Colon cancer survivor story

A GROUP OF PERFORMERS HAS FOUND A way to turn art into medicine. Three years ago, friends and amateur actors Tanya Taylor and Pamela Thompson were teaching an autobiographical theater workshop in Santa Fe, N.M., when Thompson's husband was diagnosed with colon cancer. It occurred to Taylor that the theater setting might empower him and other cancer patients to talk openly about their disease. And so the two women formed a theater group entirely of cancer patients and survivors. Members of this new group began to perform 10-minute monologues--dubbed the Cancer Monologues--about how they cope.

Traditional support groups aren't for everyone, says Blythe Richfield, a Santa Fe-based psychotherapist, cancer survivor, and one-time Cancer Monologues performer. The theater group is a good alternative because it focuses on celebrating survival skills, rather than on the difficulties of the disease. Thompson and Taylor say the creative process and the theater setting also allow cancer patients to speak more openly because they can distance themselves from their experience. To find out more about the Cancer Monologues, call 505-989-8937 of visit www.cancermonologueprojects.com.