November 2023 catchup

I had the opportunity to present for the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival Empowerment weekend in September. I co-facilitated a workshop titled “On the Road With a Suitcase and a Story” and spoke on the panel “Empowered Women: Taking the Reins of Your Career”. I was very moved and inspired by the entire weekend, and as I will be in LA for 2 months this winter, I was happy to make some new friends in the industry there. After that workshop I have decided to start a new solo… YIKES.

This coming weekend I will be in Seattle presenting on a support group of an LGBTQ+ community that I facilitate with a group that is truly now family. This group and my co-facilitators are dear to my heart- I can’t believe it has been running almost every week since the pandemic (over 2 years now!).

I just booked my flight for India this April, where I will be in Varanasi, getting to know NIRMAN, Irfana Majumdar and the local area for a potential version of “What Dreams?” there in 2025 or potential other projects… I will also have an artist retreat in Mussoorie, India to start work on the solo- I have even lined up a costume designer.

Gulce Oral and I are fundraising and working on “What Dreams/Ne Hayali?” for The Bergama Theatre Festival August 2024. This is an interactive, immersive, theatre event in Asclepieion, an ancient healing site/hospital in Bergama/Pergamon, where women’s histories have been erased. We are meeting with local women there and creating mythologized versions of their stories and elements/qualities revealed through these moving discussions. If you have any cash lying around that you don’t know what to do with, this is a HUGE project and we need some support! As you may know, Turkey is in economic crisis, and our hope has always been to pay women artists and this is even more critical now. (Email me! Or go to this link- my company is called Moleman Productions)

I will also teach a TBT workshop to film and TV actors in June in Istanbul and have an artist retreat for the solo in Assos, Turkey, thanks to SAYE Collective.

It looks like we might FINALLY release the online audio pieces I started long, long ago, January 2024 on a site called BATDORF JUKEBOX. Hopefully followed by the animated video of “The Story of Little Tiny” based on my play “kid” with Marta Juric’s beautiful animation.