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Did you ever have a Sweet Sixteen “Coming Out” Party? I never did.<\/p>\n
Both my daughters were Bas Mitzvah’d — which entailed huge parties for families and friends.\u00a0 In the Jewish tradition, the event signifies the transition of a child becoming an adult at age thirteen.\u00a0 I remember also attending a Christian friend’s Sweet Sixteen party for their daughter.\u00a0 The family made a similarly mammoth gathering, presenting a pair of high heels ceremoniously to their daughter who had now become a full-fledged woman upon reaching the age of sixteen.<\/p>\n
So why would I be viewing this year of 2016 at the ripe old age of . . . let’s say at least over-40 . . . as my own “coming out” party?<\/p>\n
Because I feel on the brink of something new.\u00a0 I just do.<\/p>\n
I have no idea what that “new” will be, but I can feel the energy around me is making way for the opportunity — the “new” whatever — that will soon come knocking.\u00a0 Why should this year be different from all other years?\u00a0 Because of the work I’ve done to prepare.<\/p>\n
I actually started all this back in 2014 when my goal was to get my website <\/a>up.\u00a0 It took a year, but it’s up and I am so proud and grateful to honor my past successes, but to focus on my present with this incredible tool.\u00a0 Next step?\u00a0 How do I continue working my craft without paying for constant classes?\u00a0 I joined a fledgling theater company, Articulate Theatre Company.<\/a>\u00a0 It’s now 2016 and the year has been devoted to working with new playwrights and keeping the conversation going in social media on “faith” that something would change.<\/p>\n There’s a wonderful Life Coach who just happens to live in my NYC apartment building, Susie Moore.<\/a>\u00a0 She recently posted a blog about her “secret” to staying on track<\/a>.\u00a0 I can’t help but hear Ben Vereen’s voice in my own ear as he sings “You’re on . . . the right track . . . you’re on<\/em> . . .” to Pippin, who has tried any number of ways to gain “fulfillment” in his own life.\u00a0 At the final curtain, when “Catherine” asked “Pippin” how he felt about accepting her and a mundane family life over all the tinsel, glamour and magic . . . he responded . . . “trapped.”<\/p>\n That line was cut in the recent revival.\u00a0 As with Sondheim’s “Company,” marriage can be seen in many different ways depending on your POV.<\/p>\n Now, Pippin was young.\u00a0 I’m not so young (except in spirit).\u00a0 You might not be so young either (hopefully, still in spirit).\u00a0 But, don’t you feel stronger having weathered the challenges of parenthood — together?\u00a0 But now — that family no longer needs you the same way.\u00a0 Well I say, let’s have a Coming Out Party together!\u00a0 Let’s renew the magic in all our lives.<\/p>\n Note Susie’s 5 steps to Staying on Track:<\/p>\n Since leaving the law firm, I’ve taken advantage of the “experts” I found online to re-establish myself (and my husband) in the arts:\u00a0 Life coach experts like Susie; Acting Coach experts like Amy Jo Berman, former casting director at HBO; and Marketing & Public Relations coaches like Dallas Travers — all for free.\u00a0 My Fordham Communications degree helped my own credentials when SAG-AFTRA asked me to create a class for all those actors who are still phobic about the lack of privacy on social media.\u00a0 My “Business of the Buzz” class has just heightened my own awareness that we are merely a product and this is a business — that took some adjustment for me especially during those all those years on Guiding Light<\/em>.\u00a0 I had no idea how the “corporate” head worked!\u00a0 And how cold that corporate giant could be when $$ is their bottom line and the pawn who is the actor is no longer needed. That hurts the soul.\u00a0 Well, not all souls, but I was new to the game.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 It hurt big time.<\/p>\n But I truly expected to keep working — somewhere.\u00a0 However, reality check #1, my resume read “gypsy” and “soap opera pretty face.”\u00a0 My power agent drops me and I’m released from more than just “Katie’s” world.\u00a0 I did a lot of soul-searching — desperately wanting to stay tuned into my own sense of truth.\u00a0 Family is Priority #1.\u00a0 Make $$.\u00a0 Get a job\/job.\u00a0 Now, 35 years later, why am I seeking to continue pursuing a profession in the arts — at this “you’re dead why don’t you know it” age?<\/p>\n I believe it’s the community.\u00a0 I believe being connected as part of the family created in theater or a long-running anything is still gold.\u00a0 Leaving an impression behind that people 35 years later still remember?\u00a0 That’s gold.\u00a0 Guiding Light <\/em>was gold.\u00a0 Broadway dancing was gold.\u00a0 Whatever magic still lies ahead for me, I hope to find more gold in them thar hills.<\/p>\n So, yeah — in some ways, I’ve already “come out” through social media by trusting and allowing myself to “sing.”\u00a0 I no longer feel like a caged bird.\u00a0 I’m expecting to celebrate my “coming of age” with a party real soon.\u00a0 Put the theatrical magic back in both our lives to remind the world that married couple on the line in A Chorus Line<\/em> — are still kicking!<\/p>\n Meanwhile, trying to “strategize,” as Amy Jo Berman and Susie and Dallas Travers — and I — teach “out there” in the wonderful world of free internet advice.\u00a0 See Dallas’ blog on the subject\u00a0HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today, I pray for world peace and trust that Hillary in the White House will lead us down the right path for a renewed economy at home and strengthened foreign policy abroad.\u00a0 I believe in her.\u00a0 I believe her choices since Day 1 in law school, were to fight for the underdog; the women and children who can’t fight for themselves.\u00a0 Next week, we’ll see what America believes to be true.<\/p>\n TOGETHER WE’RE STRONGER!<\/strong><\/span> Kitchen Collage made from over 30 years of theater in New York, 2016<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you ever have a Sweet Sixteen “Coming Out” Party? I never did. Both my daughters were Bas Mitzvah’d — which entailed huge parties for families and friends.\u00a0 In the Jewish tradition, the event signifies the transition of a child becoming an adult at age thirteen.\u00a0 I remember also attending a Christian friend’s Sweet Sixteen party for their daughter.\u00a0 The family made a similarly mammoth gathering, presenting a pair of high heels ceremoniously to their daughter who had now become a full-fledged woman upon reaching the age of sixteen. So why would I be viewing this year of 2016 at \u2026<\/p>\n\n
\n(family motto long before Hillary coined the phrase)<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.0-9\/14724609_1295787027112566_6530059845057256525_n.jpg?oh=116089d5c3517baa4f6fcf6ef9bc44a3&oe=5886A474\")
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