Two bit Oper eh Shun | Dare Boldly

C.C. and I are sitting out on the deck eating dinner under the day’s falling light. Tiny pinpricks of stars begin to glitter above as the sky deepens from aqua to indigo to black, The Big Dipper, Orion, Cassiopeia…

I ask him who is a hero he encountered this week, and he promptly replies, “Hakim.”

Hakim is the receptionist at the Tribal Council offices where C.C. has his office. “He is always smiling, always friendly and happy,” C.C. says. And he goes on to tell me the story of Hakim coming into his office hoping C.C. or one of his staff can help a young, pregnant woman whose car is in the parking lot, unwilling to start. “She puts the key in, turns it and it just goes, Scccrrrr. Scccrrr,” Hakim tells him. And Trent, C.C.’s project manager, goes out and helps the woman.

Hakim and Trent are heroes.

I had a long and delightful coffee yesterday with my friend Max, a client at the homeless shelter where I used to work. Max and another client, John, just got back from the New York Musical Theatre Festival where they travelled to be part of Onalea Gilbertson’s production of Requiem for a Lost Girl which had its world premiere here in Calgary two years ago as Two Bit Oper Eh Shun? (the 2010 blog I wrote about it is posted at the NYMF site, here). Max is full of stories about his travels in New York, and more importantly (to me), about the things he learned about himself. “We were there to be their mentors more than anything else,” Max says of the six Covenant House youth who took part in the production. After a pensive, quiet moment he adds,”My dad was right.” And he tells the story of his father’s lifelong involvement with Knights of Columbus because of 26 cents he received when he stepped off the boat as an immigrant with no material possessions many years ago. “He always felt he had to pay back that 26 cents,” Max says before adding, “I have lots to offer others too.”

Max and John and Onalea and Marcelle and Elizabeth and all the other cast and crew who worked so hard to make Requiem a reality are all heroes.

Onalea Gilbertson is one dedicated, committed and talented woman. After spending six months in New York planning and mounting Requiem for a Lost Girl, Onalea hopped on a train and took off for Washington, DC where her one woman show, Blanche, is appearing at the Fringe Festival (It’s also appearing in the Fringe NYC Festival August 15-25 ). The reviews are phenomenal, and Onalea is considered, ‘best of the fringe’. Onalea constantly inspires me with her drive to be her best and give her most to create a world of beauty and love. It would be great if we could all support her and LIKE Blanche on FB — go here to add your support!

Onalea Gilbertson is a hero.

There are heroes among us everywhere. Have you celebrated a hero today?

I met my friend Max for coffee yesterday. Two Bit Oper-Eh Shun? the oratorio he performed with in January 2010 is going to be staged in New York City this July as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMTF).

Pretty exciting. The amazing Onalea Gilbertson has been working hard to get all the pieces in place so that the cast, including two performers from the homeless shelter where I used to work, can participate. And Max is getting ready to go. (to hear two songs from the show, click HERE)

“There aren’t many people in Calgary who can say they’ve performed off broadway,” he said to me yesterday as we talked about passports and visa’s and the logistics of organizing for the trip. I’m helping with the logistics here in Calgary and then, later will be joining Onalea in New York to work with the shelters to mentor the participants through the process. The plan is to have individual’s in New York write and perform in the show there with Max and another individual from the original cast performing alongside them.

And then he added, “Think about how you didn’t accept my ‘no’ back then when you started the art program. How from that simple act of our painting together has led to this.”

Max is a kind and caring man. He makes a difference.

We talked about some of the things he needs to do to be ready, willing and able to perform at his best and his commitment to do it.

Max is a man of integrity making a difference in this world through sharing his art, his music and his many gifts with grace and ease.

He sure makes a difference in my life!

Yesterday, as we talked about the changes in the art program and my sense of sadness over what I had framed to be a loss, he helped me put it all into the framework of the natural and inevitable evolution of change. “It hasn’t died, Louise,” he said. ‘It’s just changing.”

And then, he shared his excitement over the ArtBeat Friday happenings. Initiated by staff member, Michael Frisby, every Friday at 4:30 pm performers from the community, both within the shelter and the community-at-large perform on the second floor day area (a large open area where at any given time a couple of hundred people will be seated reading, chatting, connecting, and during meal times, where 800 people will be served). It’s become a regular, Friday late afternoon happening, with clients and staff anticipating the events with great joy.

Michael is making a difference through his commitment to bring music into a place where the music has been lost in many lives. Through bringing the music into the shelter, Michael is awakening spirits to the possibility of reconnecting to the music in their lives.

“I never thought I would sing,” said Max. “I’m a musician, not a singer,” he told Onalea when she first encouraged him to sing.

And now, he can’t stop singing.

Watch out Broadway! Watch out world! Who knows what a difference Onalea, Max and the rest of the cast of Two Bit Oper-Eh Shun? will make! Who knows how far their ripples will extend.

What kind of difference can you make today by the simple act of reframing what you perceive?

I know it’s sure made a difference for me. Thank you Max!