Announcing Artists Aloud in Tennessee!

There are no coincidences.

Today, I wandered into our local YMCA intent on spending my morning surfing the web, sipping decaf, and avoiding my workout until the last possible moment.

Instead, I became an unwitting audience member for Debbie Alan's "On The Home Stretch", a live daily internet radio talk show (http://www.onthehomestretch.com/).

It proved to be the impetus I needed to pursue an idea I have been knocking about my brain for some time now: a live internet radio talk show featuring local artists.

I am a professional regional theatre artist turned wife and mother currently living just west of Nashville, Tennessee.

My career is nearly 17 years old, my marriage nearly 11 years old*, and my daughter is nearly 5 years old.

For her first 4 years of life, I continued my vagabond lifestyle (performing and directing in the Southeastern regional market from Michigan to Florida) while my husband and fellow theatre artist stepped off the stage to take on the noble and necessary "daddy job". He is a brilliant actor and artist who (as God as my witness) will return to the theatre someday.

We entertained home-schooling as an option for our daughter so she could continue to travel with me as I directed out of own. Our daughter apparently had other ideas. We enrolled her in pre-school when she turned 4 years old and she's never looked back. As it turns out, she prefers the company of actual children to adults who merely act like children for a living. Which is no slight to the countless talented actors, artists, designers and technicians who have been her beloved caretakers over the years.

Because she so loves having classmates, teachers, and a classroom, I am officially (for now) taking a break from the road to give our daughter the conventional school experience she craves.

This limits my availability to work in the theatre as a director and actor, but it opens the window to pursuing the idea of a talk show dedicated to local artists.

Being a theatre artist in Music City USA presents a unique challenge. Our great city is, of course, known for country music. However, both thriving and struggling under the radar is a richly talented and diverse artistic community.

I have been a part of Nashville's professional theatre community since 1994. My friends are some of the most multi-talented artists I've ever known. We wage a never-ending struggle for funding and recognition. Our passion to touch the lives of others and enrich our community drives us through and carries us beyond the financial hardships of our times. As inspiring as it is, and as proud as I am to be an artist in this town, it is at times heartbreaking.

I intend to use this blog as a starting point for a live internet radio talk show introducing the unsung artists of our community, and promoting the excellent theatre work which is alive (but not always well-funded, well-advertised, or well-supported) in and around Nashville, Tennessee.

Artists Aloud in Tennessee will feature an insider's perspective. As a theatre artist in this community, I will be featuring my friends and fellow artists. Those with whom I have struggled, and those with whom I continue to work.

Although there will be an emphasis on the stage, I hope to include other artists as well.

The focus of this blog, and subsequent live internet radio talk show, will not be country music.

I have nothing against country music. It is my intention, however, to shine the light on artists who live and work in the shadows of that much more lucrative and famous industry based in Nashville, Tennessee.

As my dear friend and artistic director of The Nashville Shakespeare Festival (http://www.nashvilleshakes.org/) often signs her emails...Onward!

*The story of our marriage, countless "weddings" and plans for weddings is a long and storied one which I will tell someday. For now, suffice it to say we have been together for almost 13 years, and we remain deeply in love.