The One With All the Star Power!

Photo by Orion Moon
November 2019

Article by Myra Sue St. Clair Baldwin

A few of the voices I heard in my apartment in the fall and winter of 2015 before becoming homeless exclaimed that I was "The one with all the star power!" and that I was "a real capable actress". I didn't realize at the time realize that the phrase "one with star power" is often used as an insult that means someone is being disingenuous. Although the voices were often cruel, they did inspire me to want to be an actress, which was something I wanted to be when I was a child. When I became homeless, I dreamt of becoming a paid actress for The Spokane Civic Theatre, and looked up their upcoming plays on their website. I didn't realize that actors for The Spokane Civic Theatre actually VOLUNTEER their time. Here I am shown with a copy of "A Streetcar Named Desire," a play they were planning to show at the Spokane Civic Theatre a few years ago. I didn't know if the women's shelter would let me stay out late for rehearsals, and I didn't know if I really had enough long-term energy to be an actress. I kinda thought being an actress might actually be energizing, at least for a while anyway. Maybe I'll just do a video shoot with a friend sometime and perform short skits, and see if the voices were right about my potential as a bad-ass celebrity. I'd prefer being a celebrity for the Independent Film Channel or perhaps Netflix. Something edgy like the show "Orange is the New Black"!

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