and she left me on the corner of venice blvd. crying...

Or at least that is how the mythology will be created. sharon bridgforth did dramaturgical work on the final draft of the script. What I love about her - is that she broke it all down - without even looking at the text. Writing a play is very different than doing solo work or performance pieces. Carl Hancock Rux really works a script - takes it page by page and is helping me to understand dramatic structure, language, and rhythm of the piece while sharon brings it back to the personal and I need both. She sat me down and asked some serious questions about my intention, my family, my fear - that helped me articulate what this piece is actually about.

She asked me questions such as:
- What were your mother's dreams?
- What is your greatest fear at this moment?
- What are you carrying that is hers, that's not serving you?
- What's hers that serves you?
- What does each character have to do to release what is not serving them?

Then she asked me to imagine my mother a young woman. Gave me a photograph to see and asked me to write her a letter. I was so beat down by the time she was done - I had to give offerings to Yemaya and cry next to the ocean.

In January, we did a table reading of the script at the Center for African and African American Studies in Austin. The Center really is a model for what ethnic studies centers across the country should be doing - opening the resources of the university to artists, scholars, activists, and community so that we are having conversations across, race, class, gender, and sexuality. I am so blessed to have a community of women artists that support me that Omi and sharon helped create through the Austin Project. Ana Lara, Wura Ogunji, Monique Cortez, Omi Osun, and Florinda Bryant read. An actor from CalArts - Touissant - drove all the way from Houston to read the part of Andres. Jennifer Marguilles did some fierce copy editing and sharon facilitated the session. Much gratitude to everyone that walks with me on this journey. Deep, deep gratitude and luv.