introducing drama/dharma

Welcome! I’m glad you’re here. I’m a professional actor, singer, and meditation teacher. Over a decade ago, I found myself in a major life transition, paralyzed by anxiety. The short version of the story is, I found meditation! (For the longer version, check out my show Marry Me a Little: a cold feet cabaret.)

Since then, I’ve been practicing - and now teaching - meditation, parallel to my work onstage. But the longer I explore the Buddhist teachings (whether I actually consider myself a Buddhist remains to be discovered), the more connections I see between my two paths, and the more I think the dharma* has to offer those of us in this creative life.

*While mindfulness is a secular practice, the teachings come from the Buddhist tradition. Dharma is a Sanskrit word, one of those un-translatable terms, like hors d’oeuvres. It could mean a body of teachings, particularly the Buddha dharma or teachings of the Buddha, but in this usage I take it to mean the way things are, the basic principles of existence, and our behavior or conduct that is in harmony with these principles (or not - which would be adharma).

So as I find myself now at what I’m calling the intersection of drama + dharma, I’ll be using this space to explore these connections, talk about some of the trends I see in the business that get in our way, and get into some of the specific ways I think we can use and apply these time-honored methods to our modern lives.

For instance…

• How can an artist stay sane amidst the endless rollercoaster of highs and lows, rejection and (hopefully!) adoration, that The Business provides? (or, what can these teachings offer us for our lives offstage)

• How do we retain our state of flow and remain in the artistic process, in an industry that seems increasingly focused on product? (or, how can we affect our lives onstage?)

I’m certainly not the first to pose these questions, and I don’t pretend to have all the answers. But I am, as Rilke said, living the questions, and now I’ll be doing it more vocally and visibly.

Thanks for being here.