"As your faith is strengthened you
will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that
things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them,
to your great
delight and benefit."
-Emmanuel
Teney
“Sometimes beautiful things come into our lives
out of nowhere. We can't always understand them, but we have to trust in them. I know you want to question everything,
but sometimes it pays to just have a
little faith.”
― Lauren Kate,
Torment
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Why is having faith so hard
sometimes? I mean, we’re all
taught to have faith in our dreams, to really go for it… “Leap,
and the net will appear (John Burroughs)!” Ah, it sounds
so beautiful, right? But then
somewhere along the way we start to think, “well yeah, but there’s no way.” But why? These aren’t just fancy quotes by fancy people; these are
people who have achieved by leaping.
The miracles in their lives are just as real as anything else.
Recently, I’ve really been
trying to live in faith that all will be provided if I’m acting in a way that
helps others. Half the time I
write about this to keep reminding myself. When I first decided to come to Ann Arbor with my play MY
OTHER VOICE, there was no road map, blueprint, or gps. However, there was a final destination…
yet, plugging in a final destination to your phone and then having it say
“network error” is not always the most comforting. But you know you have to get there, somehow.
I talk a lot about trusting,
believing, the power of positivity, and all of that so now I’m putting my
philosophies where my mouth is. This
journey I’m on to make this show happen at the Arthur Miller Theatre is about more
than me. This show is about an
entire generation that is just now starting to get a voice…. the young adult
cancer population. We’re starting
to be heard and our voices are getting stronger. I came here with one goal and it will be done… how? I have no idea! And I still don’t really. Every day the Universe, God, whatever
you want to call it, is revealing more and more to me.
Obviously, I came to Ann
Arbor with a plan. I never blindly
go into anything without first giving it careful consideration, but already
that plan is morphing and shifting into possibilities that I couldn’t have
imagined. I started with this
indiegogo campaign, which has already seen enormous support thanks to many of
you! We’ve still got time left to reach
our goal and this is only one small piece of the puzzle: http://bit.ly/VUH67R
The ideas started there and
then opportunities started presenting themselves. Last weekend, I had the great privilege to meet with the
President of the University Musical Society (http://www.ums.org), Ken Fischer, over
coffee at Starbucks. The meeting
was set up by a chance run in through somehow who knew about my show, which
lead to a meeting with him.
UMS has a huge presence at Michigan and is responsible for bringing in
major acts like Audra McDonald, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Yo-Yo Ma, and the
list goes on. When I was student
here I remember reaping all of the benefits, one of which was sitting three
rows back center stage watching Patrick Stuart play Anthony in ANTHONY AND
CLEOPATRA! Well, last weekend the
man responsible for all of these wonderful triumphs was talking with me about
my show. Now, before I got here I
would have never assumed we would be having coffee discussing my show, but
there we were rattling off ideas and possibilities for MY OTHER VOICE.
That meeting then led to a lunch
yesterday with the associate producer of the original SWEENY TODD, Judy Dow
Rumelhart. Interestingly, she was
my scholarship donor and provided me the opportunity to go here when I was a
student. Did I ever think we’d be
sitting down at lunch talking about a show I had written? No, of course not! She was merely an untouchable amazing
woman I used to write thank you letters to for her support. Obviously, the letters haven’t stopped
but the subject matter has changed.
Now, finally I’m beginning
to talk with a few doctors at the University Hospital who are deeply connected
to The Medical Arts Programs at the University of Michigan. “The Program’s aim is to enhance the ability of
medical students, interns, and residents to provide high-quality, humanistic
clinical care through experiences and analysis of the musical, dramatic,
literary, and visual arts (http://themedicalarts.med.umich.edu).” BAM! This is exactly what my show and production company is
aiming to do… make better Doctors, residents, and smarter patients. Did I have any idea that this program
existed before I got here?
No!
And
still even now, all of these meetings, upcoming discussions, and talks are seeds
being watered. Yes, more is being
revealed but how this puzzle piece is going to come together is still not concrete…
and that’s ok. I’m trusting that
that is ok. Faith is
starting.
Is
there something you’ve wanted to do for a while now? How can you step out in faith? I’d love to hear!
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