"TALK, TALK, TALK!" Taro's Holiday Travel Story

On Monday afternoon my wife, son, and I flew from New York City to Jackson, Mississippi to spend the holidays with my wonderful in-laws.  When we arrived at the American Airlines terminal at LaGuardia Airport in New York City it was a madhouse.  There were many, many long lines and it was quite confusing to everyone which line to stand in.

After asking a few other people on line what the deal was I determined that the first step was to find an empty kiosk and do the self-serve check in.  Step two would be to stand on an over-one-hour-long line to drop off our bags. But which over-one-hour-long line was the right one?  I certainly did not want to stand in the WRONG over-one-hour-long line!

As I was walking back to my wife and son with our newly printed boarding passes in hand, who should I see but an American Airlines employee.

So I said, "May I ask you a question?"

She turned to me, stopped walking and said, "Okay."

So I said, "I just printed our boarding passes and I was wondering w-w-w-w-w- (that's right, I had a block on the word "which").  

As I was trying to get the word out, she said, "TALK, TALK, TALK!  I DON'T HAVE TIME!"  

At the same time that she was interrupting me she was backing away from me.  When she was finished with her remark she turned her back to me and walked away.

This was certainly not the first time this kind of thing has happened to me or to other people who stutter that I know.  But it was still shocking, frustrating, maddening, and sad.

Needless to say, American Airlines will be hearing from me.  She picked the wrong person to interrupt and walk away from.  

I wanted to share this experience because I know this kind of thing happens all to often and it is important for people who stutter to remember that we are not alone in being discriminated upon or treated unjustly because of the way we speak.  I would love to hear from those of you who have been on the receiving end of unthinking or cruel comments.  Take a moment to leave a comment sharing your story, and keep in mind that you're never alone, and there's never any excuse for someone treating you rudely because of your stutter.  

The Our Time Questions with Chelsea Lacatena

Periodically, we will interview members of the Our Time and Camp Our Time family (company members, alumni, honorees, participating artists, the board, volunteers, staff, donors, parents, campers, counselors, etc.) by asking them the same 20 questions. Which will now be known as THE OUR TIME QUESTIONS. 

Our fourth interview is with Chelsea Lacatena. Chelsea has been an important part of Our Time since the very beginning.  Chelsea was the first Our Time employee and is now the Associate Artistic Director of Our Time. Our Time would not be as groovy without her.  THANKS CHELSEA!!!

1. Favorite Food: I could eat pizza everyday

2. Favorite thing about Our Time: just one?! Hmmm… the LOVE!

3. Favorite place I’ve been: Ireland

4. Place I’ve always wanted to go: Italy

5. Favorite Movie: Clue

6. If you were trapped on an island for three years, and you could only listen to one recording artist, who would it be: Stevie Wonder

7. Mac or PC: Mac

8. Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate

9. Cats or Dogs: er… neither.

10. Favorite Our Time moment: My favorite Our Time moments are when it dawns on the new members how amazing the experience of being in Our Time is. You can see them becoming more comfortable with the group each week, more confident, and participating more. Then they start the process again, warming up to the theatre, and then they shine in front of the audiences when the show finally opens! Then they “get it” and are able to help the NEW new members when the season starts again!

11. What do you want to be when you grow up: still trying to figure that out!

12. Who would play you in a movie: Amy Sedaris

13. Favorite Book: To Kill a Mockingbird

14. Favorite sports team: Yankees

15. What advice do you have for people who stutter: Speak from the heart & people will listen! Don’t let your speech interruptions dictate your behavior, people are more willing to listen than you may believe, especially if you’re being honest and speaking from the heart.

16. What advice do you have for people who don’t stutter: LISTEN. Just relax and don’t judge, or get all freaked out if a person you are talking to is stuttering

17. Favorite TV Show: 30 Rock

18. Favorite Play or Musical: Gypsy

19. If you were President, what would your first official act be: 4 year supply of Ben & Jerry’s stocked in the presidential freezer

20. Where do you see Our Time in 10 years: In our own beautiful building with rehearsal spaces, computers, a theatre, and an office where we can do everything under one roof… OUR HOME!

Our Time Blast From The Past #2

Here is an Our Time classic.  This photo was taken during Our Time's first performance in 2002.  Original company members Corom and Donny (then 13 and 12) are now both in college and doing great.

Are there any original Our Time audience members out there who remember seeing this show?  If so, what do you remember from that weekend in June, 2002?

Check out Our Time on StutterTalk.com

Our dear friends Peter & Eric (from StutterTalk.com) attended our show this past Saturday and recored an awesome, in-depth podcast here.

Be sure to check it out to hear behind the scenes fun and great interviews with Musical Director Everett Bradley, Tom, Danielle, and others.

We hope you enjoy these great photos by the amazing Liz Rubincam. These were all taken this past Saturday night at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Congratulations once again to Danielle, Tom, and Edward for writing and directing three fantastic plays!

Tom, Edward, & Danielle during the Q&A

Photos from A Playlist Worth A Thousand Words written & directed by Danielle Diesu (starring Marianne Hagan, Armando Riesco, Pancho Gutstein, Kristine Stolakis, Tim Short, Victoria Perlman, Laurel Steinhauser, Ryan Millager, Emily Whyte, Meg Hart, Jonathan Greig, Keith Russell, and Andre Gillyard)

Photos from Cherish Every Moment written & directed by Tom King (starring Jace Alexander, Joel Higgins, Maddie Corman, Taro Alexander, and Joseph Popovich, Jr.)

Photos from Mendacity written & directed by Edward Mawere (starring Keira Naughton, Emily Whyte, Carl Danielsen, Ryan Millager, and Noah Cornman)

gettin' hype before the last show

Jackson & his pop

The Our Time Questions with Doug Filomena

Periodically, we will interview members of the Our Time and Camp Our Time family (company members, alumni, honorees, participating artists, the board, volunteers, staff, donors, parents, campers, counselors, etc.) by asking them the same 20 questions. Which will now be known as THE OUR TIME QUESTIONS.

Our third interview is with Doug Filomena. Doug has been Our Time's Lighting Designer for years and is an all around awesome person. Doug is also a person who stutters. Last week, Doug created beautiful light for our one-act plays at the Cherry Lane Theatre. My favorite quote from Doug last week was, "Let the process come to you." Thanks for all that you do Doug!

1. Favorite Food: grilled sardines

2. Favorite thing about Our Time: Taro’s and the Kid’s energy

3. Favorite place I’ve been: Rome, Italy

4. Place I’ve always wanted to go: back to Rome

5. Favorite Movie: Style Wars

6. If you were trapped on an island for three years, and you could only listen to one recording artist, who would it be: Fela Kuti

7. Mac or PC: MAC

8. Chocolate or Vanilla: chocolate

9. Cats or Dogs: cats

10. Favorite Our Time moment: Seeing Ned’s play performed last year

11. What do you want to be when you grow up: an archaeologist, like Indiana Jones

12. Who would play you in a movie: John Cusack

13. Favorite Book: The Wind Up Bird Chronicles

14. Favorite sports team: Pittsburgh Steelers/New York Mets

15. What advice do you have for people who stutter: Just keep going. Think of yourself as being perfectly normal, because you are.

16. What advice do you have for people who don’t stutter: don’t ask me if I am OK.

17. Favorite TV Show: Shark Week

18. Favorite Play or Musical: Fences by August Wilson

19. If you were President, what would your first official act be: Universal Healthcare

20. Where do you see Our Time in 10 years: still working and doing its thing, but with a much, much bigger family and a lot more love to go around.

What a Weekend!

The cast of Mendacity, written & directed by Edward: (from l-r) Noah Cornman, Emily Whyte, Edward, Keira Naughton, and Carl Danielsen

The one and only Keira Naughton

Wow! What a weekend it was for Our Time! We just completed three successful performances of One-Act Plays at the beautiful Cherry Lane Theatre, written and directed by three teens who stutter: Danielle, Tom, and Edward. It was a spectacular weekend of art, theater, courage, music, celebration, and love. A huge congratulations to our three writer/directors and an enormous THANK YOU to everyone involved in the production, we could not have done it without ya!

And of course, THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES to everyone who attended the shows. It was wonderful to perform to three packed houses.

We hope you enjoy the fun photos above from the amazing and ever-talented Our Time volunteer Ryan Millager.

Please check back soon for more cool posts about the One-Acts.

PS - What was your favorite moment from this past weekend?

An Invitation from One-Act Writer/Directors

Three One-Act Plays

A Playlist Worth A Thousand Words
Written & Directed by Danielle Diesu

Cherish Every Moment
Written & Directed by Tom King

Mendacity
Written & Directed by Edward Mawere

Performances are on Friday, December 12 (8pm) and Saturday, December 13 (2pm & 8pm) at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St., NYC)

Tickets are $12. Please call (212) 414-9696 for more information. We hope to see you there!

Opening Night, a short letter from Taro

Dear readers,

I have been a professional actor in New York City since 1991. I have had the pleasure of performing on many Opening Nights of a show. It is always an exciting, scary, nerve-wracking, pressure-filled, heart-pounding, and (usually) triumphant experience.

As the Founder and Artistic Director of Our Time, I have had the complete joy of witnessing and taking part in 15 Our Time Opening Nights in New York City since 2001. It is hard to describe the feelings on the morning of an Our Time Opening Night. My stomach is tied into a great big knot, I am exhausted from the 12 hour plus days at the theater, my mind is racing with a million things that still need to get done that day ... but the most prominent feeling is one of deep pride and little kid excitement!!!

Tonight, will mark our 16th Opening Night show in New York City. I woke up very early and I felt like it was Christmas morning! Tonight, Our Time is presenting three original one-act plays written and directed by three teen members of Our Time: Danielle, Tom, and Edward. Their fantastic new work will be performed by an accomplished group of professional actors who are all volunteering their time for this project. The show will be at the beautiful and historic Cherry Lane Theatre in the West Village of Manhattan. I honestly wish everyone in the world could be there tonight. I wish everyone could come and support these three young, amazing, talented, brave, smart, articulate, caring, passionate, and dedicated young artists.

Danielle, Tom, and Edward have come a very long way during this program. Last night, after our dress rehearsal at the theater, they sat on stage and gave notes to all the actors, designers, and crew. They were on stage speaking to a theater filled with professional artists, speaking clearly, calmly, smoothly, while stuttering quite well. They were brimming with a confidence that felt new, strong, and powerful. They were coming into their own and it was beautiful.

If you live in or near New York City and you are free tonight at 8pm (or tomorrow at 2pm or 8pm) come on down to the Cherry Lane Theatre on 38 Commerce Street and be a part of the Our Time magic. If you can't make it, no worries. We'll be sure to tell you all about the shows next week.

Thank you for your ongoing support and I hope to see you this weekend!

Taro

PS - What Opening Night stories do you have?

Our Time Blast From The Past #1

Every now and then, we will post an oldie but goodie Our Time photo. Here are two shots of Dashawn, taken in July of 2006 in Dublin, Ireland. We went there to perform at the International Fluency Association's World Congress. It was an amazing trip and one that we will never forget. We look forward to more international travel in the future.

The Our Time Questions with Peter Reitzes

Periodically, we will interview members of the Our Time and Camp Our Time family (company members, alumni, honorees, participating artists, the board, volunteers, staff, donors, parents, campers, counselors, etc.) by asking them the same 20 questions. Which will now be known as THE OUR TIME QUESTIONS.

Our second interview is with Peter Reitzes. Peter is a long-time Our Time supporter, a speech language pathologist, an Adjunct Professor at Long Island University, the Co-host of StutterTalk.com podcast, the Co-editor of The Journal of Stuttering Therapy, Advocacy and Research (JournalofStuttering.com), and a person who stutters.

1. Favorite Food: Anything but olives! I love Mexican food (tamales, tortas, etc.)

2. Favorite thing about Our Time: I get to meet and appreciate so many cool and talented people who stutter.

3. Favorite place I’ve been: Israel

4. Place I’ve always wanted to go: Outer space (no joke, I want to be the first stutterer in orbit).

5. Favorite Movie: Star Wars

6. If you were trapped on an island for three years, and you could only listen to one recording artist, who would it be: The Hold Steady

7. Mac or PC: What’s a Mac?

8. Chocolate or Vanilla: Vanilla with peanut butter cups and M & Ms.

9. Cats or Dogs: Both. Seriously, I could love a squirrel, no joke.

10. Favorite Our Time moment: Years ago, seeing the Our Time band respond to an actor’s stuttering by holding the music for a bar or two and staying with the actor through the block. When the actor finished the stutter, the band played on.

11. What do you want to be when you grow up: A good father.

12. Who would play you in a movie: A good looking bald dude. Is Harrison Ford bald yet?

13. Favorite Book: Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad

14. Favorite sports team: The Philadelphia Eagles

15. What advice do you have for people who stutter: Stuttering is allowed.

16. What advice do you have for people who don’t stutter: Support Our Time! And, it’s good to talk about stuttering with your friends and children. Even if that makes us stuttering folks uncomfortable sometimes, it shows us that when we are ready, you are there.

17. Favorite TV Show: Battlestar Galactica (not the old series, the new one)

18. Favorite Play or Musical: Our Time shows.

19. If you were President, what would your first official act be: I would try and appoint an equal number of people from both political parties, men and women alike. I want to live in a non-partisan country in which we look for common ground.

20. Where do you see Our Time in 10 years: I see Our Time changing lives and making this a better world for people who stutter, our families and friends. Our Time is like pizza, it is always good.

This Holiday Season I Hope

This past Saturday, the Our Time kids wrote the following at the top of a blank sheet of paper in their journal, "This holiday season I hope ..."

What followed was amazing, beautiful, funny, insightful, and fun! After each kid wrote what they hoped for in their journal we came back together as a group. Each kid was given three options:

1. not to share what they had written with anyone
2. read out loud (or have someone read out loud) what they had written to the group
3. read out loud (or have someone read out loud) what they had written to our Flip video camera for a possible post on the Our Time Blog.

How many of you would think that a group of young people who stutter (kids who often do not raise their hands in class for fear of being laughed at) would overwhelmingly choose to read what they wrote themselves straight to the camera? Well, most of the Our Time kids did. And they were very excited about sharing what their hopes are with all of you.

We hope you enjoy these three short clips of Adam, Joseph, and Tyler (who chose to have Ryan, an Our Time volunteer, read his hopes as Tyler danced around the room.)

PS - What do you hope for this holiday season? Post a comment to this post and let us know.

The Perfect Holiday Gift!

Still Looking for the Perfect Holiday Gift?

&

Want to Support an Important Organization in the Spirit of Charity?

We have the perfect solution!!!

Donate to Our Time in honor of a friend, colleague, or loved one, and we will send a beautiful (secular) holiday card notifying them of your generous gift on their behalf.

With each donation (100% tax deductible), you are not only giving a thoughtful gift to one person, but to all of the kids who benefit from Our Time's programming.

Our Time is a non-profit organization that provides an artistic home to youth who stutter, promoting confidence and self-acceptance in all of its participants.

Click here for simple instructions on how to donate as a holiday gift! Or for more information, please call (212) 414-9696.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Our Time!

Cover of Holiday Card
(this photo is of the Our Time company at Jon Bon Jovi's personal recording studio. We went there to record songs for our upcoming CD, photo by Mikiodo.)

One-Act Writer/Director Edward Mawere Invites You To His Show

Edward Mawere has written and directed "Mendacity," Starring

Noah Cornman, Carl Danielsen, Keira Naughton, and Emily Whyte.

Shows will be on Friday, December 12th (8pm)
& December 13th (2pm & 8pm).

Reserve tickets by calling (212) 414-9696 or e-mail moreinfo@ourtimetheatre.org

Our Time Helps to Educate Future Speech Language Pathologists on Stuttering

Taro Alexander, Our Time company members, and alumni attended an NYU speech language pathology graduate class taught by Professor and Friends Director Lee Caggiano to share their personal experiences as people who stutter with future speech language pathologists (SLPs). Our Time has worked closely with Ms. Caggiano to help spread understanding about stuttering and the importance of confidence and self-acceptance in people who struggle with this communicative disorder.

Here are some photos from this special day:

Taro Alexander, Our Time Company Members & Alumni, and Lee Caggiano with Students from NYU's Speech Language Graduate Program

Andre, Angelina, Taro Alexander, & Ashlee

Lee Caggiano & Taro Alexander

Andre With SLP Grad Students

Remembering a Breakthrough Moment

Ned and Taro enjoying a rainy moment at Camp Our Time, 2008

Our Time company members experience breakthrough moments all the time, and we're proud of their ever-growing bravery, strength, and confidence in themselves.

Last year, Teen member Ned began to confront his phobia of the rain by writing a beautiful, moving one-act play called "Anxiety" that was performed at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Then, almost one year later, Ned squashed his remaining fears by standing arms open with a big smile on his face in the pouring rain at Camp Our Time. In the photo above, you can just see the pride in Taro's face during this magical moment of personal breakthrough.