Mindy Dillard

"Theatrical and offbeat, Mindy Dillard rivets listeners with her left-of-center, asymmetrical amalgam of story/songwriting, magical realism, performance art, neo-feminism and depth psychology." - Lisa Lepine, Promotion Queen, Portland, OR

"[A]riveting and redeeming synthesis of music, message, story and heart " --Portland, OR creative consultant, Lisa Lepine - Lisa Lepine

"In her candid, entertaining and courageous play, How To Survive a Poison Apple Mindy Dillard offers us an opportunity to explore critical issues that girls and women face--body image, acceptance, the search for love and the messages we receive from society about what it means to be beautiful. Using humor, music, compassion and honesty, Dillard offers us an opportunity to reflect on our own relationship with our bodies. Dillard's work provides a heartfelt launching point for a discussion about eating disorders, shining a light on the struggles that girls and women face with these disorders." -- Danette C. Haynes, LCSW in Portland, OR. - Danette C. Haynes, LCSW

"In her candid, entertaining and courageous play, How To Survive a Poison Apple Mindy Dillard offers us an opportunity to explore critical issues that girls and women face--body image, acceptance, the search for love and the messages we receive from society about what it means to be beautiful. Using humor, music, compassion and honesty, Dillard offers us an opportunity to reflect on our own relationship with our bodies. Dillard's work provides a heartfelt launching point for a discussion about eating disorders, shining a light on the struggles that girls and women face with these disorders." -- Danette C. Haynes, LCSW in Portland, OR. - Danette C. Haynes, LCSW

"Once again -- you NEED to see this show. It is awesome! So beautiful to see how Mindy has come into her Fullness!" - Portland OR-based singer-songwriter Halelupe - Halelupe

It’s taken some doing, but Mindy Dillard has learned to get comfortable with diving deep.

These days, she often finds herself plumbing the depths of the human psyche as she searches for inspiration for her performance art.
It’s murky down there to be sure, and some strange and unexpected things are apt to bubble up, but for, Dillard, exploring those fathoms can also be a life-saving act.

Dillard’s latest theatrical venture, a one-woman show titled “How to Survive a Poison Apple,” debuts in Astoria this July.

Part magic realist musical, part neo-feminist performance art and part fractured fairy tale, Poison Apple tells the tale of an abandoned princess struggling with anorexia. As her self image evolves, she cavorts with other princesses and wise dwarves, climbs aboard submarines, and faces down one very forbidden piece of fruit.

It’s a little bit funny, a little bit tragic, and it’s definitely the most personal thing Dillard has ever written or performed.

“I call it a storyscape because I’m telling stories in the form of narration and storytelling and also in the form of the song,” Dillard said. “I switch characters. I feel that I’m a form bender.”

Dillard started writing the songs and stories that would come to comprise “Poison Apple” three years ago. Bits would come to her in odd moments, often late at night, often in dreams.

She felt compelled to tease out the bits, to understand the messages that were bubbling up from her own depths.

Dillard was teaching children’s theater classes at the time, and she’d grown dismayed by her female students’ abiding obsession with pretty princesses. She was also making her way through her own failed fairy tale ending, having recently split with a boyfriend who turned out to be less than princely, and she found herself pondering the subconscious messages society was sending to girls and women.

She thought about Snow White, and the way a bite from an enchanted apple had sent her into a sleep befitting the dead.

She thought back to a time when, in the grips of her own struggle with anorexia, she could eat nothing but apples.

She also thought about alchemy, how seemingly incompatible elements can combine in unexpected ways, and how they can be transformed by that combining, even when the pressure seems too great to bear.

“I feel I’m kind of an alchemist because I try to expose things that are hard,” Dillard said. “They’re hard for me to say and sometimes I think they’re hard for people to hear, but before a diamond gets turned into a diamond, it’s a rock. It has to be compressed.”

Someday, Dillard would love to take “Poison Apple” on the road to high schools and colleges across the country.

In the meantime, her own self-conception is evolving along with her art. She’ll still blanch at insensitive comments people make about her appearance (a man at a recent show looked her up and down and said, “You don’t look like you have an eating disorder now.”) or cringe when she sees a young girl complimented solely for her looks, but she’s learning to speak up about how she’s feeling, to say the things that are difficult to say, to share her story, over and over. (Indeed, a happy ending for her own story looks rather promising: if you catch her show, don’t forget to look for her artistic and life-partner, Eric McEuen, accompanying her musically.)

In the end, it’s a longer journey of growth and discovery Dillard is committed to – and committed to sharing with others.

“Experience is really the only thing that can grow someone,” Dillard said. “Hard things are hard but sometimes they’re necessary for transformation … All the stuff I’ve experienced has been necessary poison … So I’m going to make it into the poison that turns into medicine.”

How To Survive a Poison Apple
an electric one-woman musical storyscape
Saturday, July 7 @ KALA
Doors open 8pm, show at 8:30pm
Tickets are $10 at the door. To retain a seat for the show, advised to arrive when doors open.
Refreshments available
• Audience Suggestion: This show is created for young and old to enjoy and experience. Suggested age 10 years and up please.
• Approx. 1 hour running time.
KALA is located at 1017 Marine Drive in Astoria - HIPFiSH MONTHLY

"Mindy Dillard is a remarkable performance artist as well as a creative and brilliant songwriter.
A beautiful lyrical soprano,she immediately captures her audience by taking the ordinary and turning
it into the extraordinary. Her quirky, on the edge, performance will touch your heart and tickle your funny bone." - Richard Columbo, Owner of Artichoke Music, Portland, OR

"Mindy is more than a musician. Her music/presentation/performance is exciting, delicious, intriguing, delightful.
Her story words are unpredictable, her delivery keeps me glued and the pieces are consistently wonderful.
I look forward to hearing and seeing more of Mindy Dillard." - Carol Newman, Coast Community Radio, Astoria, OR

“Mindy is a pure joy! Her fiercely unique perspective and theatrical approach to grassroots folk music is a delight.
She lit up the room every time she performed here at the Redhare!”
"Mindy Dillard is the Conan of Folk Music!" - Scott Docherty, Former owner of the Red Hare Gallery, Astoria, OR

"What [Mindy] is doing reeks of integrity and is so very cool."
-Andy Simon, Former owner and proprietor of Airplay Cafe, Portland, OR - Andy Simon, Former owner of Airplay Cafe, Portland, OR