Have you been dreaming of creating a one person show but don't know where to begin?

I have been offering services to more and more out of state performers who want to write their one person show but have no idea how to get started. Here's how it works. You fly out to Santa Fe and we work one on one in my studio churning out your show over the course of four days.

You may come  here with just a glimmer of what you want to say....That is fine. It is my job, through the process I've developed to get the story out of you and onto the page. You will leave Santa Fe with a script in hand. You just need to show up with your openness and your willingness to explore your lifestories, characters from your life, and themes that begin to emerge as we work together. It is an intimate, creative and lifechanging process. You give yourself the gift of claiming your very essance onstage.

You will be improvising, writing, brainstorming, moving and creating a show in a totally safe and supportive environment.

It took me eleven years to develop this process for my first show, "Honeymoon In India" which I wrote and performed to critical acclaim 13 years ago. It was my very first solo show and was named one of the Top 10 Performances of the Year by The Santa Fe Reporter in 1996. I have been working with hundreds of actors, writers and "regular people" to refine the process through working with each of them to develop a one person show, memoir or personal monologue (see my youtube page and you can view a wide variety of performances that have been developed in my classes, workshops and one on one intensives.)

What are you waiting for? If this has been your dream, forever...call today!Call 505-470-5267 or e-mail Tanya@ProjectLifeStories.org.

Produce Your Show in your own city or town.

Happy Holidays All~

I remember living in NYC years ago and checking out the theater listings in The Times or New Yorker. At most, their may be one or two solo shows being produced, most often by top names like Spalding Gray, Eve Ensler (back when The Vagina Monologues was a one woman show) or Anna Devear Smith.

These days it's very different. I recently counted 30 Broadway or off-Broadway shows that were solo (and that doesn't count all the festivals that have sprung up and the off-off Broadway shows as well as solo shows all over the country)

One Broadway producer told me that she was always on the look-out for great solo shows because they are so much less expensive to produce and much lower risk than large cast productions.

Two years ago, I took my daughter to NY to see Vanessa Redgrave playing Joan Didion in "The Year of Magical Thinking". She sat in a chair and talked the entire piece. That was the set. There were some absract backdrops that came down behind her at a few different times in the piece. It was stark as the subject matter, intimate and perfect.

The amazing think about solo shows is that they can be done anywhere. Once you have developed your solo show, all you need is a space with a stage (be it a bar or Broadway) and you can accomodate your piece. As an actor you will never feel more empowered than to develop your solo show because you can literally do it anywhere.

I know of one musician I worked with who is taking his show on tour in the same Texas roadhouses and bars he has played before. Only, instead of just his music, he will be telling the story of his life and the where the songs fit in with that time in his life.

Students of mine and I have done shows in festivals in different cities, bars, churches, yoga centers, dance studios and large and small professional theaters.

When I do my own shows here in Santa Fe, I have always been able to more than break even and usually walk home with a few thousand dollars in my pocket after expenses for a two weekend run (at $15 per ticket). Every economy is different, and every place is different. But, I have been able to negotiate free spaces by splitting the door or getting the door while the space got customers who would buy drinks. I have had shows sponsered through grannts and foundations give me large sums to produce shows that fit in with their mission.

Once you have a show under your belt you can go anywhere you want with it. It's your vision. It'syour dream.If you're a professional actor, the best part is you'll never be going on casting calls waiting for someone else to give you your destiny. You give yourself your destiny.

From putting yourself out there in your very best light, showcasing your talent, you create your future. One person shows are the THEATER OF NOW!!!! They are about empoerment, transformation, authenticity and always, always stories. The world is waiting for yours!

DON'T WAIT! MAKE 2009 the year you write and perform your ONE PERSON SHOW! 2 slots are still availble for Project Life Stories Year Long One Person Show workshop in Santa Fe and if you live out of state, schedule your 4 DAY INTENSIVE to write your show! For information about either class, e-mail Tanya@ProjectLifeStories.org

This week I am sooooo...busy, but all with some amazing monologue shows I am directing.

I have a year long class that meets in Santa Fe. The class begins every January and is called "How to Create a One Person Show"....In December, the whole class performs excerpts from their complete solo scripts that they have written and embodied during the year. This year I had 7 amazing students, all of whom are performing in the showcase on Dec 5 and 6 at the Railyard Performance Space.

Let me share a little about their upcoming shows, which are as diverse, eclectic and amazing as all of them....

Maida Rogerson, an incredible actor from Toronto has put together a show about a woman who has a stroke....She plays 3 characters in this show....The woman who has had the stroke who is in a rehab unit, her Type-A daughter...who has many issues with her mother and Wally, her flamboyant gay best friend of many years who adds some levity to the character's story. Maida has fleshed out these characters and offers a stunning intimacy into the world of a human being who has always been "in control" losing control of her body and the life she knew.

Kathleen Fonatin: Kathleen is unlike any other student I have ever worked with. I told her the other day she is a superstar and I meant it....Kathleen has energy the way John Leguzamo has energy...the way Whoopie Goldberg at her best has energy...she is completly embodied and alive in her work. She has a background in stand up comedy...but in the show she is doing.....she is offering depth, vulnerability and dare I say genius. This piece starts out as a wired, searching, questioning performance art piece and evolves into the most intimate personal story of her bottoming out as an addict (all the while, living in L.A. and performing) and her rise into wholeness.

Uma Jill Marcus is a dreamweaver, dream retrever and a visual artist who draws her dreams. In her show, the story of a four year period of her life, she literally draws her dreams to retrive memories that have lived in her body and soul. She dives into the deep end of the ocean. The piece, at once psycologically revealing is ultimatly the story of personal transendence. To boot, we are gifted with a slide show of her drawings from this time period, that take this multi-media performance piece to a whole new realm.

More on the other shows tomorrow.....I'm off to direct and rehearse.

To contact me about solo performance coaching in and out of state, e-mail me at tanya@projectlifestories.org

Last year, I was asked to teach a storytelling from the soul workshop at the Bioneers Conference(www.bioneers.org ) in Marin County. I wrote this article and thought I'd post it as it feels relevent to this blog.

“Restoring Our Souls”                                           

Tanya Taylor Rubinstein

Much is being said these days about restoring the earth. The eco-systems that have been badly disrupted the chemicals and technology that is being used to poison our food and water; Climate change and wars that are reaping destruction on the wounded body of Mother Earth.

There is much to be said about that. It is crucial and important. How it is said and conveyed to others is, in my experience, even more important.

My work is the work of restoring the human soul. My own first and then, when I feel rooted in that, extending to others from a place of wholeness. I have come to recognize that until I restore my soul to balance, I do not have the necessary energy or inspiration to truly help the restoration of the planet. I believe this is true for others; whatever “talk” they’re “talking. My hope is that offering others some of the necessary tools and inspiration to restore their own souls, in turn they create different tools to support other communities; plant, animal, mineral, human. I have come to recognize that it does not matter the form or forms we are serving. If we are living from our souls, we will be guided. We will know what to do. We will wake up to our assignment on this planet. We all have one and they are all equally important. They may look very different but when we are living in our spiritual connectedness, we will be guided through “inspired action” to serve in the way that is most true to the fabric of our own soul.

I serve through supporting people in giving voice to stories of their lives. I serve through supporting people in their deepening connection to their creativity as writers and performers. I serve by utilizing theater as a vehicle for awakening and transformation. I serve through the art of solo performance. I serve by offering what I love the most to others and utilizing my training as an artist to be the container for my soul to express itself.

I’ve come to find that it doesn’t matter what your container is; only that you find one. You can serve by gardening; by mediating, by teaching, by being a scientist, by being a poet. You can serve by cooking, by writing a book, or being in Public Relations. You will serve in whatever you’re doing.

But will you choose to serve your soul’s calling or your ego?

I met a man recently who is an environmentalist who just came back from the South Pole. He was literally shrieking and shaking when he was talking to me in a restaurant. He was screaming that it’s already too late for the planet. The ice is melting. He had seen it for himself.

I realized that I felt an aversion to him. Not to his information, which I believed to be accurate, but to him. Then I took a deep breath and re-connected to my own soul.  I realized that he had been so traumatized by his experience (and perhaps by many experiences before seeing the melting ice) that he was actually contributing to the problems of the planet rather than healing them. He was so out of his connection with his own soul, that his message of fear had only made him ineffective in conveying what he cared about the very most.

I have seen this pattern in myself and in others. When I care about something changing in myself and others; I can approach things in two ways. One is to “preach at”, harangue, attempt to “convince”, act desperate, get hysterical, act urgently, get angry, judge, defy or act out in any infinite number of ways to attempt to control others, get them to do things my way. I have found, through the microcosm of my mothering and as a spouse, that these are methods of my ego and are entirely ineffective as well as being destructive to the very thing I care about conveying. It is not just the message; it is the messenger. And, how we convey the same information, changes everything. It changes the entire world.

When I am living from my soul, I am offering information, presence and love in all my actions. I am offering a way of seeing the world, through my very being-ness. I am offering this to others, but have let go of my attachment to how it is perceived by others. I am patient. I trust the life force. I am doing my part to inspire and create. I am acting from my soul, not my ego. Underneath, always, I care about the same things. The restoration of our planet, that all children and animals are cared for and loved, that people and earth have the opportunity to be healthy in mind, body and spirit, that there is compassion and support for elders and the dying. That people know themselves and their power and their purpose.

But, how I convey the expression of my caring is the crucial difference. If I am speaking from the authority of my own soul, I am clear and effective. If I give in to the urgency of my ego, I am fragmented, nervous, angry and ineffective.

One of the people I respect the most on the planet right now is Bono. He is living proof that when we speak from our soul, with respect for another, miracles happen. I love the fact that in Washington, republicans and democrats alike love Bono. I do not think this is only because of his mystique as a rock star. Of course that is what gets him in the door, but I do not believe why it is why people respond. I have seen Bono interviewed. He believes it is his privilege and responsibility to help all people in any way that he can.  How he does it is what’s amazing. He gets people to change. He gets a stubborn, conservative president to become “soft” and liberal when it comes to relieving billions of dollars of debt for poor African nations. How does he do this? How does he bring  seemingly polarized people together around issues of huge importance.

He speaks from his soul. He speaks from his passion without speaking from anger. He appeals to people’s humanity. He doesn’t take sides. He says that he will speak to anybody, of any political affiliation, of any religious persuasion if it will help. He is speaking directly from his soul and he is healing the world.

Within my own self, I have had to heal my own soul and continue to be vigilant to that commitment. I see so clearly, the tendencies in myself to give into laziness, self indulgence, anger, self righteousness and fear. I see my tendency to want “others” “out there” to fix the problems in the world. I am afraid of really taking ownership for how responsible and powerful I am, and that my mission is no less important than Bono’s or any other being on the planet.

It is my gift to speak up and speak out and to strive to do it from my soul. That means transparency, humility and the sharing of my authentic experience. It also means, focusing on how I communicate to others. Am I respecting them, and all of the pain they carry with them? Am I having compassion for how they may be disconnected from their true selves?

When I am stuck on what to convey and how to I convey it, do I jump in mindlessly following my own agenda or do I take a deep breath and ask my soul “now what?” and follow from there?

When you decide to do your one person show, you give your voice the opportunity to speak from it’s deepest “soul place” and be deeply heard.

Will you answer the call?

Tanya Taylor Rubinstein teachers solo performance classes in Santa Fe, N.M . and works with people in four day one on one sessions to create their solo shows. If you want to create a one person show, e-mail me at Tanya@ProjectLifeStories.org

Most of you reading this blog, I am assuming,are either dreaming of or working on your one person show. I have seen lives changed, both the performer's and the audience's by solo shows.

I remember my first one woman show, "Honeymoon in India". In it, I told the story of going to see a famous guru on my honeymoon who turned out to be the exact opposite of what I expected. I revealed vulnerabilities about my relationships with my husband and mother. I portrayed my own "spoiled Amercian self "who freaked out and lost it when pushed to the limit in a foreign and unfamiler culture. I took risks. It was funny and poignant and to this day, I stand behind the work.  It changed my life forever.

People came up to afterwards and began sharing thir stories with me. One woman told me that she had a similar painful issue with her mother as I did with mine and she had never heard it spoken of before. Hearing it onstage had been healing for her.

Before this experience, I was in many plays that didn't inspire me.Not because some of these plays were't well written or "good"(one won a Pulitzer Prize) But I needed more than acting out somebody elses story or vision.

I was so interested in my own stories as well as characters whose stories weren't being represented in our culture. In truth, although a solo show can be the most terrifying thing a person can embark upon (onstage, alone, no other actors, exposing your life, your concerns, characters that you have created), it is also an actors dream. You are, for once in your acting life, completly empowered in your material. The show you write, perform and offer comes from your deepest longings, passions and desires of what YOU want to express to others, onstage. You also are able to showcase your acting abilities in a way that in unavailable in any traditionl theater.Do you do one charatcer or fifty? That will depend on you and your range but there is infinite creativity in a way a solo show can be written. And it can and should be written around your strengths.

I gurantee you that if you have the guts to stand onstage and express your deepest soul,and fully claim yourself in this way,you will never be the same. And neither will your career. Unexpected miracles come for those of us who have the courage to SOAR.

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT MY COACHING SERVICES VISIT: www.ProjectLifeStories.org. I teach on going solo performance and memoir classes in Santa Fe,New Mexico and work one on one with clients from out of state who come to work with me for 2-4 days. (ongoing online support availble before and after)

One of my mantras in the solo classes I teach is "your presence is enough". In fact it's everything.

But what does this exactly mean? It means that you are fully onstage, in the moment with your breath, with your eye contact, with a full connection to your emotions, with your body alive, connected to the ground beneath you, with your full vibrancy and excitement in the stories you're about to tell or charctaers you're about to portray. It means showing up fully, with ALL of you. That is the greatest gift you can give yourself and your audience. That is your presence.

It's also called commitment. Total committment to the monologue you're sharing. Total committment to being,moment by moment with your material. It is also a matter of trust. You must learn to control your mind. Do not ever give in to self doubt onstage. Trust your gift. You are being intimate, you are exposing human truth. Some people will weep for joy. Some may storm out of the theater because you've pushed their buttons. They weren't ready for that much authenticity. Doesn't matter. The only way to do a solo show without it dissolving into a sloppy mess is to stand fully in yourself, in your life, your creativity and presence.

To be present, one has to learn to conquer one's fear. Work with it, sit with it, move it. One has to master the fear or it will pull one out of the moment. Out of presence. And when you're flying by the seat of your pants, in this riskiest and most thrilling form of theater, your true presence is the only ground beneath your feet.

When you are creating solo material, it is very important that you give yourself total permission to be free in your exploration.........this means that you do not edit yourself at the beginning stages of this process.

It means.....begin with stories. It means be as specific as you can but give yourself permission to "speak the unspeakable", if only to yourself. To be emotionally honest,onstage one has to begin by being honest with oneself. About what? My experience has been, about everything.........Does this mean that every moment in your life will show up in your show? Of course not.........Later in the process, it will be very important to focus on themes and create a monologue that reaches OUT to your audience. Not one that only reaches IN.

But, in your creative process, one must often go all the way IN to oneself, to bring something of value OUT to others.

Here are a few excersises to open your FLOW:

Write without stopping on any of the following topics:

(15 minutes each.....do not pick pen up from paper.....do not stop to edit...follow your first thoughts....write into the emotion rather than around it......just don't stop for 15 minutes no matter what unless the house is on fire!)

The first time......at 2:00 in the morning....my best day.......saying goodbye........first kiss.......the kitchen table..........my father.............my mother.........the last time...........side effects..........virginity................NYC.............Christmas morning........I can't remember...........stolen moments..........morning light........

Next: Walk around your room slowly and speak on a topic first as yourself, then as your 5 year old self, then as your 16 year old self, then as your mother, then as your father, then as your first love.

Embody the character. How do you walk at 5 or 16? How do you talk? Embody your mother......How does she walk and talk? Does she have any mannerisms. Allow each character to tell a story through you....start with any topic like: home or chocolate....or .......by the sea......or...... the first time........or ......my teacher..... or..... the hospital.

Choose a moment in life and tell us the story......speak the story.......feel the story........smell and taste the story.....become the story....embody the story.

Begin here...........with the story.

Feel free.....do not judge.....speak through it..........move your body as you tell it...write through it........swim to the other side.

o.k....so I said I would continue this five days or so ago...I lied...sorry!

Containers about solo performance other than first person storytelling:

Original character monologues centered around a particular theme: I love this format. It is great for an accomplished actor to work in this format. This is John Leguizamo in "Mambo Mouth".....this is Danny Hoch in "Jails, Hospitals and Hip Hop", this is Sarah Jones in "Bridge and Tunnel"........

I remember seeing "Mambo Mouth" when it came to the Greer Garson Theater at the College of Santa Fe many years back. There was a scrim in the center of the stage. John used this to go behind to transform from one character to the next. He used lighting and music so that we were "in" on the transformation. And he was going from "little boy in the tenement" to "transvestite hooker" in about 30 seconds.....sneakers off...stilettos and wig on....all in front of our eyes.

All his charaters were loosly related through connections that he would refer to in the monologues and by place (a neighborhood in New York). He gave himself a tremendous amount of freedom in this simple structure and could showcase characters that were quite obviously inspired by people he knew (and himself as a child) in his predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood.

When you are creating original charaters for the first time, work close to home. That means begin with the characters that already "live inside" so to speak. That means your grandmother, your father, your crazy Aunt Daisy, your neurotic first cousin Marge........Play with them through improvisation....walk around your room...assume their walk or posture or all three. Tell a story out loud from their point of view. Repeat a phrase that they repeated over and over until it jumpstarts your imagination and leads you into a story.

Or, interview someone. can be anybody. A store clerk, a housekeeper, your child's teacher, your child.......ask them to tell you about their life, family, where they came from...doesn't matter. Then, go back and write a monologue based on your interview. See what it feels like to become them.

This technique is how my former student, Michelle Vest created her show "Sole Surviver's" about immigrants stories. It all began when she asked her Mexican housekeeper to tell her story.

This technique of interviewing served Anna Devere Smith well. It's how she created her Pulitzer Prize winning script "Fires in the Mirror" as well as"Twilight:Los Angeles" I saw her perform "Fires in the Mirror" back in '96 when she was touring with it. She chose, in both cases, a provocative, racially divisive event (Rodney King and LA Riots) and interviewed people from all sides of the issues. She played African Americans, Caucasiens, Asians, old, young,in-between with varying levels of success (in my humble opinion)..regardless...she creates theater thatreminded me more of a documentary film than anything else.....but I digress....

If you are an actor, this is certainly a bold choice. Basically, the idea is to create either short (Ms Devere-Smith did about 50 or 60 short monologues in each show) or longer (Michelle did four, fifteen minute monolgues), John Leguizamo probably did 8-10 monologues that are cenetered around a general or more specific theme. through each monologue, you contribute to the over-riding theme of your show.

Oh and I have omitted what began as a one woman show but is now usually performed by several actresses at once and that is "The Vagina Monologues" o.k. well this is a teaser........I will devote an entire blog to my mixed feelings about "The Vagina Monologues" at a later date...ok, let me throw in one phrase right now "The Emperer (or should I say Vagina) has no clothes." But technically, this world-wide phenomenan (good title, Eve!...even better P.R!) is in the same category as the other shows mentioned. Rent them if you can find them or look for excepts on youtube or online. Also, order the scripts. They are excellent models.