Finding Your Voice
Finding your voice is what our granddaughter Chloe Matamoros underlines in her one-woman show, VOICE: SONG and SCREAM for the Toronto Fringe Festival. Yesterday, she had a standing ovation. I’ve done some acting in my time, but Chloe is something else. She sings selections from operas, a musical, and folk songs she’s written. She tells the autobiographical story of what she went through at university, how her musical studies almost killed her love of singing. It’s an honest, heartfelt, and courageous bit of storytelling.
Afterwards, we went to the Tranzac club, where fringe performers, friends, and family can hang out before or after the shows.
Trust Yourself
Trust yourself is what Chloe sings at the end of her show. It’s what she discovered through an agonizing process. The butterfly is her theme and she very much feels like one that’s emerged from a cocoon, brought on by the pandemic and some not-so-great instruction.
It’s difficult trusting yourself. It reminds me of the years I wasted rewriting and rewriting my first screenplay, Shrinkproof. I didn’t trust myself; I didn’t trust my abilities. I gave way too much power to those who looked at my work and rejected it. Not that it was perfect, but I failed to notice that they said some lovely things about my writing. Instead, I focussed on the fact they weren’t optioning my screenplay. So, with each rejection, I rewrote the sucker until I had squeezed all the juice out of the story.
Thankfully, after years of rejection, I rewrote the story as a novel, The Rubber Fence. I trusted myself to not give up. To not take those rejections personally. In other words, to quote an old cliche, I didn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.
I believe we humans have much potential, which is something else Chloe talks about in her play. We are each born with different talents, and it takes work and confidence to exercise what we’ve been given.
If you get a chance to see Chloe’s show, there are only a few performances left. Today at 1:45, tomorrow at 8:15 and Saturday at 1:45 at the Al Green Theatre, Bloor and Spadina. Hope to see you there.
What I’ve Been Up To
If you’ve subscribed to my newsletter, you’ll know what I’ve been doing. If you’re not subscribed, you can subscribe here. And if you have any comments, please feel free to add your thoughts. Always appreciated.
A very proud grandmother I do believe. I wish that I was in Toronto to take it in. Has she entered in Canada’s got talent? Giving our children independence and self esteem is the best way to send them out in to the world so they can do what they love to do.
Regards, Jeanelle
So sorry Jeanelle, that I didn’t see your comment sooner. We were away and when we got back, very busy. No, Chloe hasn’t entered Canada’s Got Talent. It’s not the road she wants to travel. But thank you for your thoughts. 🤗