A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey

A One-Woman Show
in the Tradition of the Wandering Bard

A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey is ritual theatre. It takes place in the Fey realms. We will traverse other worlds, in a nomadic adventure that fosters new awareness and honors your power.

The nomadic spirit is part of being human. A nomad’s powers are deep within every person, even those who always live in one place.

Whether you roam or stay home, you can embrace your nomadic powers: In A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey, we celebrate free spirits, relish sacred wildness, and honor the significance of following our own stars.

Bardic tales, Enchanting Music,
and Unique Magical Fun

Reclaiming Quarterly: There’s nothing ordinary. Francesca’s heart and gut echoing the timeless quandary of human beings. You will be as touched and enchanted as I was.

Oberon Zell: Francesca rocks! Her musical performances are alive, magical, witty, fun and fabulous!

Gary Menger: Vibrant. Compelling. A real-one-of-a-kind. Her voice and her on-stage personality are unique.

The Bay Area Reporter, Adele Prandini—former artistic director, Theater Rhino: A dynamic stage presence. Her voice seems propelled from her entire body. A marvelous entertainer with lots of heart and soul.

Understanding the Venue:
What to Expect and What to Do

A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey is a live performance on Zoom. You need a Zoom account to attend. Free accounts are available here.

Please arrive five to fifteen minutes before the scheduled time so you can settle in before the show starts. You might also need that time if you are not used to Zoom, experience technical difficulties, etc.

Dates and Times for
A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey

The show is approximately an hour and fifteen minutes. There is also a fifteen-minute intermission halfway through.

There are two performances:

You Choose What to Pay

I’m excited to announce that A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey is a fundraiser to support the next leg of my nomadic travels—wherever the winds may take me!

I will be enormously grateful to all contributors. Your kind patronage helps open Fey-touched roads for all who wander.

Admission prices range from $20 to $1000. Choose your price in the drop-down menu below.

If you can’t afford admission, scroll past the payment details for assistance.

Limited seating. Admission purchases are not accepted after midnight October 16. Purchases are non-refundable and non-transferable to another person, date, or event.

After payment, watch for an email with the Zoom code and password you need to attend the show.

If you don’t see that email within a few days, check your spam. If the email isn’t there, you have questions about Zoom, or you need other information about the event, please call me at the following number.

No One Turned Away Due to Lack of Funds

Call me by October 12 to learn about free admission. I promise a friendly chat—no hoops to jump through! In the past, many people requested to have costs waived for events, even when they could easily afford it. Others expressed interest in participating for free but didn’t show up, leaving empty seats someone else could’ve used. So I began asking for a phone call. The troublesome individuals I described won’t usually call. This spares me headaches and helps secure a spot for you. I look forward to hearing from you. Call me at the above number.

To attend the event, you do not need any more information. The rest of this post is for anyone interested in my thoughts about the show and its history. I feel so passionately about A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey that I wanted to share my happiness by posting the following material.

Happy Productive Wandering

My experiences as a spiritual explorer inform this bardic show. So do the many physical roads I have traveled. For example, many people think wandering is a foolish choice. E.g, it is called flaky. However, spiritual and physical wandering can be irreplaceable pilgrimages. This show provides a joyful pilgrimage for everyone who comes.

After trusting my wandering for decades, I understood and embraced it even more once I wrote this two-word poem: Fairy Nomad.

A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey will be a journey you and I share. We will be Fairy Nomads together.

A Personal Story and Mini-History of the Show

I produced and appeared in one-woman shows in San Francisco decades ago. I returned to live in San Francisco a few years ago. Shortly after, I started writing this play. I hoped to serve the Bay Area community with shows again.

I also thought A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey would be a fun fundraiser for the next leg of my nomadic travels.

The S.F. in which I had flourished years ago was so grassroots that my almost nonexistent budget was enough for my shows to be in major Bay Area venues. Things changed. Now, it is play to pay. That is unsuitable when I’m trying to raise money and not spend the cash I’ve saved bit by bit for my next nomadic adventure. (Please don’t insist, “Spend more to raise more.” I know what works for me. Started producing shows in major clubs when I was 14 years old.)

Life wanders this way and that. As it does, life events bring messages from my Gods and clarify them. A message came—the seeds of a script for a musical—in a vision. During the same ritual, almost simultaneously, my longing to serve the Bay Area community as a performer emerged after years of not doing shows. My longing was another part of the message; my desires can be signposts from the Gods.

San Francisco’s changed art scene helped clarify the message: I believe in Divine Synchronicity—the city’s change was a block in the road, and a roadblock is often a message. It was that a Zoom performance could offer fun, music, and magic to more people than the local Bay Area performance that I had originally envisioned. During all these twists and turns, members of my tribe asked how to support my next move. Their requests were additional guidance. It opened me to receiving support—which can be hard for me to do sometimes. Offers of support also opened me to my magical show being a fundraiser. Message complete and clear!

Content Creates Beautiful Form

I like the expression “Content over form.” Mainstream art is often polished until it is bland.

Instead of polishing a performance until nothing is left except shine—so no earthiness remains—I want to offer a substantive experience by presenting a whole. If I am shown an entire tree, from its leaves glistening in the sun to its dirt-covered roots being eaten by insects, I am more likely to notice a wild-eyed Fairy hiding in its trunk. That grubby mystic might be extraordinarily entertaining and educational.

I work hard to perfect a performance. This includes carefully choosing where to focus my efforts—what to polish most. In a standard entertainment venue or recording studio, I usually go high-tech. Tech provides specific opportunities to communicate from my heart.

In other venues, like this new show, I go low-tech, low-fi. It helps a show be personal, powerful, and magical—all of which is also from my heart.

Focusing on what’s important gives me the time and energy to do the important stuff right.

Happy Reminders

Preparing for A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey, I came across two old photos from the 80s. The first was a publicity shot. The second was a snapshot taken during a show. Here they are.

I probably won’t play an instrument during A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey. The photos are happy reminders of my gender-bending back when women were “not supposed to” play electric guitar. That memory spurs on my attempt to break new ground in A Fairy Nomad’s Shamanic Journey. The electric guitar also symbolizes my love for writing bardic songs in the rock, jazz, blues, and European folk genres. I can’t wait to sing for you in the new show.

I’m in my 70s and don’t look like the photos. Every wrinkle on my face marks a road I traveled. That is good.