre to build bridges between and among local folk.

2026 — you are turning out to be one heck of a year!

Now, while in Florida, we’re launching in-person post-show discussions. After holding an intimate bonfire conversation with CJ Hopkins last fall, I am so moved by the power of face-to-face interactions. As my clowny co-conspirator says:

We really want to get people talking to each other. As the clowns in our show learn, even when it seems like we are seeing the world from grossly different perspectives, it is the shared miracle of being alive together here on planet earth (wow!) that can help us see through the lens of love, rather than fear and division. We want to create space for that kind of dialogue.

Gilly Willy

If you’re into what you’re seeing, I could love your help:

* share the STC Substack post

* share the video on YT

* come to the FLORIDA show on the 27th or 28th of March if you’re in the vicinity!

* email me if you or someone you know might be interested in co-producing this play!

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As always, thank you for being a part of my journey.

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