Meet Denise Dean
I heard about "The Yellow Dress" through a local audition website. I went to the artistic director's home and auditioned. She was impressed with my monologue and gave me the final scene from "The Yellow Dress" to read.
I felt a powerful hit to my chest that night, and I knew this was what I needed to do.
Everytime I perform, and I've been out there for 10 1/2 years now, I feel that hit to my head, to my gut, to my soul.
I feel it everytime a student comes up and asks me if her boyfriend calls her names all the time, "is that really that bad?"
I feel it every time a man comes up head bowed, initially defensive, then completely ashamed, still trying to justify himself for his oppression.
I feel it every time friends or parents come up, worry and fear engraved in their faces, telling me that I just told the story of their child, of their best friend, and "what can they do now?"
Sometimes I feel like the older I get, the more I do this, the more reality really hurts.
But I would not trade this job for a winning lottery ticket.
I am planting seeds.
I am setting the story straight.
I always say that audiences do not have to listen, but they have to hear me.
I am forcing people to look at an uncomfortable issue, to look at their own belief system, and challenging them every day to make a change, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity.
Affiliations/Credentials:
- BSW
- Fluent in Spanish