SLEEPWALKER

Every evening, each of us, alone and in the light of our own circumstances, surrenders to sleep—or tries to.

Sleep is nothing if not mysterious. A practice in letting go. A measure of trust. Growing up the good girl in an Irish American family full of drinkers and terrible sleepers, Kathleen Frazier was twelve when her seemingly innocent sleepwalking turned dangerous. After her brother’s first suicide attempt, Kathleen’s sleepwalking incidents spiraled into a sort of nighttime mirroring of her brother’s waking pain. By day, she was a popular, A+ student, the star of her high school musical. At night, she both longed for and dreaded sleep. Frazier moved to Manhattan in the 1980s, hoping for a life in the theater. What she got was a run of sleepwalking performances, sometimes with a shocked audience, sometimes solo. Efforts to abate her malady with drinking failed miserably. She became promiscuous looking for nighttime companionship. Could a bed partner save her from flinging herself down a flight of stairs or out an open window? Danger heightened in a city burgeoning with AIDS. Exhaustion stalked her. Through such a dark night of the soul, would she ever find rest, let alone love? This is the journey Frazier illuminates in her intimate memoir, Sleepwalker. While highlighting her quest to beat her sleep terrors and insomnia, this is ultimately a story of health, hope, and redemption. Kathleen Frazier is an accomplished actress and writer, a Norman Mailer fellow, and a member of the Actors Studio. She is a member of Irish American Writers and Artists, the International Women’s Writing Guild, and Artists Without Walls. She performs her work regularly at a number of venues and salons in Manhattan, including the Cell, the Cornelia Street Café, and Bar Thalia. Kathleen lives and sleeps soundly with her family in New York City.