Communion

About the Project

Communion is a one-woman show that uses poetry to explore how traumatic parent-child relationships can transform into self-acceptance and self-reliance. The first half establishes my on-stage persona and how familial relationships affected my growth. It starts with Exit on Verdugo, a poem about my hometown Eagle Rock, a stand-up comedy bit, and a group poetry piece that establishes my dynamic with my family. I describe what it’s like growing up with divorced parents in the next poem Blood, and then question what ownership of my female body looks like in the poem My Body. These two poems are intense in performance and content, asking what it means to have your sense of self feel like it belongs to anyone but yourself. 

The second half of the production is another stand-up that talks about dating and relationships, meant to cleanse the palette after the intensity of the first half. It transitions into a pre-recorded video chat. In the video, I recite the poem Saturday Morning, a love poem that illustrates how a romantic relationship with another person can support a journey towards self-love. After, the poem My Heart Will Go On mixes music and poetry to think about love in the context of parent-child relationships and how that can lead to some acceptance and forgiveness of trauma. This is further explored in the performance poem, I’m a Big Girl, and a miming skit that uses pre-recorded audio to look at the anxious self and reach an understanding that acceptance is a lifelong journey. The performance ends with I Love You, an empowering proclamation of loving one’s self.

Through poetry, stand-up comedy, music, and multimedia experiences like short films and miming, this immersive experience will take the audience on a journey of forgiveness for ourselves and for our experiences. To mimic this pivotal transformation, Communion carries religious undertones as if the audience is attending a mass. It will include projected images, video, and immersive audio.