Laura playing Laura

I'd like to take this week to introduce you to the cast of Coffee Shop Confessions. I'll start with Laura Oldham who said yes before I'd written even one word of the script.

Laura at my house during the table reading of

Coffee Shop Confessions

Quote of the Day: Did I ever tell you about the time I squirted a man in the back of the head with breast milk? - Laura Oldham, the person and the character in Coffee Shop Confessions

I've known Laura since my first or second year living in the Brainerd lakes area. I think we might have arrived here about the same time and crossed paths when her son Oliver was in a Kids Skits program that I was directing. All five of her kids have been a piano student of mine at some point over the years. They are all delightful in their own unique way.

One morning, Laura stopped over to talk about her kids and piano and other things, so I took the opportunity to tell her that I was writing a play set in a coffee shop about five women who gather there to plan their song list for their shows. Of course, real life stories come up, some funny, some sad, relationship problems, and breast cancer, to name a few. Laura said, "Breastfeeding stories alone could fill a show." She proceded to tell me the story mentioned in the above quote.

Some of the stories that the character Laura tells are Laura's real stories, some are mine, some come from other women.  All of them are real and are brought to life by one of the best story-tellers I've ever met. I told Laura that she could do stand-up or improv. In fact, if you hang out with her for about five minutes, you'll get an outstanding performance. She is a gifted and talented performer.

She also plays a great nun for being a non-Catholic. And, in my show, this non-coffee drinker plays an over-caffeinated mother of five, a bit overwhelmed, but over-all contented with life.

So, what does she do in real life, besides raise five children? She's a math teacher. I imagine she makes math rather entertaining.

Thank you, Laura, for inspiring my writing, for supporting me from the start of this project, and lending your talents and stories to our play, Coffee Shop Confessions. You're the tops!

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What are some of your interesting parenting stories? Do you know someone who can spontaneously get a crowd going?