A Maternal Dreamer Blog from Lisa Gill, Albuquerque's Award Winning Poet

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A BROWN PAPER SACK WITH AN ORANGE AND A ROADTRIP
• Posted by lisa gill on May 16, 2009 at 2:30am
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I’ve been thinking about the love artists have for craft – making art in a recession is a beloved act -- and in the last two days I have had a chance to be witness to a good dose of that fist sized organ that beats inside anyone who dedicates her life to the kick of the creative. Thursday I saw Ramona King’s one woman show (which is still running—through this Sunday). It’s titled “Maternal Dreamer #2: Living the Dream,” though if I had my druthers I’d call it “Welcome to the World I Learned to Love Early.” Ramona is a consummate storyteller, able in a quick posture change and with a deft facial expression to become a young boy, a cousin’s husband, a grandmother, herself as a young girl. Here, in a well integrated, balanced, and coherent story, we travel through time and bear witness to her lineage--never does the world hold so much hope as rising from the despair of a child’s innocence. This show is transcendent—a beautiful tribute to loving life. An orange in a child’s sack lunch, a cellophane window in cardboard doll house, choir recital, a conversation with a father in the back of the car… and a mother going out to the store while her children play up the road and down the road for as many years as it takes to salvage the story and reunite with truth. Ramona’s show had me leaning forward in my seat, hanging my own hopes for living well on her words. If you catch the show, you catch a glimpse of great generosity, what we all also hear every time she hosts Spoken Word Hour on KUNM.

New Mexico Well Woman Events in Albuquerque

Wellwoman 2009: A Celebration of National Women's Health Week, a
project for the Governor's Women's Health Advisory Council. It
includes information about the April 25th Health Fair at National
Hispanic Cultural Center, as well as our plans to celebrate National
Women's Health Week May 10-16th and the teen girls' poetry prizes.

The site is: http://nmwellwoman.wordpress.com


Lisa Gill
Coordinator NM Wellwoman 2009
A project for the Governor's Women's Health Advisory Council
http://nmwellwoman.com or see events at http://nmwellwoman.wordpress.com
lisannegill@gmail.com
220-7013

MATERNAL DREAMER in Transition with Director Tanya Taylor Rubinstein of ProjectLifestories

Early last year I submitted my show Maternal Dreamer to the Los Angeles Women's Theater Festival. It was not accepted. The committee was impressed with my performance and suggested I work on the writing of the transitions between stories. This was totally ironic for me because the show was about Women in Transition and Transformation so YES...I definitely needed to work the connections between the 4 stories in the show so that there were CLEAR TRANSITIONS. Rewriting the show then became metaphorical for me on what the show and the experiences for women are all about.

I later met with an acting coach... I told him about the show and being the intuitive spirit he was...he listened intently and then asked me the question, "What is transition and transformation to you?"
I said in short "Life and Death are the same. We ARE. Because GOD IS who said 'I AM'" or something like that. He sat back and said, "I don't know that you're telling the whole story". He then shared how he was inappropriately handled by an adult as a child and spoke of abuse. Whoa, I thought...how did he go there from my story?

A few months later I go to work with Tanya Rubinstein of Project Lifestories to see if she could assist me with Maternal Dreamer which was quickly becoming something different from the original script (MAJOR TRANSFORMATION). Something else was brewing for me...regarding the concept of Maternal Dreamer. As I talked more about the story and the heart of what I wanted to really tell...the story of my grandmother came out and my mother and myself. Before long I was telling a story about abandonment, sexual and physical abuse and how a secret infested and affected generations. It's a story that keeps growing and growing with new truths for each generation. At that point I decided Maternal Dreamer would be a series of performances about creating the "purposeful life". It hadn't occurred to me that sexual abuse and abandonment would be a part of this story and yet it is.

Taking a place of empowerment and ownership of this vessel (our bodies) brings the woman's story to a whole new level of active space and creation. I believe there is no power in victimhood but total power in active resolve. I believe once we release our experiences to what they are and move through a life of what can be...what we choose will be such a meaningful place. This I believe is so for women in particular ... and for men I have no doubt the story is the same.

Performance Dates in May "LIVING THE DREAM"

MATERNAL DREAMER #2: LIVING the DREAM
A Wise Fool Production
Directed by Tanya Rubinstein of ProjectLifestories
Written and Performed by Ramona King

The familial cycle of sabotage and abandonment repeats itself until one person breaks the cycle conscientiously choosing the life preferred while embracing love and forgiveness. Experience an adventure of healing and power in this extended Maternal Dreamer Series.

SANTA FE PERFORMANCE
Wise Fool New Mexico
2778-D Agua Fria
Santa Fe, N.M. 87507
505-992-2588
www.WiseFoolNewMexico.org


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MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND
May 8th, 9th, 10th, 2009
Fri & Sat @ 8pm
Sun @ 2pm
Tix $20 general audience
$15/Adult with Mother
$10/Elder 65years and up
$10/Student with ID

ALBUQUERQUE PERFORMANCE
The Orpheum Art Space
500 Second St. #2
Corner of COAL & 2ND
Albuquerque, N.M.
505-242-0834 (Info. about Show)


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MAY 14TH, 15TH, 16TH, AND 17TH 2009
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Shows @ 7:30 pm
Sunday Shows @ 2pm
Tix: $20 general audience
$15/Adult with Mother
$10/Senior 65 years and up
$10/Student with ID

Original Maternal Dreamer: "Mommy I cut My Hair" Directed by Stephanie Willis. Performed and Told/Written by Ramona King

This is an excerpt from Maternal Dreamer as it was performed at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in March 2008 for the Women and Creativity Month Events. The premise of Maternal Dreamer is about empowerment and realizing dreams via taking a stand. I share how my daughter did this with me and how I had come around to accept her choice as there was no turning back.

Performance Date for May Shows

MATERNAL DREAMER #2: LIVING the DREAM
A Wise Fool Production
Directed by Tanya Rubinstein of ProjectLifestories
Written and Performed by Ramona King

The familial cycle of sabotage and abandonment repeats itself until one person breaks the cycle conscientiously choosing the life preferred while embracing love and forgiveness. Experience an adventure of healing and power in this extended Maternal Dreamer Series.

SANTA FE PERFORMANCE
Wise Fool New Mexico
2778-D Agua Fria
Santa Fe, N.M. 87507
505-992-2588
www.WiseFoolNewMexico.org

MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND
May 8th, 9th, 10th, 2009
Fri & Sat @ 8pm
Sun @ 2pm
Tix $20 general audience
$15/Adult with Mother
$10/Elder 65years and up
$10/Student with ID

ALBUQUERQUE PERFORMANCE
The Orpheum Art Space
500 Second St. #2
Corner of COAL & 2ND
Albuquerque, N.M.
505-242-0834 (Info. about Show)

MAY 14TH, 15TH, 16TH, AND 17TH 2009
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Shows @ 7:30 pm
Sunday Shows @ 2pm
Tix: $20 general audience
$15/Adult with Mother
$10/Senior 65 years and up
$10/Student with ID

This is an excerpt from Maternal Dreamer as it was performed at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in March 2008 for the Women and Creativity Month Events. The premise of Maternal Dreamer is about empowerment and realizing dreams via taking a stand. I share how my daughter did this with me and how I had come around to accept her choice as there was no turning back.



For Reservations Call: 505-242-0834

It Takes a Village - A Virtual Village: Digital Mom

Times have changed since my mom gave birth to my siblings and me. Times have changed since I gave birth to my children. Today, women can open themselves to a global society of support and never leave home. I wonder if the internet has made us more secure in this age regarding our role as parents or has it made us more vulnerable. Is it possible for the caretaking parent to spend so much time on the internet that the real time work of parenting gets lost? We are living in an interesting period. Mothers are extremely busy and the workload has increased as the information age explodes and the economy tries our patience. A mother's sanity and connection to her children and outside support is so essential to the welfare of our communities. She is the hand that rocks the cradle and sets the tone for the future of so many lives. Will the virtual village be the place that enforces her strength in her role...or will this new village become too many hands on the cradle (or in the pot that spoils the stew)?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

A Mother Soldier

In the performance of Maternal Dreamer I share the story of a mother who grieved because the dreams she had for her son were now squelched due to his participation to serve his country in World War II. His new wife with child - under stressful circumstances beyond the war- in her grief and fear, that he will never return, experiences psychosis and is later diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Here is the story of a mother soldier who takes her destiny and mothering into her own hands.


Soldier Mom Plans to report for duty with children.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29441874/from/ET/