Saint John artist to read stories of personal, creative growth

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At what felt like the lowest part of her career as an actor at the time, Robin Hebb encountered someone else struggling to make it in New York: A weiner dog named Biscuit.

Saint John artist, author and performer Hebb is set to read from a selection of creative non-fiction pieces Saturday at Hughes Hall in the InterAction School of Performing Arts on Germain Street. She said she hopes to “give a sense of her evolution” as a creative person and a human, from an actor and filmmaker to a writer who sends out weekly stories to 200 people as part of her newsletter, The Uncertain Cool Girl.

“I tell stories about being a really young actor and really negative audition experiences I had,” she said. “(I’m) trying to make light of it and also trying to be honest about how formative that was for me… and demonstrate how with a little discipline and perseverance you can get yourself out of any pickle you find yourself in.”

She said in one, “Andrew Garfield, The Dog Show and Me,” she had been through a humiliating experience at her first big New York audition at age 21. She headed back to her hotel – which was also hosting the Westminster Dog Show.

“I immediately got into an elevator with a man and his weiner dog, who was the No. 1 weiner dog in the state, but every time he comes to New York and competes, he comes in last place. It was a very poetic experience in real life, and makes one of my favourite stories I’ve ever written.”

It’s Hebb’s first reading in Saint John since 2018, while she was living in Toronto, when she presented Him and Alice, a one-woman show collecting personal essays about her life unraveling after the end of a relationship. At the time, she said she felt like she was in an “identity crisis” about switching from acting to writing.

“There’s a lot more confidence I have now, both in myself but as a writer,” she said. “I don’t put as much pressure on myself with the creative aspects of my life – I’m someone who enjoys writing.”

She moved back to Saint John during the pandemic, and she said once things opened up she felt her creative juices start flowing. She also said she “revved” her engine up again by working with local musician Hillary Ladd, with whom she co-created Breastmilk and Tears, a stage show about Ladd’s emotional journey through motherhood and the pandemic.

For that show, Hebb said she helped develop the idea, directed and “rhinestoned her boots.” Ladd will also be telling stories and performing at the reading Saturday, and Hebb said the creative energy is “electric” when they start working on an idea.

“The two of us in a room together, it’s the greatest,” she said. “We balance each other out in a way that feels absolutely cosmic.”

Hebb’s newsletter, now on edition 51, is her current creative outlet, where she shares observations and tell stories about her life.

“I keep no secrets from the world,” she said. She’s started releasing weekly videos as part of the newsletter, where she says she tries to have a conversation with the camera as a way to “jumpstart more ideas.”

“The whole goal is to connect with people and doing this live reading, I’m hoping, is an opportunity to expand on that and connect with people on a deeper level,” she said.

The Uncertain Cool Girl: A Reading runs at Hughes Hall at 228 Germain St. in Saint John at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and available on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-uncertain-cool-girl-live-reading-tickets-728413513427. The Uncertain Cool Girl newsletter can be found at https://robinhebb.substack.com/.