Photo by Karen Schiltz
By Amy Krzanik Not just anyone can pull off a one-woman show. You need to have the talent to write one and the energy to perform it, as well as a story interesting enough to hold an audience’s attention. None of these were problems for global entrepreneur and storyteller Amber Chand. Her one-woman show, Searching for the Moon: A Heroine’s Journey, which she’ll perform on Saturday, February 28 at Six Depot Café in West Stockbridge, is full of energy, introspection and moving personal narratives. The two-hour performance, told in 10-15 minute vignettes, will touch upon her Indian childhood in Uganda and the subsequent expulsion of her family from the country by dictator Idi Amin, her time at a British boarding school, an encounter with an Indian holy man, the rise and fall of her multi-million dollar company, and her work with widows of the Rwandan genocide. Although it covers some traumatic subject matter, the show is meant to be a transformational piece with a hopeful message. Chand has taken her experience as a refugee and transformed it into a 20-year career as a global entrepreneur, supporting talented women artisans in areas of conflict around the globe through her companies — first through online gift websites Eziba and the Women’s Peace Collection, and now as a leader of spiritual retreats for women. But how did this Great Barrington-based businesswoman become the star of a theatrical production about her life? It didn’t happen until she was 60 years old, and it all came about during one phone call.
“When I woke up on January 1, 2013, I asked myself ‘Amber, what are you going to do to terrify yourself this year?’ Which meant, how can I show up in the world and push myself beyond my comfort zone?" A friend phoned to invite her to give a lecture about her work at the Sandisfield Arts Center and Chand responded that she didn’t want to do it —she’d rather do a one-woman show. “I just said it!" Chand admits, “but it wasn’t something I’d ever thought about before; I call that a ‘divine download.’" Despite having never having acted, Chand says the writing of the show came easily to her. More than 100 people came to that first show, and Chand was shocked at the positive response. She believes it resonated with the audience because of how she allowed herself to become vulnerable in front them. “When they saw it, they wept and they laughed, because all people have been through a journey; they were tapping into their own story." Her show fits seamlessly into the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, and works well with Chand’s lifelong philanthropic mission to support women and girls, as 15 percent of ticket sales will be donated to the Festival. “Women suffer from a profound lack of worth, of self-esteem. We’re so afraid of our own light," she says. “But I feel beautiful when I stand up on stage because I’m representing the greatest of humanity — not from ego, but from humility. It’s not a performance, you aren’t looking at me, you are really seeing me. We’re all hungry to be seen." Searching for the Moon is now being produced by Berkshires resident and House of Cards actress Jayne Atkinson, and Chand will continue to tour with the show this year as well as work on her memoir, Dear Beloved: A Love Letter To The World, which will be out next year. Chand mentions the last line of the performance, a line from Rumi that reads ‘If the beautiful one is not you, then what is that light I see underneath your cloak?’ “It means we all matter," she says, “but it’s up to us to take our gifts into the world. The world is so hungry for them." Searching for the Moon: A Heroine’s Journey A one-woman show by Amber Chand No. Six Depot Café, West Stockbridge, MA February 28 at 4 p.m.
