An intimate conversation with a woman who claims she grew into a mermaid.
"Little girl, who lives inside me / Asked me why, why ... ? Why do you hide me? Please let me out! / I want to play / But please don't cut my hair It has to stay / Because if you cut my hair / Oh, then where ... Where will the starfish live?"
- Cyndi Craven
ABOUT THE PLAY
TAIL TELL TALE is a one-woman, one-act performance, an intimate and personal conversation shared with the audience by a woman who claims she "grew into a mermaid". The piece relates her journey along the road of recovery from a life-altering injury towards a particular experience of wholeness of body and Spirit.
Orogonally directed by Pamella McClure, Arts Specialist at Atlanta's Shepherd Center, TAIL TELL TALE is available for booking at venues across the United States and abroad. The 45 minute performance is appropriate for junior high school through adult audiences, and is a touring production designed to fit just about any performance space. An optional post-performance Question & Answer session is also available, which allows the audience to share responses, comments and feedback with the playwright/performer in an informal setting.
PLEASE NOTE:
Presenters must provide a performance space which is wheelchair accessible to both performer and audience members. The stage, backstage area, restrooms, auditorium and lobby area must be wheelchair accessible**.
- Excerpts from audience evaluation forms, Lansing, MI
"Great job! To hold the attention of a conference crowd - late on the second day - is a major feat! To sneak in training while everyone thought they were being entertained...very impressive."
- D.K. Hern, Lansing, MI, 2005
"Loved your gacefulness."
- Jan Wilson, Lansing, MI, 2005
"I so look forward to working with you again. You are a true professional and yet you are so much fun."
- Diane Williams, Arts Industry Program Director & ADA Coordinator
Mississippi Arts Commission, 2003
"Jaehn has done a marvelous thing ... to interweave the frank, personal narrative of adapting to using a wheelchair with a magical, fanciful understanding of the larger mythic elements inherent in her transformation. She lines the fantastical up right next to the every day, and both are enriched in the process."
- Lisa Q. Mount, Lead Producer, Alternate ROOTS 25th Anniversary Festival, 2002
"Stunning. The entire world would benefit from seeing her work."
- Audience member, Alternate ROOTS FOCAS Performance Festival 2002
"Fascinating because it was so personal."
- Audience member, Alternate ROOTS FOCAS Performance Festival 2002
"As more people than could easily fit piled in ... she interrogated our body images and explored her own ... and she gave voice to a community we have failed to think of artistic, sexual, or, well, able-bodied."
- Audience member, Alternate ROOTS FOCAS Performance Festival 2002
"The act [is] … well-written, pointed and personal. She describes her revelations as she begins accepting everything about [herself] as simple, true and fine. When the play ended, a patient in a wheelchair beside me called out Thank You!"
- Georgia Council for the Arts site review, 2000
"How do you find your self-esteem? When I saw your play, it just touched me and moved me so much. I thought - if she can survive that, I can deal with my life."
- 15 year-old, female youth-at-risk, 2000
"Those young boys just had their jaws wide open! They were so dear, the way they hung on the front of the stage, asking Are you really a mermaid?"
- Dr. Penny Honeycutt, Director of Education, Inner Harbour Hospital, 2000
"I'm a diver, and I really related to what you said about swimming; the way you described being in the water is so beautiful; it's poetry."
- Craig Ford, After School Coordinator, Inner Harbour Hospital, 2000
WORKSHOPS
Workshops in Disability Awareness, Acting Skills (basic, itermediate and advanced levels), Dramatic Writing and Creative Drama are also available; each workshop may be tailored for specific age groups. Jaehn will work with teachers to design a workshop or residency that complements classroom curriculum as well as students' interests and abilities.
FEES
Performance
$900 for one performance
a 10% discount is applied to bookings involving multiple performances; for example, 1st performance = $900 / 2nd performance = $810
Presenters are responsible for ensuring that the performance space is accessible to both the performer and audience members.
Travel
A mileage fee of $0.48 per mile is charged for bookings within driving distance (e.g. within the state of Georgia). Out of state bookings require round trip air travel (coach class).
Accommodations
Venues more than two hours (drive-time) distant from the performer's home base of Atlanta, GA require an overnight stay. Presenters are responsible for providing wheelchair accessible ** accommodations, and a per diem rate of $35 per day, including the day(s) spent traveling.
Workshops
A fee of $75 per hour of instruction is charged for workshops and residencies. i.e., a 90 minute workshop = $112.50. A minimum of 60 minutes is recommended for workshops.
** WHEELCHAIR ACCESS
If you are uncertain about the wheelchair accessibility status of the performance venue and accommodations, check with your local, county or state arts agency's ADA Coordinator, or your state government's ADA Officer.
General wheelchair access issues include (but are not limited to):
Ramps into buildings that do not have level ground entrances.
Elevators or lifts (functional, in good-working order) in multi-floor buildings.
Doorways at least 32" wide.
Wheelchair accessible restrooms (level entrances, large-size stalls with grab-bars).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION & BOOKING
TAIL TELL TALE is currently available for booking throughout the United States and abroad. For additional information, and to book a performance and/or a workshop, contact:
September 2000, Premiere Public Reading
Shepherd Spinal Center
Atlanta, GA
January 2001, Residency Performance
Inner Harbour Hospital
Douglasville, GA
July 2001, Residency Performance
Ann Elizabeth Shepherd Home
Columbus, GA
August 2001, Performance Showcase
Alternate ROOTS Annual Meeting
Black Mountain, NC
February 2002, Showcase / SCI Support Group
Shepherd Spinal Center
Atlanta, GA
March 2002, Express Diversity! Workshop / Generation Arts,
Atlanta Coalition for the Performing Arts
Atlanta, GA
April 2002, World Premiere
Alternate ROOTS FOCAS 2002 Performance Festival
Lexington, KY
June 2002, Artist-in-Residency Institute
VSA arts of Michigan
Higgins Lake/Roscommon, MI
July 2002, Art Infusion in the Classroom conference
Greater Augusta Arts Council
Augusta, GA
March 12, 2003
Shepherd Spinal Center
Atlanta, GA
May 15, 2003
Youth Art Connection
Atlanta, GA
September 26, 2003, Careers in the Arts Forum
Mississippi Arts Commission & VSA arts of MS
Jackson, MS
June 11, 2004
performance at the H Street Playhouse
part of Odyssey...Dare to Imagine, the 4th International VSA arts Festival, June 9 - 12, 2004
Washington, D.C.
September 24, 2004
ArtWorks Annual Forum
hosted by VSA arts of Texas, in partnership with the Texas Council for the Arts, the National Arts and Disability Center, and the National Endowment for the Arts
Austin, TX
October 21, 2004
Food & Drug Administration
Atlanta, GA
November 3, 2004 A Training Makeover
The Mental Health Association of Trainers Conference
Ypsilanti, MI
March 1, 2005 Transformations: Building a Better Mental Health System
MI Association of Community Mental Health Boards Winter Conference
Lansing, MI
