‘Claim Yourself’ participants present work Saturday

BRECKENRIDGE — Murphy Funkhouser, star of the one-woman autobiographical play, “Crazy Bag,” recently put on a workshop inviting others to develop a similarly themed piece. They will present their work Saturday at the Breckenridge Theatre.

In “Crazy Bag,” Funkhouser takes the audience on a journey beginning with her childhood as a preacher’s daughter, through her days accomplishing coolness at a bar, through motherhood.

“I wanted to give people an opportunity to tell their story because it was so rewarding for me,” she said.

As she had done in her own writing, she asked participants in the workshop to find the gems in their stories.

A group of 10 met at the Breckenridge Theatre two weeks prior. They started by talking about themselves, and segued into writing about it.

With such a personal subject, she told the class to watch out for venting or unburdening themselves.

“I want to find a point of connection between the audience and the pieces,” she said.

Individuals touched on themes such as parenthood, forgiveness, psycho ... therapy, a fat childhood, an incident at a bar and life as a Southern belle.

Stage manager for “Crazy Bag” Sandra Willis attended.

“In working with Murphy and baggage ... at my age I still have some maybe keeping me, holding me back from my creative energy,” she said on her reasons for taking the workshop.

Another was there to write about the death of a friend. During the critique portion of the workshop, Funkhouser recommended he make it into a memory piece, bringing the audience along on remembering a time they spent together.

The finished pieces will be presented in ensemble form on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Breckenridge Theatre with a $8 admission price.

Leslie Brefeld can be reached at (970) 668-4626 or lbrefeld@summitdaily.com.