Director's Note

At one point late in the monologue titled “Dragons,” the character of Marti pleads to the heavens, “I pray that my life, my one life, will not be normal.” The characters that you will meet in Talking With... defy our shared expectations for what constitutes normality in myriad ways—from the jobs that they choose to their conceptions of the Divine to their attitudes toward marriage/family and the social identities and self- concepts that they present to the world. Yet unapologetically these eleven characters (and the eleven brilliant, talented women who portray them) stand before us, vulnerable and sometimes quite raw in their emotions, and they ask very simply to be seen without reference to any preconceived ideas of what is (or, should be) “normal.” It is the most basic of requests and it is sometimes the most difficult to honor for others and within ourselves. To our audiences, I ask that you meet these women who are “not unmarked by life” where they live and respect their collective request that their lives—their singular, extraordinary lives—not be entombed within a rigidly-defined conception of the norm. I further challenge you to resist the often compelling pull of the ordinary, and, like these eleven women, to live your life, your one life, with joy, with curiosity, and, most importantly, without regret or apology.