Leave Them Laughing

I wasn’t always a writer — and until college, it was never my intent. Oh, sure, I’d attempt to scribble entire novels on tiny notepads to mimic my brother’s writing prowess, but I never actually considered myself a writer.

In college, I sort of fell into it (a story for another blog) and started doing more and more of it to surprising success.

In college is also where I met Carla Zilbersmith — my drama teacher. Carla was the kind of mentor that either helped you along or bashed you in the face over and over again until you either gave up or screamed at her and did it anyway (I was the latter… though there was never screaming, just quiet fuming, and man, did I learn a lot from it). But she was my mentor and the first person that really validated my writing. Before then, I never considered myself a writer, but she did everything she could to push me that way. In short, if it wasn’t for Carla, I would’ve never had the success I’ve had (you can read more about this in an old posting on the Break a Leg site).

She was also a damn good acting and improv teacher so, you can thank (or blame?) my AMAZING acting in Break a Leg partly on her.

Anyway, here’s my point. Carla was diagnosed with the incurable Lou Gherig’s Disease (ALS) a few years ago — which, according to Carla, sucks, because she’s always hated baseball.

Have I mentioned Carla’s hilarious and has the blackest humor ever? I’m not the only one that thinks so, as documentary director John Zaritsky — an Academy Award winning director, I may add — has shot a feature doc with Carla called, “Leave Them Laughing.”

Here’s the trailer:

The film is amazing, Carla’s amazing and I want to do everything I can to support her and the production. And I implore you, dear readers, to do the same. A talented artist and a true artist, Carla is one of the most inspiring people I’ve met — she doesn’t try to be inspiring (she tries to be more offensive) but, she pulls it off anyway.

So, watch it, love it, and support it and her.

You can see more on the website: http://www.leavethemlaughingfilm.com

You can follow all the news about Carla and the film there as well as donate money to the film and to helping find a curse for one of the most awful diseases out there (second only to GINGIVITIS!).

I linked it before but, read Carla’s fantastic blog here: http://carlamuses.blogspot.com