We were lucky to catch up with Lisa Dawn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lisa , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

My favorite book as a child was called “Just the Thing for Geraldine”. Geraldine is a possum whose passion is juggling, but her parents really want her to learn a better craft. So she attempts dancing, basket weaving, and sculpting…that all end in some success, some failure, but not much happiness. In the end, her parents embrace that she is, in fact, a juggler. And a darn good one.

I feel learning my craft was similar, because I have tried (juggled?) a lot of different things in life. As a child I did gymnastics, dancing, chorus, creative writing, and as an adult I’ve worn so many hats: Bartending, Wedding Officiant, Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master, Standardized Patient, Photographer, Crisis Intervention Instructor, Artistic Director, Acting Coach, Writer, VO Artist,…I’ve even recorded a few hip hop songs. The difference between me and Geraldine was that it was my own inclining, my parents were always supportive no matter what I wanted to do or try, and while Geraldine’s brothers in the book made fun of her mistakes and setbacks, my older brother was my biggest fan. I just had a lot of things that interested me, and I wanted to study them and become good at them, and why not make sure I wasn’t missing out on something that was going to make me happy. But no matter what I did, theatre was always at the heart of what I was doing, I brought it with me into everything, and I think it made me better at all the other things. So it was the one passion that survived in every step I took that I could always come home to.

I was the kid who threw talent shows for the neighborhood in my backyard, asked my teachers if I could do a sub-par magic tricks for the class unprompted, and who pretended I hated it when my mom made me sing in front of everyone at family gatherings. I think a lot of it was searching for my own spotlight. My older brother, Jerry, who is my hero, was a natural entertainer and comedian. He battled kidney disease his entire life, but regardless of spending most of his time in hospitals or hooked up to machines, he was full of relentless humor, fight, and embraced his effortless knowledge of working a crowd. I grew up watching him defy odds, inspire his peers (he also performed, mostly standup), and transform somber hospital rooms into comedy specials with a witty one-liner and a smirk. And even though he passed away at the start of my professional career, in his eyes I had always been there. Making him proud of who I am will remain one of the greatest successes of my life.

I offer that information because even though I studied theatre in college, studied at schools in Chicago, workshopped with some of the industry’s best, have been coached by the best, and self-studied…the best thing I did to learn my craft (which may be a bit cliché)…was life. I also lost my mother to Cancer in 2022, and four months later found out I was pregnant with the grandson she’d always wanted. So now I’m a mother to an almost one-year-old that I never expected, and definitely never expected without my mom (and brother) at my side, and it’s all seemed incredibly heartbreaking and yet…beautiful too. I don’t think there’s a better teacher than joy, or GRIEF, or surprise, or a love that is all your own…and taking all of the experiences that have made you into who you are and offering them with vulnerability and a well-earned confidence to a crowd of people who might just see a little of themselves, might just learn a little about themselves, and allowing them the same openness to feel seen and heard in a single moment that they share with you. That is what I ultimately hope to do with my craft. It’s that whole “everything happens for a reason” mentality, and making sense of it all. I think that I honor my craft and my path by learning through life, and hopefully translating that for the people who cross it.

At the beginning of my career, I did not offer myself. In fact, I hid a lot of what made me myself. I thought about what people wanted to see, and not what they needed. Which was my interpretation of what life is and offers during the best and worst of times. And that’s what Geraldine was trying to do in the book, become someone she wasn’t, and that just never works as well. I think the biggest obstacle anyone can give themselves is to believe there is not value in all the pieces that make them whole. So while I am not Geraldine, nor a possum, I do think in my own personal life experience of juggling…I could convey a juggler that would speak to a lot of people. And I embrace that gift that life has given me.

Lisa , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Blankety-blank years ago I was a student in the theater program at the College of Dupage. On its own it’s a great program that I would (and have) recommend as a starting point to anyone pursuing a theatre degree. But there was also an in-residence professional theatre company, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, at the college that produced a three show season during the year. As students, we were required to attend those shows and discussed the scripts, performance and production values in class. It was an incredible gift to be able to be able to learn from a professional company within our academic walls. I was blown away by the quality and dedication of the work BTE produced that I had the privilege to watch and study. It made me strive to be better, work harder, and I ultimately set a personal goal to become an ensemble member one day at Buffalo Theatre Ensemble. I wanted to be a part of ‘Giving Stories Life”, which is BTE’s mission.

After college, I co-founded a theatre company (Players Please Theatre), as the Artistic Director, with a friend I’d met at COD. And soon, other friends from that theatre program joined the company and we took risks doing the work that we wanted to do, not what everyone said we should do. Looking back, we were so young, but we were eager to show the world what we’d learned and who we wanted to be as artists. It was the hardest work and most rewarding period of time, we reinvented the wheel on multiple occasions, wore many hats from producing to stage crew, and the education that running a company taught us was invaluable. We produced in several local locations, and when Suburban Nitelife was still around, had won the “Best Live Theatre” award two years in a row. However eventually, a lot of us wanted to pursue other interests (higher degrees, starting families, etc) and we decided that the time with our company was over, but with pride and a huge sense of accomplishment.

I continued studying theatre in Chicago acting schools, attending workshops, and kept auditioning. In 2018, I was cast in my third show with Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, “Time Stands Still”, and in 2019, I was asked to come on as an ensemble member.. And I have been working and “Giving Stories Life” at my artistic home since then. So. Dreams do come true, everyone. And I’m so thankful my brother was around to see that turning point of my career, because he passed toward the end of 2019. Months after he died, I did a show with BTE called “The Cake”. At the time, I wasn’t sure if I was even up for it, but I knew it’s what my brother would have wanted. We closed the show in February 2020 just before the pandemic shut the world down. I was later honored by the Equity Jeff Awards with a nomination for my performance in that production. I always think of it as my brother’s way of saying, “Hey brat, I still see you.”

During the pandemic, I created over 250 recreations/spoofs I called “Apocalyptic Personas”. I took requests and it became something that I and everyone who was following looked forward to daily. I used household items and my sub-par makeup skills to try and create characters, celebrities, and cinematic moments that would bring a smile to someone’s face that day. I still get requests to make a book of them all. I also started an all-female performing Shakespeare company, No Beard Shakespeare, during the pandemic. I cut scripts, continued my self-study of Shakespeare, and we held zoom readings (which became performances) and discussed them afterwards. It turns out that it wasn’t just giving us all something to do during that time, but we took it seriously (and when appropriate–not at all seriously), went all out with costumes and intentions, and ended up surprising and inspiring each other. We did countless readings, and I made changes to scripts based on the feedback I got from the talented women who were involved. And I knew that this was something special in the works…so while we have not yet performed live on a stage yet, the first No Beard Shakespeare production is being discussed. “We will have, if this fadge not, an antic”.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have two that happened through work I did with Oil Lamp Theater. During the height of the pandemic, I was asked by the amazing Jay Pastucha at OLT to perform a one-woman show, “Bad Dates”, for their season…a beast I’d never thought of tackling before in my career, much less during a world wide pandemic. While theatre’s were obviously shut down, OLT’s idea was to rehearse the show under the safest of conditions at the theatre and then professionally record a performance. Then it would shown drive-in style and also streamed online. My face on a big screen…already yikes. But I accepted. What else was I doing? We rehearsed at the theatre, which was constantly sanitized and we were always masked (except myself while I was performing) and distanced, and I don’t think I even saw my director’s face (the wonderful Elizabeth Mazur Levin) for the first couple of weeks. She and crew sat far back in the house and distanced during rehearsals, and it was just such a wonderful and weird time. It was wonderful to be working in a supportive environment, we all wanted to create and offer something to a world that needed…anything. And then it was weird to not have the connection theatre usually brings. I had to really trust myself, as my only scene partner, and at a time of so much uncertainty, I had to be confident in my storytelling ability. The hardest part was rehearsing a show in which your character speaks and interacts with the audience…knowing that when the time came to perform it, there would be NO ONE there. There’s a certain energy an audience gives, and a different energy from night to night, that really enhances and drives a performance–whether you are speaking directly to them or not. The night we recorded, I was in the theatre with two camera men, who I could not see from the stage, with just silence and darkness (besides the awesome sound design that was about to play). And…I was only going to be given ONE TAKE, so as to accurately portray a live performance. One time to perform, with or without mistakes, and then it would be locked in time and shown to the world. I had really grown to love the character of Haley, she was overcoming a lot and so was the whole world, so I just had to embrace this one chance to be her. And I thought of audiences, even though they were not physically with me. There were people at home, bored or scared, and how much they might need this story of humor, hope, and resilience. And so I filled the space with those people right before the lights came up and I uttered my first line.

Years later, after the pandemic (and just after losing my mother), I was cast in “The Revolutionists” at (again) Oil Lamp Theater. I could think of no better way to honor my strong, beautiful mama than to do a show about women like her. Tech week hit and I felt extremely exhausted and nauseous. I wasn’t sick otherwise, and negative for Covid, so I kept thinking maybe the long hours and the rehearsal period were just taking an extra toll on me. I sucked it up and kept rehearsing. I made it through opening weekend and just about collapsed once I got home. I’ve been through many long tech weeks and openings, and had never felt this run down. I decided to take a pregnancy test, just in case. And BOOM. The biggest surprise in my story yet…I was about to become a mother. My character in the show, Marie Antoinette, had a very intimate “strong mama” moment in the play, and I cannot even begin to explain how that moment transformed for me after opening weekend…it was full of love for my mama but also now love for the ME-mama I was becoming…and the little amazing secret I had growing in my belly. First trimester was the absolute worst for me, and it just so happened that it endured during my entire seven week run with this show, and I couldn’t share what I was experiencing with anyone except the little being growing in my belly…who I spoke to every night right before we went on as Marie and performed. I don’t know how I performed the most energetic role I’ve done to date while feeling the absolute worst I ever have, maybe because I wasn’t truly alone, and WE did it. It is one of my proudest accomplishments. That role and that show was complete magic for me. And if you take the M-E (the me) out of Marie, that’s my son’s name.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I haven’t talked much about my photography at all (Emergence See Photography by Lisa Dawn). But it was another lifelong passion of mine that I entered later in life. I’ve been doing it now for over 15 years, and just as theatre can be an avenue to reach people and maybe show them more about themselves, I am so proud taking a picture for someone that will remain a lifelong memory and representation of who they are in that moment. To be able to illuminate the roads we travel is an extreme honor in this life and when I get to capture a picture for someone, and someone who may hate having their picture taken, and may them feel beautiful or confident in who they are and where they’ve come from…that’s a feeling like nothing else.

I was also the kid who always had a camera on me at all times. I wanted a record of everything. I documented my life in every moment. And it wasn’t for a long time that I realized I really wanted to do that for other people. Please let me capture the moment your mother hugs you during your wedding when no one else is looking, or when you tickle your child and they look up at you and laugh, or when you are feeling awkward about being alone in front of a camera and let out a laugh…because in that moment, you are incredible. Let me show you just how much.

It is a gift when we can use what we’ve worked hard at and studied to benefit someone else in this life.

I also do very important work with Crisis Invention all over Illinois as an improv actor and instructor, working with Police Departments teaching communication and de-escalation skills to officers when dealing with someone in serious crisis. It teaches compassion, awareness, and advocacy towards mental illness. And I have seen and heard that what we are doing with the training is making an impact, and potentially changing lives. I also traveled to Los Angeles to portray Jess in Ken Kaden’s stage adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel, “A Long Way Down”, at a benefit for the American Association of Suicidology because it is something near and dear to my heart. It makes every single second of my schooling and training worth more than the tuition to know that what I can offer to the community because of it makes a difference. Because that is the reward. I want to make a difference. To someone. To my community. To the world. That is the real gold.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://emergence-see.com
• Instagram: @el_dawn
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10157365823463310&type=3

Image Credits

Headshot/Butterfly shot- Emergence See Photography by Lisa Dawn
Boop shot-The Revolutionists- Gosia Photography for Oil Lamp Theater
Couch Shot-Times Stands Still- Rex Howard for Buffalo Theatre Ensemble
Shoes Shot-Bad Dates- Jay Pastucha for Oil Lamp Theater
Bakery shot-The Cake- Rex Howard for Buffalo Theatre Ensemble
Staged car moment- A Long Way Down, Los Angeles
Screenshot- No Beard Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” reading
Kiss recreation- Apocalyptic Personas by Lisa Dawn