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In January 2008 my sister, Amanda, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was at the time a healthy, vibrant 37 year old mother of two. The impact this illness had on our family was devastating and incomprehensible yet empowering, inspiring and ultimately positive.
I decided that because laughter is the best medicine - a prescriptive cure was in order! So, inspired by my courageous sister, I put my skills to good use by creating a theatrical vehicle in celebration of breasts (and those who support them) in order to raise both awareness and funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.- Breast Wishes was born.
Not being a writer myself, I initially wrote to about 20 writers, many of them friends and colleagues and asked them to contribute a scene, monologue or song on the subject of breasts. The response was overwhelming. Breast Wishes has contributions from seven writers and one composer.
It has been a long and very unconventional evolution and I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the most talented, generous and skilled team of writers, directors, actors and producers; notably Simone Parrott (producer) and writers, Sheridan Jobbins and James Millar - who in consecutive years guided, shaped and created on the page what we have today. To date we have run four developmental workshops of the piece in our ongoing commitment to create a cohesive show that allows seven different voices to be heard as one, without losing any of the unique individual flavours.
Our first workshop was really an attempt to cobble together a mountain of amazing material into some kind of show - it was raw, rich and very much like a mad somewhat repetitive revue. The workshop was however very informative and encouraging. By the end of our 07 workshop we had a piece that was entertaining, moving and delightful but one which we felt was still disjointed and revue like. So it was back to the drawing board again! Through ongoing discussions with our writers and composer; commissioning specific scenes and songs and continuing to refine the existing libretto; we finally found a way to anchor the piece in the world of one central family thereby allowing us to explore their lives, relationships and, of course, their breasts.
Breast Wishes is, without doubt, the most fulfilling creative journey I have ever undertaken. It is at heart an altruistic pursuit and one that I hope will impact on women all over the world, inspiring them to celebrate, embrace and most importantly love their breasts..... And get them checked.
Anne Looby
