Heather Dowling
Heather Dowling is an award-winning writer and actress. In 2019, Heather premiered her second one-woman show, FERTILE at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. She won the PRODUCERS’ ENCORE AWARD and was nominated for BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE. She won these same awards for her first show, UNEMPLOYED. FINALLY. at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2015. FERTILE and UNEMPLOYED were both selected for SOLOFEST, the largest solo theatre festival on the West Coast, and both were also selected for the prestigious LA WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL. In 2017, UNEMPLOYED was invited to be part of UNITED SOLO, the largest solo festival in the world, giving Heather the chance to perform on 42nd Street in NYC. The success of these shows came largely as a result of Heather’s exceptional ability to create characters. In FERTILE she embodies 11 and in UNEMPLOYED she brought 40 different characters to the stage. Heather credits the success of her shows largely to Jessica Lynn Johnson and being a part of Soaring Solo. She is thrilled to have the chance to share the guidance she’s been given with other would-be solo-performers as a Soaring Solo Instructor.
Kamakshi Hart
Kamakshi Hart (she/her), MA, Spiritual Psychology, is a trauma-informed, transformational coach, equine & nature-assisted counselor and rites of passage guide. With a prior background in theatre, Kamakshi’s wide range of talent is showcased through her affinity with multiple characters and the songs that masterfully tell her personal journey of overcoming trauma. Her first show, ‘Wild At Hart: A Tale of Trauma & Triumph’, premiered in Los Angeles at the Whitefire Theatre’s Solofest 2018, invited back in 2019, 2020 and awarded a Best of the Fest Encore performance. Official selection of the Santa Monica Playhouse Binge Fringe Festival 2018 with an encore in 2019, featured by the 2019 Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival and celebrated at the Hollywood Fringe 2018 with an Encore Producer’s Award and the Larry Cornwall Award for Musical Excellence. Her final performance (not the last!) of WILD AT HART came in Oct. ’21 as an official selection of the inaugural Women’s Voices Festival at Namba Performing Arts in Ventura. Kamakshi’s newest show, ‘Resilient AF: Rising To The Occasion’ was featured at the inaugural Joshua Tree Solo Festival, premiered at Hollywood Fringe 2022 and then onto a sold-out house at Corazon Performing Arts in Topanga Canyon, opened the Solo Stars Series at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood, was a featured Women’s Voices artist at Namba Arts and an official selection of Solofest 2023 at the Whitefire Theatre. RESILIENT AF is performing at the 300-seat Wood Theatre in Glens Falls, NY in May 2023, co-produced by the Assoc. of Mental Health and Planned Parenthood where she will facilitate a community-wide conversation on the therapeutic impact of trauma-informed theatre for the social service agencies of Glens Falls and the surrounding area. Discovering Jessica Lynn Johnson as her director and developer, along with the incredible Soaring Solo community, allowed her to fulfill a decades-long calling. Kamakshi loves to ignite the spark of creative genius in others and is joyful and blessed to be a part of the Soaring Solo Team.