DALLAS — They've overcome the inherent apprehension of the most altruistic decision of their lives. Now, on a stage in Dallas, they just have to overcome a bigger fear: stage fright.
Donna Kinsella from New Jersey is among the first-time actors who will perform at the Majestic Theater on Sept. 23. She and her castmates are unique because they all share one thing in common. They each have just one kidney, because they voluntarily gave the other one away.
"Instantaneously," Kinsella said of the decision she made while attending a garlic festival in Saugerties, New York.
She saw a husband and wife wearing bright yellow T-shirts.
"I need a kidney Type A+," the man's shirt said.
"Hubby needs a kidney Type A+," his wife had written on her T-shirt.
Kinsella is also Type A+. Her dad's name is Don -- the same name of the man in need of the kidney. So, she said, yes.
"I think it's very serendipitous," Kinsella said of the decision. "I didn't say one day I want to go give my kidney. It just happened."
And every one of the cast members performing alongside Kinsella has a similar story. Curtisha Grant, a DFW-area hospital chaplain, gave a kidney to her 19-year-old son.
"I'd give him the other one if it was an option," she said.
Steve Wilson, a CPA and financial planner from Westchester, New York, gave a kidney to a woman in Washington State.
"I do not regret it. I would do it again if I could," Wilson said. "And I have never met a kidney donor that regrets their decision to donate a kidney. Never once. Literally."
And Saturday night they all take the stage at the Majestic Theatre in downtown Dallas. A group called CrowdSource for Life turning their stories into a stage play and documentary film. The one-time event features first-person monologues by kidney donors, testimony that will be included in the documentary feature film, "Abundant."
"I think we all want to help others," kidney donor and documentary producer Laurie Lee said. "And this is just an amazing thing to consider if you really want to impact somebody's life in the biggest possible way."
"I want, first of all, hope to permeate the entire room," kidney donor and first-time actor Curtisha Grant said. "If you're watching it in person, you're watching it online, I want you to leave saying there is hope."
The only problem for some of these first-time actors is that the fear of volunteering for surgery seems easier...than stage fright.
"Listen Kevin," Grant said with a nervous laugh. "I need you to pray for me for Saturday. I tell you these nerves are hopping all over this boardroom."
But their message - of giving - they want that to hop all over the world.