Episode 051 - Donna Kay Yarborough

In today's episode, I welcome Donna Kay Yarborough! Donna Kay is a performer who has worked extensively in improv, theater, and comedy sports, as well as writing, producing, and performing her own one-woman shows. She talks about her artistic journey and her excitement about getting back to live shows, as well as about her upcoming production, "Rosegold." (Fun fact: the cover image for this week's episode is the show image for "Rosegold.") 

 

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Episode 51 - Donna Yarborough

Lindsey Dinneen: Hello, and welcome to Artfully Told, where we share true stories about meaningful encounters with art.

[00:00:06] Krista: I think artists help people have different perspectives on every aspect of life.

[00:00:12]Roman:  All I can do is put my part in to the world.

[00:00:15] Elizabeth: It doesn't have to be perfect the first time. It doesn't have to be perfect ever really. I mean, as long as you, and you're enjoying doing it and you're trying your best, that can be good enough.

[00:00:23] Elna: Art is something that you can experience with your senses and that you just experiences as so beautiful. 

[00:00:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Hello. And welcome back to another episode of Artfully Told. I'm your host Lindsey and I am excited to have as my guest today, Donna Kay Yarborough. She is a performer and I cannot wait to dive into all that that means because I know she works in a lot of different genres and a lot of different ways. And so thank you so much for being here today.

[00:00:55] Donna Kay Yarborough: Thank you for having me and my morning voice. I'm excited to be here.

[00:01:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. Yeah. So we are recording on an early Monday morning. And so here we are.

[00:01:06]Donna Kay Yarborough: Definitely.

[00:01:08] Lindsey Dinneen: Well, I'd love to hear more about your background and maybe how you got started in art, and then maybe a little bit of what you're doing now, if you don't mind.

[00:01:18] Donna Kay Yarborough: Yeah, it's one of those that my history is a long, long string of trying to put off the fact that I am an artist. I started, I mean, I was always the talker since I was a little kid. I would always get the narration rolls and stuff like that. And then in middle school and high school is when I first discovered theater and I've really discovered a proclivity to that. And my parents were always, "Well, this is a lovely phase you're going to, but when are you going to become a teacher? Because that's what you're good at." And I never left the theater phase and the more I fought it, the more I got dragged back into it. So I have just very many different angles that has brought me to the current place that I am right now that I guess is best described as an independent performance artist though. It's not performance art. It's, it's ,it's all manner of whatnot. There's a specific term:  whatnot. I do whatnot.

[00:02:22] Lindsey Dinneen: I love it. Okay. And what does the whatnot look like these days?

[00:02:27]Donna Kay Yarborough:  Currently, I've been doing a lot of Fringe Theater Festivals. So the most current project, which I'll be coming to Kansas City with, is a solo horror show called "Rosegold." It's a 45 minutes storytelling experience. We'll put it that way. And so that's what all my years have led up to.

[00:02:51]Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. So as far as, so this is a one woman show, I'm imagining, and it's storytelling about various-- are these like real- life horror stories or are these like fictional stories or how does that whole thing work?

[00:03:06]Donna Kay Yarborough:  This, this one in particular is fiction, but I will say that it is honestly quite informed by real life. We'll put it that way.

[00:03:17] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. Absolutely. And so what got you interested in, in that particular genre or what kind of sparked this show?

[00:03:26] Donna Kay Yarborough: I have always loved horror since I was a little kid, like when I was in third grade, my favorite authors were Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King and Ray Bradbury. So it is not unfamiliar to me to be just absorbed in the horror genre, but throughout the ages, I've always been seen as a comedian, whether I wanted to be or not, I have always been identified as such. So this has been a pleasant surprise for this show to fall out of my head and to find that it is being effective in giving people the chilly willies or whatever you want to say. Chilly willy sounds like I'm sticking the finger in people's ears, but you know what I mean?

[00:04:12] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Okay. All right. So you said, you know, regardless of whether you particularly wanted to be, or not, you sort of ended up in more of a humorous role. Is that something that you kind of pursued or is that just something that fell into your lab?

[00:04:31] Donna Kay Yarborough: I would say six of one, half a dozen of the other. Because I've always been a smart ass and I didn't realize how integral part of my personality that was until I got older, but I went to school for theater and I did okay. But at that time I started doing improv. I got involved with comedy sports. I can't remember if Kansas City has a comedy sports team or not, or used to, but I, they used to, as a matter of fact, cause that was the only time I've been to Kansas City was for a comedy sports tournament. Yeah. And I got involved with that in 1995, and I've still been doing that all along. And then the improv led me into interactive theater, which I did pretty intensely for 10 years at a Renaissance Festival in upstate New York. And then, since then it's been sort of an adventure finding wherever I am. So it's been quite a few years that I've been doing music and comedy and independent theater.

[00:05:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. So I'm sure that there is more of a journey, cause you mentioned, you know, kind of early childhood starting to get interested in all of the different art aspects. And like you said, you did narration, you were always sort of that kind of role. So I'm curious, how did you get from there as sort of, you know, obviously more of a side hobby and pursuit or extracurricular to now you're doing this. Is this a full-time gig or how did it kind of evolve from this is my side hobby to, this is kind of what I'm pursuing?

[00:06:06] Donna Kay Yarborough: I think that it was more of, this has always been what I've been pursuing, but in the name of being reasonable, I have shoved it to the side for other things. Cause you know, in high school I was one of those kids. I was in band, choir and theater and at for whatever reason, theater is the one that I decided to follow. And again, as I've mentioned, I just got stuck in it. By the way, I keep resisting my temptation to say theater because I am from Texas and it took me a while to unlearn "I'm in theater." But that's what happened. I went to university for it and in Texas as well, and I kept trying to juggle the jobs and the theater. And then in my mid- twenties, I had the joys of having a very intense bout of cancer. I had a Hodgkin's disease that went undiagnosed for a while and I nearly died from a giant tumor in my lung. And it was at that point that I think I'm more consciously made a decision that I'm not here to mess around, going to focus on whatever this is, this gift that I have now. So ever since then, granted, it's been you know, over 20 years since the cancer and the stem cell transplant, but I've become more and more adept and allowed, I will say, of focusing on aspects of my performance in art full time.

[00:07:44]Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. Yeah. And thank you for sharing that. That's-- I mean, goodness, kudos to you for overcoming that. And also of course, just, you know, using that as an opportunity to recognize that life isn't a dress rehearsal, I guess, as cliche as that is, and, and, you know, to embrace the here and the now. And that's really cool.

[00:08:05] Donna Kay Yarborough: Yeah. Yeah, no, I've been very fortunate compared to others because not everybody has a positive outcome from the cancer like I did, but I also, in my show-- previous to the horror show I'm doing now-- I created a show about my work as a standardized patient, which is basically a medical actor. I'm the person that people learn how to interact with patients . So it's, that's part of my creative work as well. And I love it, but because of my background with the healthcare system, I worked into that humorous show, a very strong call for universal healthcare in this country. And, when I went to Canada with the show, they were like, "Well, we know healthcare is bad in the United States," but a lot of them didn't understand to what degree it is leaving people in a wake of destruction in this country. So I was able to use that personal experience to inform that piece and make it a conversation starter and informational for people.

[00:09:13] Lindsey Dinneen: Well, that's really cool. So does your work that you write and whatever, does that normally have sort of a, an underlying call to action or does it depend on the work itself?

[00:09:26] Donna Kay Yarborough: I have discovered that I do tend to put in a call to action. It's just how I'm built. I figure if I'm going to make this piece of entertainment, I should bring a bit of awareness and discussion into it. So with previous acts I've done, I used to be part of a comedy duo and my former show partner, Sadie Bowman, who's doing fantastic work touring with doing Matheatre, the name of their group, they're doing informative theater for schools, STEM based. She and I would create work that even though it was comedy, it definitely had sort of a feminist awareness angle to it. And since then, I've just always thought that if I'm going to create this thing, let's, let's make it deeper than just being frivolous. Entertainment's fine. I have no problem with something being created just for the sake of entertaining. But if you can lace it with a little bit of delicious awareness, you might as well use that opportunity.

[00:10:29] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. So what does your creative writing process look like? Like do you have the inspiration first and then just dive right into the writing process? Or how does that work for you?

[00:10:42]Donna Kay Yarborough:  It is one that has changed over the years and what it used to be-- and granted, now this part of me, aside from the cancer, a lot of this that has influenced me lately has been sort of coming to terms with my depression and my family inheritance of mental illness --that in the early days, I used to be able to just sit down and go, "I want to write this." And it would all just fall right out of my face, just "waha" there onto the page without even thinking twice. And then in the past decade or so, that had become more and more difficult where I would set a goal and trying to get it out of me was just-- I was wrestling with demons that everything was trying to hold me in place and keep me from moving forward. So I was very dependent on other people to help me with the material, or I would just throw it to the realm of improv. I deliberately make it improv because one of the joys of being a trained improviser is yes, you are comfortable making up stuff on the fly, but the downside is, you have a tendency to go, "Oh, I'll just make that up. I'll just figure out something when that happens." So for the past few years, it's been very much like that. And then in the past year, trying to understand my brain again, the new version of my brain, I think I've returned back to the, I can sit down and address something and it'll come to me.

[00:12:22] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. Yeah, absolutely. And so what are you most excited about with this new production that you're working on? Are you going to be producing it for a bunch of different Fringe Festivals or what's, what's your goal with it?

[00:12:36] Donna Kay Yarborough: That is my hope. I'm in several this year, virtually, which as terrible as the virtual landscape and the pandemic has been for artists overall, I do love that as far as Fringe Festivals are concerned, the virtual Fringe Festival. The festival has made it much more affordable for people like me who don't necessarily have a trust fund and a stock pile of cash. So I've been able to do this virtually-- which the show when it started was meant to be in person-- and then with the pandemic, I had an opportunity to do it in September and it perfectly morphed for the virtual presentation for Zoom presentation, but I will be later this year in a festival that is yet to be disclosed. I can't officially say which one yet, but I will be doing it in person. And I am very excited about that form of it as well.

[00:13:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that is so exciting. I cannot wait to get back to in person performing because there's just nothing quite like it.

[00:13:47] Donna Kay Yarborough: It's true. I like the virtual, but the energy-- it's like learning in a classroom, the collective energy of people being there together in a point of focus in unity is definitely one of the most important aspects of live performance, in my opinion.

[00:14:05]Lindsey Dinneen:  Yeah, absolutely. That sharing of energy, even within the audience itself, just sitting next to other people who are as excited as you are to be there is, is cool too. So, for sure.

[00:14:17] Donna Kay Yarborough: Yeah, it definitely, it definitely reminds us that we are a community.

[00:14:21] Lindsey Dinneen: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. The camaraderie sort of, of the arts is, is really special, so... Very cool. Okay! So then obviously you've got, you know, your work cut out for you this year. Do you have other exciting things in the works as well for the future?

[00:14:39] Donna Kay Yarborough: For the future, well as things open up, I'm looking forward to getting back into improv. So that's something that's been sitting on the back burner and I have missed horribly. I do enjoy, and the, the form that I do with comedy sports-- another shout out for comedy sports-- is that it is a format that is engendered to be friendly for all ages.  I absolutely adore having an opportunity to do all ages shows that are very, very inclusive. So I'm looking forward to getting back to that. That'll be nice. And I'm also just looking forward to, to figuring out if maybe this is my new thing is to create more horror.

[00:15:20]Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. Yeah. And then, so I'm curious if, you know, if there's somebody out there who's kind of interested in doing what you do. What kinds of advice would you have for somebody who might just be thinking of doing something like that or taking that leap of faith to get started? What would you say to somebody like that?

[00:15:42] Donna Kay Yarborough: I would say, first of all, is run with your idea. If you have an idea, whether it be, "I would like to do something like this,: or "I have an idea of this that might do this," let that fall out of your head in whatever form it's going to be in. And then specifically for these independent shows, I did not come into awareness of the Fringe Festival world until I was into my forties. So I'm still, I've been doing this for a few years, but compared to other people, I'm still rather new at that scene. And I will say my first Fringe Festival that I went to I found very inspiring because I had grown weary of the concept of live theater. It seemed to be very much, or even over the past few years, completely respecting the level of skill that is needed for live theater in smaller arenas. It felt like it had gotten pretty hackneyed and they had to focus on what is going to be the money builder, as opposed to what is exciting and engaging. And going to a Fringe Theater Festival made me realize that there were so many more options for what is considered live performance and live theater. So I would encourage anybody that is anywhere close to a Fringe Festival to go to that and just see how many options there are out there and what each different flavor of performance does for people. I found that very, very inspiring.

[00:17:19]And then I would say, find the middle ground in that. Figure out if you can start with something formed like that, use that inspiration of structure to create something on your own. The truth is that as a creative, you're going to make a lot of little babies that may never get to go out into the world and see the light of day. So you just got to keep making those creative babies. You've got all these little babies, and some of these babies are going to be dear to you, and they may not ever get to walk out of the nest, but you've got to allow your heart to keep making these little nuggets of hope.

[00:17:58] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, I like that. Yes. And I second your opinion on the Fringe Festivals. Yes, if you are an aspiring artist or even somebody who wants something just a little bit different, Fringe Festivals are such a great way to get started or to reach a new audience or anything like that, because they are an affordable way to to get going or again, to reach a different audience. So, yeah, I absolutely second that advice.

[00:18:26] Donna Kay Yarborough: Yeah, and I like that many of them are developed specifically to give opportunities. Now you might go to a festival and not everything you see is going to be quote unquote "good." There's going to be some stuff where you leave just going, "Ooh, bless their heart." But that's part of the beauty of it, is that it allows for people that have never done it before to test it out and see if they come up with something that may lightning struck and is magic. But then it gives people that are established an opportunity to do something in their own terms and genuinely, maybe make some money from it because improv festivals, standup comedy festivals-- yeah. You don't ever make any money. That is not how you will ever, ever get into building a foundation for you. But many of the folks I know that do Fringe Festivals, a lot of them do it full time. They tour year round, and it is not an easy existence, but it is how they define their existence.

[00:19:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. And I think to that point, we've sort of danced around it a little bit, but the, the great thing about Fringe Festivals is that they are uncensored. So, so it's up to the artists to bring what they will, which is lovely because it gives you a lot of artistic freedom to explore. Whereas some other festivals are looking for very specific types of art or specific topics or, or what have you. So yeah, it's, it's a special opportunity. I'll put it that way.

[00:20:04] Donna Kay Yarborough: I agree. I wish I had discovered it many years earlier. I will say that since I've found the Renaissance Festival circuit before this, there is a lot of camaraderie and spirit that overlaps with the two. Some of the folks that I know from the Fringe Festival circuit, I actually met doing Renaissance Festivals, because it's a very similar feeling of, people get together in different locations. You have locals creating their version of art. You have non-locals that tour across the country, doing these bite-sized shows. And it's, it's a very similar love of performance with just a different patina on top of it.

[00:20:53] Lindsey Dinneen: Indeed. Yes. And so for people who want to either follow your work and, or specifically are interested in your upcoming show, is there a way for us to connect with you? To make sure we stay on top of that?

[00:21:07] Donna Kay Yarborough: Yes. I have a website that is Donna Kay Speaks. So D O N N A K A Y S P E A K S. That's donnakayspeaks.com. And on that, I have links to my social media and I try to keep up on a blog what's going through my head and where I'm going to be next. And I will also be very blatantly placing where this current show of mine, "Rosegold," is going to be. Which again, I am very excited about to share the world with.

[00:21:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And what's so great too about the fact that these Fringe Festivals are virtual, is that you can literally be anywhere in the country and still follow, you know, what, what you're doing and make sure that you see these, these cool productions online. So that is the, I have to say that that is kind of the magic of this format, I think.

[00:22:07] Donna Kay Yarborough: It's true. I made my debut in the UK with having never been there. That's what I did a festival in January that was an open call out of Edinburgh. And that's kind of exciting. Maybe someday I'll physically get there as well.

[00:22:23] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome. So cool. Okay. Well, first of all, thank you so much for sharing all about your art and sort of how you got into all these different avenues and also your advice. I really appreciate it. I do have three questions that I always like to ask my guests if you're okay with that.

[00:22:42] Donna Kay Yarborough: Yes.

[00:22:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. So first of all, how do you personally define art or what is art to you?

[00:22:50]Donna Kay Yarborough:  I think the best definition I have for it is connection. Like I mentioned earlier, that moment of unity is what makes live performance so much fun. I think any sort of art you've thrived for that point that the person who creates, meets with the person who observes and they share an awareness of some sort of information or perspective. You'll see a lot of people that say, "I do my art for my sake and I don't care what other people think." And quite honestly, I feel like that's a very selfish approach to art. You can be true to yourself and still honor the audience at the same time, because it's a symbiotic relationship. You are not an artist in a vacuum. We all exist because we are in the presence of each other.

[00:23:52] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, I like that. I absolutely love that. Okay. And then what do you think is the most important role of an artist?

[00:23:58]Donna Kay Yarborough: There are many different roles that people have depending on their abilities and what their focus is. So like I mentioned earlier, some people just want to bring joy into the world. And I think that is lovely. Joy is defined on many different levels and that can be a pure focus in me. I I flavor joy on top of a baseline of perspective. I am ever the educator, even though I am not officially teaching in a classroom, my goal is to always teach in some manner or another. So making this tasty nugget of learning I think is how I function. And a lot of people out there function, there's other things you can do. Sometimes you just want to make a pretty thing, or sometimes you just want to decorate. And that again is very, very valuable in this world, but  mine is teaching.

[00:25:00] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. And then my final question, and I'll define my terms a little bit, but do you think that art should be inclusive or exclusive? And by inclusive, I'm referring to an artist who puts their work out there and provide some context behind it, whether it's the inspiration that went into the process of creating it, or program notes or a title or something like that. Versus exclusive referring to an artist who puts their work out there and doesn't provide context, so it's left entirely up to the viewer to make of it what they will.

[00:25:35] Donna Kay Yarborough: I think it's entirely dependent on the project, because if you are creating a piece that you want folks to know everything that led up to this point, because that is part of the awareness in presentation, by all means, bring people into your process. People are necessary for your process. So let them have as much access to yourself as you were comfortable to them. Having that being said, some shows you don't want spoilers. You want it to hit them all at once and then after they experience it, they can begin to deconstruct and learn about all that went into it. Or the goal of it is to just put it forward and let whatever it means for the viewer, that is what it means. There is no boxing. There is no qualifying. It just exists for the people to have as it is. So I think honestly, there's no hard answer for that. It could be any and all.

[00:26:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. Yeah. That makes complete sense. Well, thank you so very much for being here today. I really appreciate your time. And of course, I'm so excited for your upcoming performances and congrats on getting to do some live, you know, later this year as well. So it's just exciting to be able to watch your journey. So thank you for sharing that with us and thank you for being here today. I really do appreciate it.

[00:27:12] Donna Kay Yarborough: Thank you very much for having me. And I'm looking so forward to being in Kansas City virtually.

[00:27:18] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and thank you so much to everyone who has listened to this episode, and if you're feeling as inspired as I am, I would love if you would share this with a friend or two, and we will catch you next time.

[00:27:32] If you have a story to share with us, we would love that so much! And I hope your day has been Artfully Told.