Elaine Ambrose

Bestselling Author, Ventriloquist, & Humorist

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How Community Theatre Improved My Health

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I grew up during the sixties on a farm near the village of Wendell, Idaho, when the population was 1,000. Our high school didn’t have a drama department, and any student productions were presented in the elementary school lunchroom. Acting was not regarded as a viable career, but I included the possibility on my bucket list of things to try before I died.

After five decades of raising children, working in various jobs, and retiring in Eagle, Idaho, I decided to audition for community theatre. I was 72 and recuperating from heart surgery due to cardiomyopathy. My new defibrillator was a physical reminder that my life and heartbeat were regulated by a device installed beneath my collarbone. I experienced shortness of breath with any activity, so I decided acting would be a fun way to experiment with breath control and complete my bucket list. I was correct.

Acting in the Eagle Theatre Company has improved my mental and physical health. Memorizing lines challenges my aging brain, and delivering the lines helps with breath control. The audience applause is a bonus advantage.

My first audition was a failure. I was given the role of Madam Arcati in “Blithe Spirit.” After rehearsing for a month, I admitted I couldn’t reach Act III and recite hundreds of lines because I ran out of breath. I relinquished the role. My next audition was for a smaller role, Miss Prism in “The Importance of Being Earnest.” I loved the role, and the play was a hit.

I loved the role of Miss Prism in “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

I’m currently playing Ozella Meeks in “Southern Fried Funeral.” The role only contains 100 lines, but I’ve tackled the character with all the sass I can muster. I’m thrilled with the positive response.

The high schools around Boise offer amazing theatre departments and professional stages with performance facilities that can seat hundreds of students. Young people have advantages to learn how to act and can utilize these skills in future professional capacities. It’s a long distance from the farming community of Wendell.

I intend to audition for future plays. There are several community theatres in the area, and I hope to find small but clever roles to play. I breathe better with every rehearsal and look forward to meeting new cast members and directors. Community Theatre provided the perfect anecdote to my aging attitude and challenged aptitude. This weekend at two sold-out shows, I look forward to when the stage manager says, “Take Your Places.”

Write from the Heart – A Workshop for the Senses

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My interactive workshop titled “Write from the Heart” explores how to use emotions and senses to inspire your writing. Musical selections with prompts guide writers through various stages of their life. Participants can volunteer to read their work to the group.

The workshop also includes items to feel, see, smell, and touch. The goal of the two-hour workshop is for writers to follow their natural senses to create authentic paragraphs on a variety of subjects. All workshop attendees receive journals, pens, books, and heart-healthy snacks.

The February workshop was sponsored by Tesoro Valle Gifts in Eagle, and fees were $25. Future workshops will be announced soon.

Sense of Touch
Sense of Taste
Sense of Smell
Writing from the heart…

 

Cycling Without Age in Idaho

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Elaine Ambrose was the first “pilot.”

In 2017, I ordered a Triobike  Trishaw from Copenhagen, Denmark, and created the first Idaho chapter of “Cycling Without Age.”

John Davidson helped load and unload the delivered Trishaw from Denmark.

 

With the assistance of Eagle City Council Member Mary McFarland, we met with the Mayor of Eagle to secure permission to ride the bike on the streets and along the Greenbelt. We organized a premiere party in October and requested volunteers to be “pilots.” Several senior citizens enjoyed the rides, and the local media ran stories about the event.

Cycling Without Age is worldwide.

Mary McFarland, Eagle City Council Member, seated, Rob Hovey, Ken McKay, and Christy Hovey attended the event.

The Trishaw and the organization were transferred to Kalynn McLain in 2019. She collaborated with Grace Assisted Living in Meridian to create a program for the facility, and senior citizens appreciated rides around Kleiner Park. She partnered with five other facilities and soon provided hundreds of rides.

The Trishaw is retired through the winter and will undergo maintenance before activities begin in the spring.

Kalynn McLain is the main pilot and organizer of Cycling Without Age in Southern Idaho.

Writing Workshop – “Writing the Wrongs: How Experiences Create our Stories”

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A writing workshop titled “Writing the Wrongs: How Experiences Create Our Stories” is available on October 27 and will be repeated on November 3 in Eagle, Idaho. Bestselling author Elaine Ambrose will facilitate the morning sessions, and a panel of Idaho authors will end the workshop with a discussion and Q&A session. Participants will be encouraged to volunteer to read their works aloud to the group. The cost for the workshop is $80 and includes continental breakfast, lunch, all materials, and books.  A Zoom option is available for $40.

The focus of the event is to encourage writers to recall memories of personal angst, fear, or sadness. These raw emotions can create dynamic stories to heal the wounds of past trauma and drama. The Workshop includes continental breakfast, lunch, and materials.

The event is in a private home, so the address will be emailed after receipt of a paid ticket.

Elaine Ambrose

AGENDA

9:00 AM – Continental Breakfast

9:15 AM

Welcome and Introductions with Elaine Ambrose

9:45 AM

“Music as Muse” Exercise and Personal Writing Prompts will inspire participants to recall latent memories to spark emotions to enhance an original story.

10:30 AM

Participants Volunteer to Read

11:00 AM

“How to Discover and Improve Your Authentic Voice” – Interactive Exercises

12:00 PM

Break for Lunch and Personal Writing

12:45 PM

“How to Find Positive Affirmation as a Writer” – Panel of Local Authors

1:45 PM

Open Discussion and Readings

2:00 PM

Adjourn Workshop

Eventbrite link with more details and registration options: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-the-wrongs-how-experiences-create-our-stories-tickets-723702753417?aff=oddtdtcreator

Accidental Ventriloquist

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For most of my 50-year career, I’ve been a public speaker. I started as a television news reporter and talk show hostess and later worked in corporate communications and public relations before starting a small publishing company and creating professional workshops in southern Idaho. I enjoyed traveling to conferences across the country to present writing workshops and motivational, humorous speeches.

Two calamities silenced my voice: Covid and a heart attack.

In the spring of 2020, I was scheduled to return to Ireland to give writing workshops during a two-week excursion followed by speaking at the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop in Ohio. Both events were canceled due to Covid. Travel and speaking engagements stopped, so I took an online course about how to create and publish writing webinars on Zoom. Travel restrictions were relaxed, and in June of 2021, I traveled to Todos Santos, Mexico to present a workshop at a writer’s retreat. Unfortunately, I suffered a heart attack the night before I was scheduled to return to Idaho. My guardian angels worked overtime to secure airport wheelchairs, clearance at Customs, and transportation home.

Creating webinars – when I had enough breath

Cardiologists in Boise diagnosed cardiomyopathy heart disease with a reduced ejection fraction of 30 percent – meaning my heart was broken. I had two surgeries, and the second one in 2022 installed a defibrillator beneath my collarbone. I continued to have shortness of breath, so I canceled the webinars and future speaking engagements. I didn’t have the energy to walk around the block or to speak for more than a few minutes.

I was wallowing, silently, in self-pity until my friend Sheli Yerkes Gartman, CEO of Women Ignite International, contacted me in the summer of 2022 and asked me to join a group of funny women in a comedy show for the WICON conference in Boise in October. I decided I wasn’t finished with life, so I eagerly agreed to practice with the group.

Comedy Show at the Egyptian Theatre

I had used finger puppets in many of my past presentations, and I decided to expand my part of the humorous program and incorporate larger puppets. For the show, I dressed as an Egyptian Queen (a former life, no doubt) and held a southern-speaking puppet on one hand and a monster-speaking puppet on the other. My first ventriloquism act was a bit ambitious because I needed three voices, including my own. I was the first act on stage and entertained for five minutes. I felt triumphant. The program lasted over an hour and included group skits and other monologues. By the end of the show, I knew I had a new hobby.

I watched YouTube training videos by famous ventriloquist Jeff Dunham and joined a Facebook group of lady ventriloquists. They recommended companies selling full-body puppets for ventriloquists. I now have a family of seven. I’ll be entertaining at a music festival near McCall, Idaho in June. My goal is to perform several five-minute gigs. I hope to increase my stamina so I can speak longer without gasping for air.

Lady Delilah offers advice

Meet the Puppets

I enjoyed naming my seven puppets. I had some help from Facebook friends about the name Huckleberry Hannah. The other choice was BlueBerry Belle, but the letter “B” is difficult to pronounce without moving lips. I practiced daily how to speak various voices, but sometimes I mixed up the accents, but no one complained.

Lady Delilah arrived from The Dummy Shoppe. She is British and offers sassy opinions and bold advice.

Jessie Jo from Idaho loves to sing country western songs

Jessie Jo from Idaho is a custom order from The Dummy Shoppe | Puppets by JET. She sings country western songs and promises hilarious stories at music festivals and other events.

Aunt Olga from the Old Country makes me laugh

Aunt Olga is from Axtell Expressions. She arrived from the Old Country and enjoys telling stories of life using her thick Russian accent.

Huckleberry Hannah and Midlife Molly from Pubbets

Midlife Molly is a custom order from Pubbets. She’s soft-spoken but offers pithy advice for middle-aged women in need of hot-flash humor.

Huckleberry Hannah is another creation from Pubbets. She has several outfits and speaks with a charming southern voice.

Officer Ricardo is a dedicated law enforcement officer with a Mexican accent. I found him online at an Etsy shop. He offers tips about how to follow the law.

Officer Ricardo knows the law

Wendell is an ordinary boy who is content to be average. I found him online at Folkmanis. He is soft-spoken with a low voice, and he is a storyteller.

To publish my short ventriloquism acts, I record my puppets on my iPad and upload the videos to social media and to my YouTube channel. I often laugh out loud as my puppets say comments I never intended for them to say. Ventriloquism has opened a new opportunity to share my love of storytelling. This 71-year-old grandmother with heart disease isn’t finished, yet.

Wendell, an ordinary boy

 

 

 

 

Menopause Sucks Less – 14 Years Later

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My daughter and son assisted with the premiere party for “Menopause Sucks” on August 8, 2008.

 

Menopause Sucks premiered in Eagle, Idaho on August 8, 2008. The event remains one of the highlights of my long and festive life.

I was divorced, and my son and daughter helped me organize the premiere party at Seasons Restaurant (now known as Bacquet’s French Restaurant.) My 15-month-old granddaughter attended as a special guest. I worked on the final edits of the manuscript while waiting for her to be born.

Prior to Menopause Sucks, I had written and published The Red Tease – A Woman’s Adventures in Golf and two children’s books. The Red Tease won the bronze medal for humor from the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year program, and the award helped me obtain a literary agent.

My agent, Andrea Hurst, secured my contract with Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for me to coauthor Menopause Sucks with bestselling author Joanne Kimes. We worked on the manuscript for several months, sending chapters back and forth, and laughing at every exaggerated description. We included factual information approved by medical professionals and added our own creative humor. We never met in person. The book continues to sell in paperback and eBook formats.

Publisher’s Author Photo

Here are some excerpts from Menopause Sucks.

“Warning: Over 38 million women are going through menopause, and some of them are really irritated. If you’re one of them, you know that it’s a crying shame that you could live to be 100 but only twenty of those years come with youthful vigor, shiny hair, smooth skin, multiple orgasms, and a flat stomach. To understand what is happening to your mind and body, just put down that shotgun and find a cool spot to read the book Menopause Sucks by menopausal maniac Elaine Ambrose. You’ll find answers and laughs as you learn about hot flashes, incontinence, hair loss, age spots, flatulence, mood swings, and hot sex after forty. This isn’t your mother’s medical manual.”

“While it is better than dying too young, living past forty often comes with unpleasant and bewildering challenges. For the most part, every single symptom of menopause is caused by one reason, and one reason alone: hormones. It seems that your body makes several different kinds of hormones that love to cavort through your body and play havoc with your sanity. Two major players are called estrogen and progesterone. In medical terms, estrogen is produced in your ovaries and acts as a chemical commander in chief, telling your female body what to do. In not-so-medical terms, imagine a teeny tyrant running through your brain yelling, “Grow pubic hair now!” “Ovulate from the left ovary!” or “Make that boob bigger than the other one!” As with most power-hungry rascals, estrogen likes to change the rules every now and then just to confuse you.”

“As perimenopause begins, your ovaries are tired of taking orders, so they decide to reduce the production of estrogen. “Attention All Sectors. Estrogen is leaving the body. Farewell party at noon in the pituitary gland.” Then all hell breaks loose and you start to experience symptoms of perimenopause. The fact that you live through this chaos is definite proof of your magnificence. A lesser species would have become extinct millions of years ago.”

“It’s a rather cruel trick of nature that you could be raising teenagers and caring for aging parents while your Generalissimo Estrogen is barking orders at your female parts, your Busy Bee Progesterones are frantically fixing up the uterus for the Sperm and Egg Combo, and your Naughty Testosterone is working your libido like a tigress in heat.”

My son managed the sales at the premiere party.

Since 2008, I’ve written or published 18 more books, moved six times, and met a cute guy I call Studley. Due to a recent heart attack, my projects have been postponed, but ideas for future books continue to swirl in my brain and beg to be written. The proposed title of my next humor book is Midlife Reboot – Stories of Revival.

 

Reading excerpts from “Menopause Sucks”

 

 

 

 

 

Friends from college and work attended the premiere party.
My 15-month-old grandbabe was an honored guest at the party.