Written and Performed by Theresa Puskar
The definition of causeless joy is: “a joy that is unintentional or unintended or unexpected.”
Theresa Puskar’s rather wonderful solo play “Causeless Joy” actually turns out to be a perfect illustration of the term.
Theresa’s beautifully written and performed play is a journey of how she came to find her “joy” and is presented to us in pivotal moments from her life…all very specific and very funny, heartfelt and truthful. She shares herself and her life frankly and without fear, even tough times and bad decisions that all of us have experienced at one time or another and few of us are proud of. The result of all this candor is a wonderfully warm and inspiring tale of how one woman went from sad and lost to joyful and found.
Through anecdotes, reenactment and with a little help from four fairytale princess “fairy godmothers” who drop by to help her along, Theresa flips the lid on the preconceived and unattainable expectations we all put ourselves through. Each of her princesses gives us the skinny on their real stories and emerge far more powerful, relatable and real. It’s every little girl’s dream to grow into these ridiculously perfect princesses at some point in their lives. How freeing it is to meet them in the raw, so to speak, and to learn from their own struggles to define themselves.
Theresa’s journey has her traveling to India to take part in an intensive, month-long meditation retreat, mixing with other like-minded souls searching for answers, and it is here that she finds her calling and her inner power princess.
This is a lovely piece of writing, fluid and shining and utterly relatable. Oh, how I would love to go with her to India, sharing a dorm room with snoring ladies and ravenous mosquitos, shockingly normal portions of vegetarian food, cold water showers two floors down, 5am breakfasts surrounded by all the marvelous and heartbreaking contradiction that is India…profound poverty and profound happiness.
It’s so wonderful to hear from someone who understands that the world is vast and our souls are too, and sometimes we have to go far far away to find our own fairytale ending.