Lynne Bernfield: psychotherapist / author / consultant / speaker / musician / performer and media artist

October 5, 2010

• Discussion – In this show I revisit the Family Pie exercise and explain how it can help to identify your Cover Story.
• Interview – Margaret Barbieri’s journey to her destiny – a life of ballet – began ironically at the Dr’s office. Thought to be a sickly child of 5, her mother took her to a Dr. who prescribed exercise, and suggested ballet. Margaret’s mother had never heard of ballet, but dutifully found a class for Margaret, and in that class Margaret found her life’s passion. Listen to the series of happenstances which – without much activity on Margaret’s part – led her inexorably to the life she “was meant to live.”

January 12, 2010

Discussion – In this show I am beginning to talk about the danger we face when we begin to consider exposing the Undercover qualities we had carefully hidden away.

Interview – Playwright Jack Gilhooley is a crusty, outspoken, interesting man with a dark vision and a passionate interest in history, which is demonstrated in his many, many plays. Jack was encouraged by his father to pursue a career in business and while it was instantly apparent both to Jack and the Wharton School that it wasn’t for him, it took him a while to realize that his passionate interest in plays, which he’d begun reading voraciously as a boy, was really what his life must be about. But having once started writing plays, nothing could stop him. “Writing a play is easy” he says, “it’s getting them on that’s hard.” Still jack perseveres. He is very definitely an example of someone who knows who he is, makes no apology for it, and steadfastly follows his path.

December 08, 2009

Discussion – Continuing the discussion of our Undercover I tell the story of Donna, whose Cover Story of I don’t work for money, but for the good of my family and community, was making it impossible for her to get the job she badly needed and was endangering her financial security. And how she discovered what she called her invisible ink reason for not doing what she needed to do. I talk about how we can all begin to discover and then recover the Undercover qualities we once had to hide.

Interview – Sue Kutno says “many years ago when I was a child, before I remember, I was an artist!” and it is the truth. Sue was born bursting with creativity. Whatever art form she was exposed to, be it stained glass or petit point; she embraced it, expanded on it, and improved it. Her Art is everything from fused glass – about which she wrote a book which is used as a text by other teachers and carried in two museums gift shops, gardening, home remodeling or the creation of websites. A poster child for being yourself, Sue’s gregarious exuberance is contagious. Listening to her makes you want to go out and create something!

December 01, 2009

Discussion – Do you know all that you are? Do you realize that the way you have been behaving, the way you think of yourself, may only be a part of who you are – that there is really much more to you? In this show I am talking about the Undercover qualities which we have hidden, not only from others, but from ourselves as well. I tell the story of a client whose I must be conscientious Cover Story, and her inability to benefit from her I can be lazy Undercover was endangering her health and I describe one of the ways to uncover what you may have hidden Undercover.

Interview – Vicki Rollo is a graphic artist, maker of one-of-a-kind pieces of Jewelry and the owner of Heart’s Desire a unique boutique where you can purchase her not only her Jewelry, but one of a kind purses and matching jackets, designed by local artists, as well as the kind of clothing and art “which you cannot find in the mall.” Vicki’s story is unusual because it took many years for her to discover an Undercover talent she “didn’t know she had.” But having discovered it, she embraced, nurtured and ran with an explosion of creativity, which is even now looking for its next expression.

November 17, 2009

Discussion – You can discover so much about yourself by listening to the way you talk to and about yourself. We all have an ongoing internal dialogue – much of which is commentary on or about ourselves. In this show I give examples of the way that your inner commentary can highlight a Cover Story or uncover and Undercover…

Interview- Eva Slane, is the quintessential Patron of the Arts. She was honored this week by Sarasota Magazine as one this cities 28 most important people to the Arts. This is no small achievement in a city where almost everyone thinks of themselves as a supporter of the Arts. Eva has spent most of her 80 years dedicated to preserving the theater. Escaping at 10 years old from Vienna shortly after Kristallnacht, she and her parents finally arrived in New York City, the perfect place for a theater lover to land. Listen to how, in her late 70’s Eva has begun to explore her own artistic abilities, by participating in a writing project sponsored by the the Holocaust Museum in St Petersburg Fl, writing several short plays and even auditioning for a role as an actor. A role model for becoming who you really are, Eva is not only delightful but inspirational.

November 03, 2009

Discussion – What are the stories that you tell about yourself? What are the stories you don’t tell about yourself. You can learn a great deal about your Cover Story – that which you present to the world, and your Undercover – that which you hide not only from the world, but from yourself as well, simply by becoming aware of those things you feel good about telling others and those things you prefer to keep secret.

Interview – Tome Cousin, tells the remarkable story of a series of coincidences which lead him, with no intention on his part, to a successful career as a dancer, singer, actor and now, as the Artistic Directing Supervisor of Susan Strohman’s musical “Contact,” which he has most recently brought to Sarasota Florida (listen next week to a review of “Contact.”) Exposed to music as a boy of 6 in order to address a problem of dyslexia, Tome discovered that he was a “natural mover.” But it took many more “coincidences,” before the “light bulb went on” and he thought “I can do that!” Then using the skills he learned at an all boys Catholic military High school (not exactly classical training for a performer), Tome developed his “natural” talents and there isn’t enough room here to begin to list his credits. Suffice it to say that once he found it – Tome became the he – he was meant to be.

October 20, 2009

Discussion – Can you recognize your Cover Story? Do you know what qualities, characteristics, capabilities or skills you’ve hidden Undercover? In this show I talk about how this happens and describe the positive role of Denial.

Interview – The first half of my interview with Carole Schweid, a founder with Nancy Diamond, of Play with Your Food, a truly unique theater experience. Listen to Carole’s funny, charming, disarming story. Hear her tell how she went from someone who was “dancing from the minute she could walk,” to the singer, actor, writer, director, choreographer, and producer she became.

September 15, 2009

Discussion – In this show I am recapping the concepts of Cover Story and Undercover. Also I am talking about the gift of denial and how it protects us from information about ourselves which we are not yet capable of enduring.

Interview – with actor, comedian, independent film maker Robert Mann, who discovered the magic of, and actually appeared in a film at 8 years old (at least his feet appeared), when he accompanied his mother to the film set of a director she was dating. Hear how he spent virtually every waking minute of his childhood experimenting with film, and how he pulled off his first independent horror film “Pumpkin Man,” and he may now actually be beginning to make money.

September 01, 2009

Discussion – Do you have qualities, capacities, abilities you didn’t know you had? Perhaps they are hiding Undercover while you just present your Cover Story – I will be taking about that in this show.

Interview - with singer, writer, painter Kitt Moran, who knew at 3 years old she was going to be a singer – even though she didn’t know if she could sing. Listen to her hilarious tale of making a childhood career out of Peter Pan, and to the remarkable talent that was waiting to be released. As a child Kitt knew that she was born to be a singer, and she was right.

July 27, 2009

Our Cover Story Part 3.