What Happens To A Dream Deferred?

I have absolutely no idea!

Let's all make a pact, as long as we are alive we will continue to go after our dreams, so we won't be sitting around one day at 80 saying "I wish I would have tried juggling"! :)

Let's Do It!

"Cheaper" To Have Your Own Dreams!

As you all know I am an actress, but what you may not know is I also produce and write. I write because I have a funny imagination, and I produce because, who else is going to put my art out there? It's difficult as a black female actress because the parts they write for us are limited, so I started writing because there were certain parts I wanted to play or see other's play. I know some people have been like..."Oh so you want to act, write, AND produce, whatever". I believe what ever dreams stay in your heart are from God, so this blog is about following your own dreams!

OK, I can get right to it because you all know about "Cheaper To Keep Her", I just want to show you how God worked this out for me, so if you have dreams, and people tells you, you shouldn't go after them, maybe this will help you and you can keep on pushing and not let anything or anyone distract you. I will try and make this as short as possible, because it's not so much about the play but it's about letting God lead you.

Fall of 2009 I decided that the urban theater needed a woman's voice. We have Tyler Perry, Je'Caryous Johnson, and David E. Talbert, and these men are writing for women... Houston we have a problem, men are talking for the sisters!!! So I said I'll write a play and this time instead of doing it in Los Angeles I'll take it to my roots, Houston. I got excited I was going to write it, produce it, possibly direct it all by myself. I was so excited I told my mother whose response was "Oh OK", that pretty much means whatever ;) I told my best friend whose response was "Maybe you shouldn't write it, just pay someone else to write", that pretty much means your not a trained writer. I mentioned my mom and BFF for a reason... they are 2 important people in my life and if they were hinting that I shouldn't do it, I probably shouldn't have, right? WRONG! Even the people who love us most don't know what GOD has in store for you, so when you let someone in on your dreams, continue to love and respect them, but take their opinions with a grain of salt, and let God work out it out.

Once I decided to write my play, I needed a plot. After a phone call with my ex husband in Nov 2009, I laughed and said it would have been cheaper to keep me, and a light bulb went off. The next day I wrote the entire play in a day. It's like I woke up and God put all of the ideas in my brain. Finished the script, loved it and I made a list of all the things I needed to do to get my play up and running for Dec 2010. It was going to be so freaking expensive to produce the play, and I remember looking at the Hobby Center and saying "Man I wish I could have it there"! So I scratched that and at the end of Nov I decided I would just do it in L.A.

I went home to Houston for my sister's wedding and just stayed through to Christmas. Enter Je'Caryous Johnson. Je'Caryous and I go way back, to middle school, and he was telling me he was in the process of trying to write his next play and he was trying to work out the details, so I started to help him brainstorm. Not thinking I said, see in the play I just wrote, blah blah blah, and he said you wrote a play? I said yes, it's called Cheaper To Keep Her, and he started laughing. Long story short he asked to read it and he saw potential in my writing, and he said I could be like Mara Brock Akil (creator of The Game, and Girlfriends) but most important he like my raw talent. Like I said earlier, my friend didn't think I was trained enough to do this but that's what got JC attention, it's like that quote, God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called...Yes I am the called... and so are YOU!

J and I have worked really hard on this script and we leave tomorrow to North Carolina for our first show, and I'm super duper excited. WAIT, do I have time for a cheap plug? Yes, yes I do. Come out and see the show, I promise you, you will laugh and cry! I will attach the link on the bottom to see the tour dates ;) Now back to your blog...

I stepped out on faith, I did what God put in my heart and followed his direction. About a month ago I look at my to do list for my play that I made, and just started crying because God handled it soooo much better than I ever could. Also, guess where it's playing in Houston? At the HOBBY CENTER!! LOOK AT GOD!

Have your own dreams because it ends up costing you so much more doing what other's want you to do, than what God has planned for you. Go after your DREAMS!!!!


www.imreadyproductions.com