Over 7,000 individuals submitted their materials to the ABC Discovers Talent showcase this year; the 7,000 were cut down to 70, then to 35 and finally to 14. Six of the last seven years I’ve been one of the 7,000 to submit my materials. Six of those years I was one of the 6,986 individuals to not be cast in the showcase but this year I was one of the fourteen individuals to be cast. I’ve pondered this over the past few weeks. Did I do anything different? Was I a much worse actor last year? Or was it just the right time? The day before my audition this year… read more →
Nobody likes to lose. We all want to win, we want to lift our arms in victory and hold up the trophy. It seems almost everything in our culture is a competition. Everywhere you look someone is trying to dance off, sing off, cook off, or date off the competition. The winners are celebrated and the losers are shuffled off with their heads hanging. It is very risky to put ourselves out there and risk the pain and frustration that comes from not being number one. But is there another way to look at it? Can we find a “win” in the middle of a loss? I just experienced this… read more →
April has been, among other things, “limb loss awareness” month. As a kid I was keenly aware of my limb loss but didn’t have a mentor whom I saw going through the same experience. My childhood days were spent trying to figure out how I fit into the world and working hard as I could to find my place on the playground, on the bike trails or on the ball field. There was also Ty Bullard’s back yard. This vast oasis of freshly cut grass was the home field for football games for the boys of the Ellis Point neighborhood. Ty and his friends were older than I was and… read more →
I am very excited to begin my new speaking keynote and blog, Navigating a Two-Handed World…Single-Handedly. Back in 1998 I was working for the Phoenix Theatre for Children in Columbus, OH. I would tell these stories of my life growing up with one-hand and of my hilarious and entertaining family. The artistic director suggested I take these stories and write a one-person play. It took a few years but I created my first solo play, The Quest and began a journey that has led me to this moment. Over the past 12 years I have created three solo plays and began using aspects of my solo performance to create a… read more →