Not everyone tells stories through speaking, some tell their stories through music. This is how Lena, a young singer frees herself, through her music. But like all great artists she must figure out how to balance her newfound success and the necessary mental health strength she needs to deal with being famous. After winning an open mic night she is offered a contract from a talent manager that she fully trusts. But once they enter into a personal relationship, she realizes that the way he does business is not sustainable for her. After the tragic loss of her mother at a young age the only person she has left is her father, who loves her more than anything in the world. Unfortunately, when she is presented with an opportunity to be a star like most artists she takes it. This scene opens with her staggering to a microphone with flashing lights and roaring fans but she soon realized she cannot perform for. Her voice has been overtaken by mental abuse and addiction. As a way to deal with her stress she was introduced to drugs and alcohol that for a brief moment gave her calm and made her believe this was how it was to be done, the new normal. This is a story of duality, with the love between a daughter and her very loving father, and a woman and her love story with music. Will she be able to find a balance between the two or will her addiction force her to walk away from the dream that she thought she needed and create a new reality that is deeply rooted in sobriety, the support of her father, and acceptance that sometimes the most successful thing we can do for ourselves is to allow ourselves to be free.
Write, Speak, Share Your Heart
(Transition: a now teenage Lena with music playing in her head and a notebook and pencil in hand bobs her head to the beat. She mumbles words, makes notes, scribbles them out the repeats until she is satisfied. Sings) Love is not what we think it should be, it is the flower that secretly winks at us, telling the story of growth wrapped up in life and death. (She looks to the audience, laughs) I know it sounds dark right? But when you're an artist, when you are a musician or an actor or even a poet there are things that you just have to bring to the forefront of every story that you tell. Like me for example, my mother passed away from Cancer when I was 12 and it was the most difficult situation I ever had to experience not because she had died, we knew it was coming, but to watch the heartbreak it brought my father. That was the first time I ever saw my dad sit at a piano in our living room and it almost felt like therapy. (as if someone is in her ear saying this on repeat) He said write your heart, speak your heart, share your heart. (to audience) Write your heart, speak your heart, share your heart. (beat, placing her hands on an imaginary piano she moves through this moment) He would sit there for hours playing music that spilled out of his heart and I would sit on the couch watching him, admiring his abilities. And then one day when I wasn't sure if my father was going to be able to live another night because of his heartbreak I sat next to him at the piano and he began to play and I just started singing. (smiles at the memory) You should have seen the look on his face his eyes were bigger than his head and he started to cry. I didn't think he was ever going to stop playing that night, he was so completely overwhelmed emotionally by the fact that he had no idea that his little girl, his little Lena was an amazing singer.