In The Beginning
My musical journey began at age 10, when I sang gospel with the Northeast Bronx-based Edenwald Community Choir until age 17, did a 1-year stint at SUNY Binghamton, and later supported myself as a legal document specialist. In the ensuing years, I sang with wedding and corporate party bands, performed covers and originals with R&B bands, and wrote and recorded dozens of demos with 'wanna be' producers.
A lot of demos.
For more, check out my Artist Bio at the About tab on my website linked below.
Back To College
In 2008, I graduated cum laude from NYU, earning a Humanities BA in Creative Writing. Time to become an attorney, I thought. Isn't that what folks do when other paths aren't fruitful?
Alas, that didn't happen either.
Birth of Healing Fractures: A One Woman Musical
After acting in Stillwater, a play written by my NYU classmate, Jeffrey L. Richards, I was approached by the founder of the New York Theater Festival where it premiered, and invited to submit whatever I was working on.
That was January of 2016. Inspired, I began the serious work of culling my memoir, creating monologues, and writing 12 songs to move the story along.
Linked below are clips of music from the play, and my website, where you can find the play Synopsis on the About tab.
Play Recognition
My 3 performances at the New York Theater Festival and Competition in January 2017 were well-reviewed in Times Square Chronicles, an online newspaper featuring theater-related content. The success of winning Best Singer felt encouraging.
My director and I scheduled the first comeback for May 10, 2020, which was thwarted by the Covid pandemic.
In 2023, I submitted my play to the Eugene O'Neill Musical Theater Conference. Out of 400 submissions, it was chosen as a Semi-Finalist along with just 20 other plays. Gaining this recognition from such a prestigious organization bolstered my determination to keep moving forward!
Goals For The Stage In 2025 and Beyond
I was employed full time when I first did the play, so I used my own money along with a bank loan. I'm itching to perform Healing Fractures for a long run - I just love to sing! But now that I rely solely on disability income, I simply do not have the funds to do so.
My goal now is to raise $30,000 to get back to the stage. This includes coverage of fees for:
- paying my crew for rehearsals and investor presentation
- paying theater personnel for investor presentation
- renting rehearsal space
- renting theater space for presentation
- renting staging furniture
- renting stage backdrop
- hiring a lighting designer
- hiring an assistant to identify potential investors
- marketing materials for investor packet
- hiring a social media marketer
- industry standard broadcast quality camera rentals
- professional videography team of 5
- professional video producer / editor
Professionally taping Healing Fractures allows me to have the piece ready for streaming opportunities going forward.
And Now . . .
I continue to be a dreamer. While I've curated and performed a handful of projects since 2017, it is my enduring vision to bring Healing Fractures back to the stage. This dream has kept me lifted.
Hope remains!
Each life contributes to the fabric of the history of humanity. I am responsible for telling my own story. So are you!
Your donations and support are appreciated more than you can ever know. I hope you come out to see Healing Fractures when I am back on stage in the fall of 2025!
Thank you!
Peace, Love & Light,
Monica Meaux Hope
Organizer
