The Ten Dresses

Another day starts….

I get out of bed and on feet that hurt as they press against the hardwood floor, I hurry to the relief I know will come once I reach the bathroom mat and when I get there one foot lands perfectly centered on the little sculpture of puke from my cat. Now I’m fully awake.

I am very stoked!  Writing about PTSD, heart problems and stuttering is going to fade out. Instead, this blog is going to be increasingly about my script. I am so stoked now that I know what I am going to do with the dresses; I’m so much more energized. And its is going to take me a year to build them all so I see my show happening in early 2018.

My plan is now to make ten dresses:

1. Vivicean’s Wedding Dress. 
2. Lizzie’s Peacock Dress. 
3. Theresa’a Swearing-In Dress. 
4. Harriet’s Cheerleader Costume. 
5. Margaret-Mary’s First Communion Dress. 
6. Helen’s Party Dress. 
7. Shelly’s Cardinal Dress. 
8. Muriel’s Apron. 
9. Betsy’s Baptism Dress for Matilda. 
10. The dress Phyllis was wearing when she died.

I may change some of the ideas for my dresses, but I am most certainly playing in one of the best sandboxes I have ever played in in my entire life. This is my first project that has nothing to do, whatsoever, with my life and I love that!

On the other hand, it has everything in the world that is precious to me in it: It’s a play that I am writing for presentation in an art gallery and for which I will be making ten paper dresses. My goal is to skewer visual art professionals in the same way Christopher Guest so brilliantly skewered amateur thespians in Waiting for Guffman, one of my favourite movies of all time.

All those words in bold are passions of mine.

So here are some photos of what I’ve been doing for the past while when not revising and memorizing my script for The Flame: The armature of the cardinal dress.

I've been "weaving" a metal armature for the cardinal dress for quite a while
but I am almost finished now. Next, the paper maché substrate will go on it.

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I finally heard about what is going on with my heart condition and the medical system; I wasn’t dreaming and my doctor hasn’t forgotten me. I am waiting for Dr. Isserow, a cardiologist who has a very busy practice, to see me. I am far more relaxed knowing what is going on.

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There I am, last on the list but on the night, I’m the fifth speaker on the roster — the last speaker of the first half of the night. This will be my eighth time but, obviously, the first time since becoming dysfluent.

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Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety six people have visited my blog in the last six days — nearly all of them from France. Right now, my average daily attendance is four hundred and ninety nine. I have absolutely no idea why.