[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of the one-person show GRIT: One Woman’s Evolution From Chaos to Courage, written and performed by Lisa Natale and directed by and developed with Jessica Lynn Johnson, produced by Jessica Lynn Johnson and Heather Dowling at the Solo Stars series.
Lisa Natale’s brilliant solo show Grit: One Woman’s Evolution From Chaos to Courage is the kind of powerful uplifting recreate-your-own-life kind of piece that we all so desperately need right now. The world is a dark place and I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling, well, alone. So we need inspiration and a light to follow. Lisa Natale once needed the same, plagued by body shame and low self worth, battered by the struggle to find her way. She went from stripping to becoming the transformational fitness guru we all wish we had whispering incantations of belief in our ear every single day.
This show is about her journey through a variety of setbacks, stumbles and hardships which Lisa seems to have deftly and with her sheer power of her will reimagined into her own masterful universe.
She has an exercise bike onstage. A big one. This is her source of power we discover, and as we watch her astride it, like a warrior on her stead, we can feel the urge within ourselves to join her. I am not a big exercise person if I’m honest. In fact, I just went on my first hike in quite some time and it was tough, although that was apparently highly amusing to my friends. But I do get it. That primordial urge to push to the limits, to feel muscles and to sweat. For Lisa, it is a calling and she uses it to empower not only herself but her clients. She has a wonderful way of cutting through the BS that prevents us from feeling the freedom of our own individual energy. Especially as women. We still bury our strengths, we still hide our power. Not Lisa. Not anymore and certainly not in this inspirational and invigorating show.
Lisa is funny and frank, insightful and wise, intensely honest and incredibly entertaining. Grit showcases her talents in writing and acting, but also in vulnerability. Without which no artist can truly communicate their story. And what an incredible story this is.
I’m hopeful Lisa Natale’s GRIT: One Woman’s Evolution From Chaos to Courage will be performed again very soon…If you have the opportunity to see this excellent show I would highly recommend that you do!!