The first memory I have of seeing a stage play was watching Mary Martin in Peter Pan at age 8. I was so impressed, touched, moved--not by the story so much as by the production itself.  it was just so good!

 

 It brought me to tears--literally.  My Mother was irritated and actually snapped at me because I couldn't stop crying--and I couldn't put into words why!  

 

 I was just enthralled with THEATRE.

 

 I still am!

 

From that time on I always wanted to be an actress  " when I grow up"  (well...there was that brief affair with "ballerina", but it didn't last! ) I never gave up on that dream even when LIFE, as it does, happened.

 

College, Marriages, Divorces, Children (I have 8, all grown now) grandchildren  (28  at last count) all took focus away from theatre.  But not forever!

 

Eventually, when my 7th child was a baby, I was able to return to the theatre and got my first paying job in Charley's Aunt at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theater  in Woodbridge, Virginia.  A few years later, I moved to Denver and my first job there was Grease at Country Dinner Playhouse, which remained my theatre home for many years.

A professional relationship with Tom McNally, head of Theatre at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, lead to a decision to return to school in my forties!!!

I finished  my BA  at  UNC and went on to earn an MFA from Penn State's professional actor's training program.

 

So...here I am today.    Last year, 2013, was one of the busiest of my career--five shows back to back before a much needed break to visit with my far flung family.

 

For so many years, I had to fit theatre in around my life obligations.  now, with my family grown and living their own lives I am free to put my career at the center of my life.

 

I want to take that pot off the back burner and turn the heat up to boil!!!!