First of all…I am so sorry for everyone’s loss in the US. The results of the 2024 election are devastating for anyone who is not a wealthy, white, land owning male..it’s almost like America is going back to it’s roots, eh? For those of you, who like me, are struggling to put one foot in front of the other, to care about auditions, or feel anything other than a profound loss of hope. I offer you my shoulder. You’re not alone. I’m with you. And I don’t have a “solution” either but I’m not giving up my rights without a fight and neither should you. And in the most awkward transition in the history of blogging…let’s talk about grief as an actor. 

For me personally this month I am grieving the death of an amazing gig. For the last two years I’ve been in NDA heaven working on a video game project. The wordy words - fun as hell. The cast - talented and kind af. The crew - calm and chill and the best in the biz. And after a disaster of a launch…our whole game has been scrapped. Like taken offline and off shelves and money REFUNDED. You can google “Concord” if you want all the tea. But from where I’m sitting we made a really cool and really new and really DIVERSE show. And it got destroyed by a bunch of people who were busy on January 6th if ya know what I mean. 

And as Mike said, I took that personally. A project that I am SUPER proud of only got to see two weeks of daylight because of hate and lack of promotion. A project that I thought would propel me into the spotlight..did not. It propelled me & the other awesome actors into the direct line of fire of some really bored assholes with access to Twitter. 

And now, I am grieving. I am sad. I am devastated. I wonder why such a beautiful and fun game is gone forever. I also really miss working with the other actors on set. We were theater nerds getting to play with foam guns & hundreds of cameras on our faces. It was a sweet gig and I will miss that artistic family in a real way. 

Thus far I’ve been lucky af in this industry. I’ve made a wonderful play in Connecticut with a fabulously talented group of people. I got to make a web series with my best friends who are also my chosen family. And I got to make a videogame where no matter your pronoun - you could find a badass character to kick some ass with. 

This is the pithy part of the blog where I share 3 easy steps to getting over the death of a project. But ya’llI I ain’t got it. All I am doing is putting one foot in front of the other.  And feeling the hell out of feelings even when it’s ending in sobs. All I have to offer you this month… is that you are not alone in your grief. I’m here. Someone you care about has also gone thru this and they are also still here. 

Sending all you artistes so much love & grace.

Sustainably and Artistically yours, 

Chivonne Michelle

Founder & Teacher