Narrative Performance Chronicles Woman’s Breast Cancer Survival
Contact: George Manlove at (207) 581-3756
ORONO — Playwright and performer Linda Park-Fuller will perform her personal narrative about breast cancer, “A Clean Breast of It,” on Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Al Cyrus Pavilion Theatre at the University of Maine.
Framed by statistical information, humor and song, “A Clean Breast of It” chronicles a patient’s emotions and insights from the moment of discovering a lump in her breast through biopsy, surgery, chemotherapy and finally, healing.
The performance is designed to help break the silence surrounding the disease, and to be of interest not only to survivors, caregivers and health professionals, but also to general audiences of both young and mature ages. An audience discussion will follow the performance.
Park-Fuller was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989. Although the treatment — including mastectomy, chemotherapy and reconstruction — was physically and emotionally draining, today she is cancer-free and committed to sharing survival tactics.
“Today I see the experience less as a trauma and more as an opportunity to grow,” she says, “to learn about myself, to recognize what is really important in life.”
In addition to performing and teaching seminars, Park-Fuller is researching and writing about the healing potential of improvisation and narrative.
She currently is a professor of performance studies at Arizona State University, and regularly donates to breast cancer research a percentage of any profit she receives from “A Clean Breast of It.” The event is free to the public.
The event is sponsored by the Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies Program at the University of Maine. Co-sponsors include the UMaine Department of Communication and Journalism, UMaine School of Nursing, Theatre/Dance Division of the UMaine School of Performing Arts, the Breast and Osteoporosis Center of Eastern Maine Medical Center and the American Cancer Society, New England Division.
More information is available by calling 581-1228.