Four years of studying Musical Theatre at a prestigious theatre program is where I thought my song had died. As a person of color in a primarily white institution, I never received the support my blossoming sound required. After graduating, singing became the bane of my existence. It became relegated to karaoke songs that I had sung ad nauseum, stomping out any opportunity for my voice. Spontaneity required a trust in my sound that I had long ago abandoned.

Instead of singing, my post collegiate years focused on storytelling. I realized that the roles I wanted to explore were not available to me (this was a pre-Hamilton world), and so I set out to create them. As a Shinnecock native and black woman born and raised in the Hamptons, my twenties were spent exploring the complexity of that identity. I performed one woman shows where singing was an element, but never took center stage. 

Instead, I dove deeper into storytelling. Having spent countless hours of my youth surrounded by powwow camp fires, listening to the stories of my elders, I wanted the story of my people to be shared. My storytelling shifted from unpacking my identity to sharing my tribe's truth. And had I never met Jonathan Stancato, that story would have progressed without recognizing how much I truly missed singing.

Jonathan was the first person that gave me permission to take up the full space my voice could occupy. Shedding the old ideas of voice, with him, I was able to remember the joy of singing. I was able to re-story the narrative so that singing was no longer laden with trauma.

Exploring trauma, however, is a huge part of the work that I do- specifically the intersection of race and trauma. In our country, the impacts of racial trauma in our bodies are rarely explored. The effects those traumas have on our voice are explored even less. With this work, I want to offer a safe place for people whose voice has been marginalized in this oppressive, colonized system. I want to help you to reclaim the vocal inheritance left by your ancestors who preceded you, and find courage in your song once more- topped with a hearty dollop of joy. 

I have recently sold a show to ABC network with Kerry Washington’s production company. The work on page is enhanced by the work with Inside Voice, because storytelling takes many forms. But storytelling’s potential is fully unlocked when we realize how much control we have over our songs' narrative. This work helped me find that truth, and it would be my humblest honor to explore that truth with you as well.