Ah, a theatre full of brilliant teenagers -- maybe my favorite kind audience! Last night I played at Northern Kentucky University to a full house in their Greaves Concert Hall. The crowd was the Governor's Scholars Program, and I was their last "Convocation" of the summer. A convocation is a few steps above being a concert. If you've ever seen me live, you know I like to talk. But being given a platform to speak about my trajectory, ups and downs, other careers, family and work balance, etc., as well as an audience that asks the smart questions, always makes the evening a bit more well-rounded. I could have just played a concert, but I feel like it's important to talk about choices and things that got me to where I am. Also, I mentioned breastfeeding, and, like, 90% of the boys in the crowd freaked out and groaned, and I totally called them out for being ridiculous.
It also made me wish I was finished with a theatre project that I've been working on for a few years because I would like to be traveling the countryside delivering songs and messages to audiences like that. Sidenote: I rented a car and drove solo, and it was so nice to have alone time!
Playing Greaves Hall was funny because I'd played the stage at least 5 times previously, but always as a sideman -- usually playing piano or guitar while other students sang in the summer program "Showcase" nights when I was a Governor's Scholar there in 1995. I was the perpetual sideman, and it was liberating to be front and center with something to say.Also, the scholars asked the most brilliant questions, and we talked and talked about what it meant to be an artist and a businesswoman and a writer and to want to do more than one thing with your life.
The theme of their summer was Reject the Single Story, which fit right in with my talk ... so I'm leaving you with this Ted Talk: