Help Greta Share Her Story of Recovery

My name is Greta Fadness. I am a writer, actor, solo artist, acting coach, rescue dog owner, wife, stepmother, and friend. So why am I writing my story on a GoFundMe page to raise money for my solo show?

At 53, I found myself truly bottoming out. I was broken. My cry for help thankfully was answered by loved ones, therapy, and a 65-day stay at a treatment center for eating disorders. Little did I know I was on a journey of a lifetime. It is a journey of making peace with my difficult past marked by adoption, childhood trauma, sexual abuse, and mental illness, all while sacrificing my self-worth to the number on a bathroom scale. Connecting with my present, and embracing my future, my quest to live an authentic life. It turns out that recovering and reclaiming your authentic self is a forever, full-time job that takes a village, and accepting help was the best gift I could give myself. Eighteen years had flown by since I last graced the stage, and somewhere along the way, I had convinced myself that a “responsible” career as a paralegal was the way to go. Leaving Los Angeles in 2001 meant leaving my dreams behind, too.

One day as I stared at the TV in residential treatment, watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I realized I needed to write about this experience. I remember this film was originally a one-woman show in Los Angeles. That’s it I thought! My ah-ha moment, thank you, Oprah! As I bonded with the young women in treatment, I hoped to be a comforting presence for them as they were for me. After the suicide of one of these girls, I got very close to, my friend Becca, she then became a catalyst for change. I needed to reclaim my passions. Reclaim my true creative “self.”

I knew it was time to dive back into writing, acting, and painting. And this time I wasn’t going to leave my dreams behind. From this came one of my new chapters in life. I needed to create my one-woman show as my best way to share my experiences, struggles, and recovery. I started to compile mosaic stories about my life and from that came my title; Searching for Me in All the Wrong Places: One Woman’s Journey to Find Connection, Healing, and Me in Her Mess. Having learned “messes” make the best stories my gut told me my one-person show would be a wonderful way to get my story out to connect with other people struggling with the issues I work through daily.

Putting together a show, one person or a large cast takes significant resources. All of this is self-funded, I am looking for contributions to offset the overall expense. The funds raised will go to:

• Preparation: Script consultants, re-writes, and testing material for viability

• Production: Director, Developer, Stage Manager, Q Lab operator, Videographer, AV Production, Theatre rental and expenses

• Print and Publicity: Graphic designer, Posters, Promotion, social media

• Travel & Housing: Phoenix to Los Angeles

I wrote Searching for Me in All the Wrong Places as an autobiographical dramedy to help me build my path to recovery. My play delves into the transformative power of connection, the hope of recovery, and the profound peace that comes from rediscovering one’s true self. As I wrote the short stories that made up my play and shared them with my therapist, I made real strides in my recovery. Even my therapist said, “If you could open up in here the way you do on the page ....” I would have my script! Performing my play live is another big step forward in my recovery and is building the foundation to allow me to share my story in the hope that I can help someone begin their journey someday.

Any contribution you can make so that we can reach as many people as possible is truly appreciated. I was older than the mean age of the women I shared treatment with. As the way older (Ha! Ha!) patient, I learned a wealth of information from their perspectives, and they were equally interested in “old” Greta’s experiences. The one thing I tried to share was that they were very fortunate to have loved ones to help them seek treatment. They were learning to unpack the issues that led to their eating disorder at a young age. I was not that lucky, and I would have appreciated shedding those shackles sooner rather than later. Searching for Me in All the Wrong Places is my way of finally living my life out loud. And declaring to everyone we are never too old to get a life!

Join me by pledging what you can to help me share my healing journey.

With love and appreciation,

Greta Fadness (Handgis)