Auditions for the Charleston Production of Listen To Your Mother will be held on February 28, March 1 and March 2, 2015. To learn more about what we’re looking for and to schedule your audition click here. We’d like to thank 2014 cast member Brandi Wolfe for taking the time to explain what being a part of Listen To Your Mother was like for her.
“I was incredibly nervous while I was waiting to audition. I really didn’t know what to expect and who would be on the other side of that door. The moment I locked eyes with the three lovely ladies waiting for me, I relaxed.
They weren’t there to judge me. They wanted to hear my story.
I was so grateful for the opportunity to share my story in a small room with three eager audience members who hung on my every word and supported me throughout my audition. Just that experience was incredibly powerful.
I then was given the opportunity to share my story on stage alongside some of the most amazing people I have ever met. It remains one of the most powerful experiences of my life and I will forever be grateful for a platform to share my story and connect with such supportive people.”
Want to audition for the Charleston production of LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER? To learn more about what we’re looking for and to schedule your audition click here.
Auditions for the Charleston Production of Listen To Your Mother will be held on February 28, March 1 and March 2, 2015. To learn more about what we’re looking for and to schedule your audition click here. And, if you need some encouragement, this story from our 2014 cast member Cindi Carver-Futch will encourage you to push through fear and share your story!
When I heard about the Listen To Your Mother auditions, signing up was a no brainer. I had just published my first book, a memoir full of stories about being a mom to a precious and precocious daughter. Sharing one of those stories with an audience seemed like the next natural step.
I made it to the audition powered by a pep talk from my daughter and a triple-dog-dare from my husband.
After, I waited on pins and needles. What if my story wasn’t good enough? What if I wasn’t that good a writer? Or worse, what if I wasn’t that good a mom?!?
Finally I got a call – my story was chosen. I was relieved! I was excited! I was validated!
And I was terrified.
I have been a performer most of my life, have spent hours learning lines and blocking and music, hours performing on stage.
Why was I afraid of reading a 5-minute story standing in front of a podium?
Because good stories have power. As an actor, I always played a character. My job was to share a story written by someone else, selected by someone else, directed by someone else. I have felt the power of performing a good story.
But now I would be on stage as myself, with only my story to share. My fear was that it – and I – might not be good enough.
A wonderful thing happens when we face down fear. It dissolves in a puff of dust, a product of our own imagination. We find we are stronger than we thought. We discover irrational fear is a waste of time. When this fear is gone, we find that our powerful imaginations are now free to conjure up more important, more interesting, more potent stories.
Meeting with my fellow writers blew part of my fear away. Here we were, women and men from various walks of life with different outlooks and styles and opinions, banded together for a brief time because of our stories.
As we read our stories aloud, we found ourselves being knit together in a unique fabric, patches in a crazy but beautiful and unique motherhood quilt.
We entered the room as strangers. We left the room – red-eyed and laughing – as family.
On show day, with my new family around me, I faced the rest of my fear. Alone and in a spotlight, I took a deep breath. I looked at my words on the page and then opened my mouth to share my story with the people in the dark.
An amazing thing happened. Just as with my fellow writers, the audience and I became one. It was no longer me alone in the spotlight baring my soul in front of them. We were together, sharing the joy, the tears, the laughter.
For a few brief moments in time – moments that existed only once in the entire universe – I felt like I was a part of something far bigger and more powerful than myself, and definitely bigger and more powerful than any fear I could imagine.
That is the powerful thing about stories when we have the courage to share them. They inspire us and ground us. They create new worlds, introduce us to new feelings, grow us in new ways. They remind us that we are not alone.
Sounds a lot like motherhood, doesn’t it?
You can visit Cindi Carver-Futch on the web. And watch her read her story from the Charleston’s 2014 production of Listen To Your Mother: “Growing a Daughter”
Want to audition for the Charleston production of LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER? To learn more about what we’re looking for and to schedule your audition click here.
Auditions for the Charleston Production of Listen To Your Mother will be held on February 28, March 1 and March 2, and sign-ups are open now. Today, I’d like to thank 2014 cast member Janet Sheppard Kelleher for sharing her thoughts about the audition process. We hope it encourages you to go for it. Here’s Jan: When I read about the 2014 Listen To Your Mother audition in Charleston I had just written a piece about the cataclysmic birth of my firstborn for the Erma Bombeck contest in Ohio. I had prepared quite an edgy piece, considering the funny competition, so I wasn’t sure it would fit the bill for a stage performance in Charleston. At age 60, however, I didn’t have a thing to lose! I figured if I wasn’t chosen to read, it wouldn’t be the first time my work had been rejected, nor would be the last. Was I scared? Yes! Was […]
Do you have a story about motherhood you want to share? Can you imagine giving that story a voice—your voice—a microphone, and a stage? Does the thought of it make your soul stir a little? Great! Keep reading. We’re scheduling auditions now for the Charleston production of LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER. Auditions will be held February 28, March 1 and March 2, 2015 at the Center for Women. The selected cast will read their original, true stories about motherhood during Charleston’s LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER show on Sunday, May 3, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. at Charleston Music Hall. The link to reserve your audition spot is at the end of this post, but first, here are some FAQs: What is LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER? LTYM is a live stage show that features a cast of about a dozen women and men reading stories about motherhood. Those stories are woven together in a way that is […]
Jennifer, Becca and I are excited to announce that the LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER show will return to the Holy City in the spring. Recently, LTYM Founder Ann Imig announced the biggest show season ever — 39 cities across the country! SAVE THE DATE! The 2015 Charleston show will be held on Sunday, May 3rd 2015 at 2:00 p.m. at Charleston Music Hall. You may recall that last May’s show sold out, so we added a second show. This season, there will be one show only. We’re excited about holding the show at larger venue in the heart of downtown Charleston. If you missed Charleston’s inaugural LTYM show, here’s a link to the YouTube videos showing the cast reading their original true stories about motherhood. And, if you’ve said I keep hearing about this Listen To Your Mother thing, but I don’t really know what it’s all about, then watch this: If you live in Charleston and want […]
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