Linda Gray being interviewed by
Director Kathi Carey

Dave Balch

Dave, author of Cancer for Two and creator of The Patient/Partner Project, was instrumental in the production of Reflections of a Life in several ways, both in my research while writing the project, and as a "reality check" while filming the project itself. He was able to take time out of his busy schedule and drive out to the location to watch the filming on our last day and he brought along his own camcorder to chronicle the day for himself and to show his wife, who was unable to be there. He was there on the day when we shot the scene where my hair first started to come out in the brush. When he showed his footage to his wife, she said she felt worse for me than she did for herself when it happened to her and that it happened exactly that way for her. High praise, indeed, for an actress/director who is "trying to get it right."

Dave also talked about what it meant to him to be a part of this project.

This project has been a "labor of love" for me in all aspects -- the writing/directing and the acting. People often ask me which craft I prefer ... directing or acting? And it's funny because I don't really have an answer for that. When I'm "just acting" I am usually watching the director, wishing that I could be doing their job "because it's so much more creatively fulfilling." But then when I'm directing I've been known to look longingly at the actors and think, "They've got it so easy -- all they have to do is show up and know their part." Doing both fulfills all the creative sides of the equation.

I was also interviewed about what this project meant to me.