Beckie is a thespian.

I spend alot of time comparing my childhood to my adult life. I think about the things I enjoyed doing as a kid or wanted to do. I hike, I ride my bike and I have learned how to swim. I also love to perform. I've always been in plays, church productions, skits, whatever you wanna call it. I the sixth grade, I wrote, directed and performed in a play about unionizing coal miners. In high school, I sang in the chorale (glee club), and in college I was in two productions; A Day of Absence and Home.

So in keeping with the practice of reconnecting with my youth, I responded to an ad in the local paper for actors & crew members needed for a local production. Initially, I was going to be the make-up person/PA/female understudy. I ended up playing one of the characters in the play. We were able to improv, and I think I did ok with it, considering that was my first time trying it. We were only able to pull off one production of it. I'm hoping we can do more with this next one.

I'm now doing a second play, where I am the mother of a young woman, who becomes a victim of domestic violence. This is a subject near and dear to my heart, as I am a survivor and witness of domestic violence. The curious thing in this case is I don't know the ending of the play. We will see how this goes...

I'm also preparing for NaNoWriMo 2009. Even though I signed up in 2007, I never even attempted writing anything. This year will be different. I don't know what story I'm going tell; I've had the idea of writing about a first-hand experience at an abortion clinic some years ago, but I really haven't fleshed that one out. Sometimes I think it's just too old of a story to tell, and I should start with something fresh. But it's really the first experience where I witnessed something truly amazing and thought this needs to be recreated and given some presence for others to respond to. Also, I don't know if I can do it justice.

Stay tuned...