Inspiration and "Brutal honesty. At our own expense."

Last night I went out to the Heartland Studio Theater to see two of the Fillet of Solo shows. Every time I take the Red Line up north I am reminded how long it takes. Worth the travel though and it gave me some good things to think about in terms of my own writing.

The first show I saw was EnSOLO,"An enSEMBLE of solo performers who write together and perform alone. A little bit of non-fiction, story telling, performance art. No 4th wall. enSOLO strives to find Universal truth through brutal honesty and specificity."

The second show was a longer solo performance by Kim Morris. I've seen Kim perform other pieces through 2nd Story and she was the curator for the short piece I did before Julie Ganey's piece at the Choosing to be Here storytelling festival in the fall.

Both shows were great and I was left thinking a lot about something I have struggled with over the past few years:

When is revealing yourself in story telling brave and in service of helping listeners relate and share common experiences and when is it still too self-indulgent, too personal and specific?

When is it still the stuff of journals, blogs, drinks with friends, and therapist office verses being shaped enough into a still very personal story that is meaningful to the audience?

When is brutal honesty not just at our own expense but also "at the expense" of a listener because it is too much about us and not enough interested in the audience's role?

While these questions are phrased as "when" I don't think there is a time-based answer. Some people can artfully shape raw emotions as they feel them, they can bring perspective, they can think about a listener and a bigger meaning. Sometimes 30 years is not enough time to process in way that is ready to share.

The answers are different for each story, each talent, each person.

I should say that this train of thought is not a criticism of any of the work I saw last night. Those pieces (in addition to being wonderful to watch) simply inspired me to think harder about something already on my mind. And, it turned out that my good friend B. has actor friends who are in EnSOLO, so he was at the show too. We started a conversation about this late last night on the phone and I'm looking forward to talking with him about it more soon.

For my Museum of Round issues, I don't think any of my ideas so far push my buttons in the way of "Am I Ready/Able to Tell This in a Way that is brave not self-obsessed." All delays in getting this together are pure procrastination and the need to develop some art skills (or delegate tasks to a collaborator!)