Bellina Logan, writer/performer of “Confessions of A Mulatto Love Child” on the inspiration for her show.
“I was raised by a very colorful, very English storytelling mother.
“And then she got Alzheimer’s. After spending my whole life hearing her stories, I found myself becoming the storyteller for my mom. I kept her life alive for her and kept myself alive for her too.
“When I was still taking care of her, I thought, ‘I would love to have a night off just to laugh and be irreverent and then not worry about what it means.”
“When people would come and see my show, it would give me great happiness and pleasure. People going through exactly what I had gone through came up and said, ‘Thank you, I needed a night to not apologize for laughing at the ridiculousness of my heartache.’ Others have said, ‘I really want to meet your mother!’
“What I’m showing at LAWTF is the first 30 minutes, just the beginning of the journey.
“After she passed, of course, I went through grief. The impetus for the show was also about memory. Ultimately it became a story about my adventures with my mom.
“I’m good now, I’m happy, I did what I wanted to do. I brought her alive for a moment. I feel like I’ve done my job.”
On what it means to be a woman —
“It’s very powerful. I find that if you don’t have a sense of humor about aging, yeah, you might as well just throw in the towel.”
“I’m at a point in my life where I’m looking at myself physically, trying to embrace the changes that are happening while also being so relieved to not care what other people think about all that. It’s liberating. At the same time, I’m at a stage when people are leaving life.
“I’m proud of my daughter going into the next phase of her life at school, my relationships with my female friends are stronger than they’ve ever been, and my relationships towards men are much more profound, all because I’ve realized the fragility of life.
“Most people can’t believe that I’m shy. In the show, I’m hiding behind a larger-than-life woman, my mother. People meet me after my show but then… I myself am quiet.”
To read more about Bellina click here.