CURRENT MISSION

I have quit my day job of 20 years (waitressing - which I love) to tour North America with my solo show (which I love even more). I have a beautiful home in Portland I'm happy to share.

ABOUT ME

I have been an actor since I was about 8. I grew up in a theater family. I moved to NYC after grad school to make my fame and fortune, but ending up mostly waiting tables (though I had FABULOUS restaurant jobs, which I still kind of miss). I discovered the Canadian Fringe festival circuit in 2004. I realized I could write my own shows, and tour them, and not be stuck in NYC, waiting and hoping for someone to cast me as a corpse on Law and Order. Now I'm back in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. I started a theater company to make shows about a topic I care very much about - women's sexuality (if you've ever seen the Vagina Monologues, you have some idea what I do). Theater is my way of interacting with and educating the world. I am married to a fabulous man who builds cabinets for a living, and I live in a house (a duplex) with several of my friends. We are all late 30's- 50's with no kids. What we have in common is free-form ecstatic dance. We share a community garden, we love to have potlucks and parties, and we're really open to having new people come visit.

PHILOSOPHY

Kindness and gratitude. I look for the beauty in people and situations. I try to learn from everyone. I am aware of my energy and how I integrate and affect others. I am a giver, a nurturer and I look for ways to do that. I love to leave people and places better than I found them.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I love to experience other people through dance. have traveled around the world and found ecstatic dance and contact improv in several cities. It's a great way to communicate and connect, even if you don't speak the same language. I make theater and love to see theater wherever I go.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have yet to experience the joys of couchsurfing proper - though having traveled as a touring artist, I have been housed in several "billets" (what they called the hosts on the fringe circuit). I have been fortunate often to have my own room (or share with a fellow artist) and I have slept on a couch of two with kids and dogs running through. I am amazed and grateful that people open up their homes to strangers. I have yet to host myself - though I've long thought it's something I'd like to try. I'm happy to have this excuse to finally make a profile and get on it. I'm heading out on a tour and will be looking to get some experience!

Interests

theater, ecstatic dance, contact improv, reading, self-improvement, spirituality, gardening, Ted talks, This American Life, biking

• dogs
• theater
• acting
• beauty
• festivals
• dancing
• tango
• cooking
• running
• partying
• gardening
• reading
• traveling
• cycling
• scuba diving
• swimming
• law

Music, Movies, and Books

Tom RObbins, Suzie Bright, Diane Gabaldon - oh god, this is such a hard question. I love the less intellectual books, like hunger games and the sozzie stackhouse novels, and I love mind candy like Incognito: The secret life of the Brain. I don't watch much TV ever, and I hardly ever get to the movies. I like to listen to audiobooks. I'm not a big music person (though I love Bruce SPringsteen). I'm pretty open to what others are playing.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I think Petra, the ancient Nabatean city in Jordon, tops my list of most amazing places I've been. Karchner Caverns in Arizona is the most astonishing natural beauty I've ever witnessed (they are LIVING caves -still growing the most amazing structures).
In terms of what I've done - creating some life-changing theater tops the list. I really do feel like the work I do has positively affected many people, in a variety of ways.

Teach, Learn, Share

I teach solo show classes and personal revelation monologue creation, but my training is classical acting, so I can do that too.

I want to learn to cook, garden, swim. Travel. Speak a different language. Scuba. Tango. Salsa.