Intimacy by Don Warrick

Today I have the pleasure of presenting the gifted narrator of my romance novel, The Music of Us: Don Warrick. Don is an actor who spent his entire life presenting the written word, and is second to none in his storytelling. He is a musician of many skills: teacher, performer, conductor, and recording artist. And he is an audiobook publisher. One day, he took the advice of his son, a writer, and found himself on the ACX page. Many days later he came up for air, realizing that he found the place where all roads converge.

I asked Don to give me a glimpse of his work, and was delighted to get his article, Intimacy, which to me reads like poetry. It reveals so much of the fire within. 

Let me share it with you:


Intimacy
by Don Warrick
There is a feeling, when you have tapped into the absolute emotion of a character and share it with an audience. It is the moment of transcendence when you become two. The words of the author, based on their most intimate imaginings find reality in your voice, your mind, your body. You become their character, and by extension you become them. When you find this nexus and stand naked in this light, you realize there is very little else in this life that approaches this kind of intimacy.
I don’t think I could narrate audio books if I had not spent lots of years on stage. I had the rare chance to look the audience in the eye, and hold their beating hearts in my hand. Intimacy.

This is my grail. This is my secret. And it is not something academic or theoretical that you can teach (I have tried). It is strictly experiential. It’s kind of one of those “when you find it, you will know” kinds of phenomenon.

Last week, I got a facebook note from someone I worked with on stage 20 years ago in Colorado. He wrote:

“Don Warrick! You were the Man of La Mancha with the Longmont Theatre Company sometime around '95. I was one of the prisoners and your long haired tap-dancing horse.

Your comedic timing, charisma, and ability to read the audience were all inspiring, but your singing voice and your intensely passionate emotions onstage were heart-stopping. I remember a few performances when I was huddled under a "prisoner shelter"(a low ledge of some sort) with the other prisoners, and the entire theatre was silent except for your voice, because we (the audience members as well as all of us onstage) were so entranced by the concentrated, amplified, laser focused, soulful, pure humanity that you were channeling. There were times I forgot I was on a stage, watching a character who was supposedly fictional. I definitely wasn't the only one. Sometimes I would suddenly remember I was in a play, and I'd look around at the other prisoners, or even steal a glance at some audience members, and it looked like everyone was forgetting to breathe. You had 100% of their attention.

I just wanted to let you know what a positive influence you had on my life back then. I was a teenager, with the usual emotional troubles and insecurities that tend to come with that time period, and you served as a role model of something solid, strong, fearless yet vulnerable, and thoroughly inspiring, especially to someone whose biggest goal was to overcome stage fright and make an audience truly FEEL.”

I don’t share this very personal message with you because I want or need to bolster my own ego (however, I am an actor so I know I have a big one) but since I am writing about intimacy I needed to share this with you. I haven’t even shared it with my wife or my best friend.

This is why we do what we do. Why you write. Why I act. Because for the briefest of moments we can transcend who we are and inhabit not just a character, but the minds and hearts of all who are listening.

What I really love about producing audio books is that as an actor I get to inhabit the lives of your characters for more than a couple of hours. My relationship with you is the most intimate of relationships. I alone have climbed inside your head and stood with your lovers and your demons. I have let your tears roll down my cheek, locked in a tiny little box in my basement, in front of a microphone and a script. Just the two of us.

Intimacy. The Music of Us, audiobook editionComing soon...Wait till you hear Don's voice as LennyAnd as Natasha!

Don Warrick's Website
AudioBooks:A Family Affair: Summer (Truth in Lies, Book 3) by Mary Campisi The Betrayed Trilogy: Boxed Set By Mary CampisiFlying With The Enemy: Memoir of a Young Cadet by Oleg V. OksevskiThe Song of Kings Book by R J ChanceChristmas Past by Julie Elizabeth PowellFigments by Julie Elizabeth Powell13 by Julie Elizabeth PowellLost Shadows by Julie Elizabeth Powell
Artistic DirectionDayton Playhouse, Dayton OhioCentral Ohio Professional Theatre, Columbus OhioCovered Bridge Theatre, North East Maryland,
PerformanceA Little Night Music - FredrickKiss Me Kate - PetruchioMack & Mable - Mack SennettMan of La Mancha - Don QuixoteSound of Music - Capt. von TrappSouth Pacific - Emile DeBequeSweeney Todd - SweeneyThe King and I - King of SiamTwo by Two - Noah The Grand Duke - The Grand DukeHMS Penafore - RalphPirates of Penzance - The Pirate King The Merry Widow - Danilo The Mikado - Nanki Poo Orpheus - MercuryLes deux aveugles - PatachonDie Fledermaus - EisensteinGianni Schicci - GerardoLa Boeheme - ParpignoLa Traviata - Georgio GermontMarriage of Figaro - Don BasillioThe Impressario - Herr EilerA Lion in Winter - HenryLend Me a Tenor - Tito MerrelliMedea - Jason Oleanna - JohnOn Golden Pond - NormanPlaza Suite - Jessie KipplingerThe Odd Couple - Felix The Rainmaker - StarbuckZoo Story - Jerry Brigadoon - Tommy AlbrightCamelot - ArthurCandide - CandideJacque Brel - Player Convenience - AbeFantastics - El GalloGodspell - JesusGuys and Dolls - Sky Masterson