I’m always thrilled and proud to be a Babe, but it was especially true this past weekend [see Fighting Words 2018 Festival, May 19-20, 2018]. There’s nothing that I’d rather be a part of than stories being brought to life where women get to be powerful and vulnerable and complicated and so, so full. The range of productions this weekend just demonstrated all of the roles and versatility that we can own and utilize in order to have women’s voices heard. More simply put: I geeked out.

I was lucky enough to both fight choreograph and act in “Witches of Birnam” which was such an amazing chance to use both of my favorite skills in the same project, but I especially enjoyed watching everyone else’s work!

I was just talking to a friend of mine today, and she said that when watching “The Princess Bride” as a kid, she didn’t just want to marry Wesley, she also wanted to be him. There is so much that we’re told that we can’t do as women, or that we’re simply omitted from, giving us little example that we can.

In my everyday life as an artist in this city, the place that I can consistently look to for inspiration is my sisters in this company. Every day, I have emails in my inbox from these women that inspire me so much, working together to create an example of what we can be. I admire one woman’s grit, another’s courage, another’s grace or strength or compassion or humor, and getting to see the very women I look up to as embodying these qualities embody them onstage this weekend was such a gift. A gift for me to enjoy the gifts of the women I care so much about, and a gift that we can share with an audience as these projects continue to develop.

I’m so excited for all of the young women who will come to see The Lady Demands Satisfaction in the fall. They’ll see so many different complex female characters played by fantastic actors. One young woman’s face lighting up at an amazing sword fight or impressive quip makes everything we do worth it.