The Day That Changed My Life - Hope

A tough road ahead with high levels of uncertainty - comes with lung cancer. Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, an estimated 174,000 Americans are diagnosed each year. In fact, it is a leading cause of cancer death in men and women in the United States. It starts when abnormal cells grow out of control in the lungs. Smoking is often associated with lung cancer, but that is not always the case. In addition,it is quite difficult to detect since there usually are no signs or early symptoms. However, when they do appear, the symptoms include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and bloody mucus but at this point the lung cancer stage has advanced. Treatment for lung cancer can include surgery, chemotherapy, and /or radiation.

Listen to survivor, speaker, author of Help Me Live: 20 things people with cancer want you to know - Lori Hope



We haven't said it in a while but here goes Thank you all, we're growing with readers from around the world :-) We're so thrilled to have your support. Keep sharing the blog. Feel free to share your comments.

Moving Right Along....

Did I mention that we have an incredible cast? I know, I know, I'm quite certain that I have and you will have a chance to see for yourself soon. In the meantime, they are actively preparing to share the journey with you. The journey of those whose lives have been touched by cancer.

Oh by the way, a big 'Thank You' to all for your interest. We are so happy that you are sharing the journey to the stage on Face Book, Twitter, through your personal email, etc. We love the comments (keep them coming), we have received emails with interest in purchasing tickets and even those from out of state (giggles), so to give you all a heads up - stay on the alert you will want to get your tickets as soon as they are available. Why not sign up and follow us?

And now back to our update on the journey to the stage....

It's rehearsal time and as always the cast comes in ready to work. But first, we lay it out on the table (juice, water and muffins)then discussed the goals of the day and how we will run the rehearsal.


Laughter makes for a fun time. We really enjoy our time together. This should translate wonderfully on the stage.





Having one on one time with each member is so important.


we take the time to encourage our cast to share about their other projects which gives us a chance to support and see their performances.


This rehearsal we worked in separate rooms to focus on the scenes and work within groups - worked out very well.




The smile of our little star :-)


Aha! Taking notes to perfect and improve on the character's journey.


A moment away from the other cast members - the monologue room



A time to pause and think more about Collette's journey


By now you must be quite anxious to see the play and we do understand :-)


The Cast is perfecting it just for you


It's that time to wrap up and the cast assembles together. We discuss upcoming rehearsals and other administrative matters. Needless to say, we are delighted with the commitment of the cast, it shows in the progress of their performance.




That's it for now! Until the next post, adios, au revoir and goodbye!`



And by all means, please continue to share!

Dawn

In Search of the Cast - Audition Day

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Our first casting call placed on the Internet - Craigslist and Backpage began with a flood of submissions. The casting director advised me to also place an ad in the Back Stage paper but due to the responses we were receiving, I felt that it was not necessary. However, the turnout on audition day was not as impressive. The Team being a fab. force, kept a positive and enthusiastic attitude.



It was Saturday morning, May 22nd and there we were setting up and preparing for the big rush of actors/actresses who are eager and excited to have a chance to be a part of The Day That Changed My Life's cast.



We all worked really hard, looked forward to meeting the actors, and we were pleased to have had the first experience of our first audition. Yes, it was very exciting but we were only able to fill to cast members and we had many more roles to fill.



Without missing a beat, we planned for the next audition. This time I listened and followed the suggestion that was given by the casting director who said "Place an ad in the Back Stage - print and online."

The ad was placed through BackStage for print and online June 1st. On the evening of June 7th, the ads were published online with the print ad to follow on Thursday the 10th. That night of the 7th, submissions were coming in with impressive numbers and in no time we had pages filling up with new pages added to accommodate the increasing number of entries. Needless to say, we were over the roof with excitement.

The Team remained focus -- we knew what happened the last time. Will the next audition be a success?!!

Dawn

Working, Meetings - The Team at Work

Do not be fooled by the laughter and smiles, our work is certainly no easy task.

As you can see we have worked in just about everyplace - a very focused team.

Late into the night, deep discussions, laying it all out on the table - working...

This is a work in progress. We have so many things to work out. In addition to the script, we need the right actors/actresses to deliver the journey to our audience. We have to focus on finding the cast, the film production crew, the site for auditions, rehearsal and the venue.

Although we don't always see eye to eye, we all understand that this journey is important. Each character's journey while it may have some connection to the audience -has it's own unique experience of those whose lives were affected by cancer.

We have big plans for our production!

We love what we do and we have a great team who also feels strongly about this journey.

Yes we want to share the journey of those affected by cancer. However, we also want to make a difference to those who are currently facing this disease. Stayed tuned for more - you'll be meeting the rest of the team real soon ;-)

Dawn

The Day That Changed My Life

Welcome to our blog where we are sharing our journey as we work to bring our production to the stage.

The Day That Changed My Life is coming to an Off Broadway Stage and The Team is excited! We have compiled the journeys of those affected by cancer and were so generous to share them with us.

The Team is incredible - understanding that we have quite a task ahead, we are constantly working to improve and focus on making this production great. The support of those who believe in our project and those who have joined us, makes it an enjoyable process.

We invite you to travel with us as we update our journey of this production.

Dawn