NO FEAR

There are a hundred other things I should probably be doing right now to get ready for tonight’s performance, but at this very moment, I’m feeling the need to write – so here I am.  And I’m gonna try to make it quick.

To anyone who may be reading this, and to the people that you verbally share it with:  don’t be afraid to dream and don’t be afraid to be different.  Don’t be afraid to take chances and don’t be afraid of making mistakes.

I sit before you right now as a girl whose family hails from the rural township of Leland, NC.  It’s so small and unknown that it’s so much easier to tell people that your family is from Wilmington.  As if Wilmington is a metropolis, right?  But thanks to Michael Jordan, most people have at least heard of it. 

I digress…

My family is filled with hardworking people that followed societal norms by either going to college and then work, or getting jobs straight out of high school.  But at a very young age I knew I didn’t want to do that but I was embarrassed and ashamed to speak of my dreams to my family for fear of ridicule.  I even remember a conversation with my father when he said, “You want to major in something that will allow you to get a real job.”  Ouch.  Yep.  That stung a little. 

But when I made the decision to leave North Carolina for Los Angeles, I was an adult (so to speak) and no one could stop me – and it was by far one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.  I won’t take the time right now to catalog my entire LA experience, but if not for Los Angeles, there would be no STEPPING ON A FEW TOES. 

LA isn’t even a theatre town and I managed to mount my show eight times over the course of four years.  A one-woman show…in Los Angeles…a town where everyone and everything is fake, here I was sharing a slice of reality and they were listening.  I was blown away.

Fast forward and I have the wacky idea of heading back to my east coast roots, but this time the plane would take me to New York.  A one-way ticket.  Because I believe this is where my show is supposed to be.  And tonight…this evening of March 6^th, STEPPING ON A FEW TOES will be making its east coast premiere right here in New York City.  Please understand that I’m nowhere near finished, and I have in no way “arrived” but a dream of mine is being realized tonight, and I need you to believe that the same is very possible for you.

I love you guys for reading and supporting. 

Don’t be afraid to dream. 

Don’t be afraid to be different. 

Don’t be afraid to take chances. 

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.

My name is Jasmynne Shaye, and this is me STEPPING ON A FEW TOES.