LETTER #12

Ritah Parrish: Improviser, Standardized Patient Program Director, and All Around Bad Ass Woman

Once again, I am away from my workshop, so I don’t have all of my supplies. This is a Papyrus card that I altered with pens. I wish I did watercolors like that. I’ve tried.¹ I’m just not good at it so far. I’m glad I can repurpose this card…

Ritah and I have known each other since the mid-80s. We traveled together doing improv on the college circuit with Brainwaves, a Portland area short-form improv group. We did team building and safety trainings for organizations over the years. We worked for hospitals as Standardized Patients. Everything we did together involved playing a role that was not us. But we were ourselves when we were together.

Our friendship over the years includes rescuing each other with work when finances were low; late night talks on the phone; deaths of close friends over time; marriages; divorces; cancer; house sitting; dog sitting; henna; cooking; fingers slammed in doors; and so much more.

I am grateful to have a relationship with her that goes back this far.

It spands lifetimes of Mels. So many configurations of Mels and Ritahs. The fact that we still connect from time to time and show up as our loving, broken, and vulnerable selves means so much to me.

She frequently flies into my mind.

1. If you want to learn how to do watercolors or mixed-media art, Pamela Sue Johnson is AMAZING! I leaned into the mixed-media portion from her. Watercolor still comes hard.