My knees buckled when the stage manager called me at 5:30 on a Sunday evening.

It was 2019 and I was understudying the lead in a three-hour play.

Our house was full of people watching the 49ers vs Seahawks showdown. When someone offered me a drink, I joked that I’d better wait — just in case.

Seconds later, my phone rang.

My now-husband says my face went white.

“I really wish I was making this phone call in a few weeks,” the stage manager said. “Get to the theatre as fast as you can. You’re going on in less than 90 minutes.”

We hadn’t even finished our first understudy rehearsal.

I grabbed makeshift costume pieces. Drove 45 minutes through pouring rain. 

Just before curtain, I set down my necklace in the dressing room — my “Believe” charm, my leadership penguin, the charm holding my mother’s ashes.

I called in my tribe.
My ancestors.
Every ounce of magic available to me.

The show began with a seven-minute monologue.

Alone.
Directly to the audience.

Two minutes in, my mind went blank.

Nothing.

No next line.

I inhaled.

A line came.

Later I checked — I had skipped just seven words.

By the end of the play, the entire theatre was pulsing. We were riding one wave of energy together.

Bruce Lee said,

“We do not rise to the occasion; we fall back on our training.”

I think we can do both. 

I believe I fell back on a lifetime of training in order to meet the moment.

Decades of theatre training.
Of rehearsing on my feet.
Of running lines in my home office.
Of practicing surrender.

Most importantly, I embodied this truth:

My power does not come from control.

It comes from surrendering into the present moment and creating from whatever is there.

That night wasn’t about perfection.

It was about presence.

Afterward, the stage manager asked,
“How did you do that? You had them on the edge of their seats. You nailed every joke – and you made them cry.”

Here’s how:

I didn’t try to control the moment.
I trusted my training.
And I surrendered to what wanted to move through me.

That’s what soulful speaking is. What leadership is. 

It’s not about having your ducks in a row.
It’s about being alive enough to meet whatever arrives.

And the world does not need more polished performers.

It needs people who are ready when the call comes.

With love & passion, 

Lauri