My overall impression
Heather Dowling is an unstoppable force of light in this heart wrenchingly honest and brave one woman show. Her acting is so deeply heartfelt and I was moved to both tears and laughter throughout the span of the entire performance. Heather takes you through the journey of her adolescence, a time when she effortlessly fell into the path of her dreams and felt a deep calling to perform on the stage and recreates an upsetting encounter with her high school counselor who advises her to choose a safer college major/career choice away from the performing arts. Viewing Heather’s story from the outside looking in, my heart broke the moment her counselor spoke those words. It was as if, in that fateful moment, everything she knew and trusted and loved and wanted with the deepest part of her knowing, fell away and instead listened to someone else’s fear. Dowling seamlessly transitions from character to character, drawing you deeper and deeper into her proverbial rabbit hole. As she works over 30 jobs in under 30 years (excelling in everything she puts her mind to!), you see Heather fall further and further away from her true self. She creates two characters to represent her internal battle, Winnie – a hopeful, soulful, fun-loving, perpetual dreamer, and Karen – a rigid, practical, scholarly woman who knows what’s “best” for Heather. With her head and her heart in a constant war, Heather somehow manages to excel in all of the many jobs she takes, while conveying a sense of emptiness that grows bigger and bigger until one day she can no longer hear Winnie’s voice. Her inner child has been silenced forever. Recounting some of the most painful lessons of her life, the audience was with Heather from the moment she stepped out onstage. I simply couldn’t take my eyes off her. Her energy is electric and her characterizations made me laugh so hard. Just like Dorothy, (one of her first lead roles in school back when Winnie was alive and kicking), Heather needed to travel through her own proverbial Oz to find her way back home to the heart of who she was. And boy, are we lucky that she did. The world is a better place because of the art that this wise, brilliantly talented woman is creating and I hope that she stays on this path for the rest of her life. She was born to perform. We could all see it from the second she stepped out. I wanted to run up on stage during those flashback scenes and say NO!! Don’t Listen!! You’re amazing and the world needs you to be an artist and use your gifts!! Thank Goodness she found her way back not only into her own truth, but also into the arms of the incredible love of her life who has loved and supported her through it all. After this show, I realized two very important truths. LOVE IS REAL. AND DREAMS COME TRUE. Bravo for an astounding solo piece. A MUST-SEE!
