A KIND SHOT
"Like nothing ever seen." -Broadway World
by terri mateer
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
Sept 21st 8pm
Doctorow Center
Hunter Mountain, NY 12442
Terri Mateer Aims for the Heart with “A Kind Shot”
Meagan Meehan-Entertainment Vine Jan 3, 2018
Back by popular demand, “A Kind Shot,” the critically acclaimed one-woman show by former basketball star and model Terri Mateer hits the boards at the TBG Studio Theatre in Manhattan this Saturday, January 6, 2018. Performances run through February 25. In ” A Kind Shot,” Terri, a 6’1” blonde spitfire, tells her life story of becoming a pro basketball player in France. Raised by a single, hippie mom, an African American surrogate father steps in and teaches Terri how to play the game. Clearing six feet in sixth grade, she’s a natural, but dreams of becoming an architect. Terri’s unbelievable journey includes playing pro ball, modeling, stripping, designing Michael Jordan’s headboard, and taking lots of shots at life.
Meagan Meehan (MM): What made you decide to create a play about your life and what was it like to get it produced?
Terri Mateer (TM): I started to audition in NYC and I needed a really good monologue so I worked with a coach who said, “You have to have something you really want to say. Do you write?” I did. I had many short, diary-like entries, some autobiographical and some not. “Spickets” is what I called them, and that’s what I developed into my first solo show, “Going Public.” But it wasn’t really what I wanted to say… so I Googled, “How do you write a solo show.” Seth Barrish at the Barrow Group popped up so I started working with him. At first, we refined “Going Public.” He’d ask me questions and I’d write the answers which sometimes evolved into more compelling stories. This process took about a year, and then I started developing it in front of live audiences. And then there was all this material that needed a thread. My husband said, “Why don’t you write a show about basketball?” I said, “OK!” and four years later I had something I really wanted to say.
My husband and I self-produce the show with the money we make from landscaping and carpentry. We also get financial family help which I am very grateful for. However, Mansfield College was the closest on that front. They paid us a flat rate fee and brought all their student-athletes, girls and boys teams, faculty and coaches to the show. It was the first time in the college’s history that they were in the same room together at the same time. Over 450 people! And, I rocked it, totally in the zone. I had rehearsed the show so much, had performed it so many times, in front of all types of people, in all types of wacky venues and under all kinds of circumstances, that not even the million nerves banging around inside me or all the excitement that comes before playing in a big game could curtail my mouth from opening up and delivering.
By the way, “A Kind Shot” is extremely timely, entertaining and simple to produce. It’s got one light cue, some house music, me and a ball. I use my pro basketball experience as a metaphor to share my life story which addresses sexual harassment and what anyone can do about it, what it’s like to model, strip, design Micheal Jordan’s headboard and take lots of shot’s at life.
MM: How did you discover your talent for basketball and what was it like to go pro?
TM: When I was twelve years old, I was 6 foot 1 and a counselor at a farm camp yanked me off a rope swing, showed me a basketball and said, “Here, you’ll be good at this someday.”
Eventually, he moved in with us and showed me how to play. But I never had any talent. My sister had the talent. The first time she shot a ball, it spun and went right in. Nothing but net. I’m still working on my backspin! What I have is persistence and perseverance and I knew early on that I was going to have to work at talent. Glad I did because in the 8th grade and all thru high school I was playing on a team that had three other girls who were 6 foot 1, another 5-11, and a point guard who was 5-10. Outstanding even for a college team! And this was in Vermont!!! Our team went undefeated in the 8th grade and from that point till graduation we lost a total of maybe five or six games. We had a bunch of fans. Some took photos and gave them to us or to the local paper, the Brattleboro Reformer, and they started covering us. Once I heard a guy say that he had gotten snowed out of his house and since he was at the high school on a night we had a game so he watched it and from that point on he never missed another one.
When I decided to try to go pro, there was no WNBA or agents, so I put together a package of the newspaper articles from the Brattleboro Reformer with some photos and sent them to a bunch of European teams. I got three offers. Since I had studied architecture and design I chose France, they had an architecture program as well as some drawing classes I could enroll in. Then I had to play a pickup game in New Jersey for a scout for the French team. I did, then I had to negotiate, in my super strong 10th grade French, on the phone, with a coach who I had never met, a contract which would include an apartment, car and $2500 a month tax-free. Then, after four days of hellacious overseas traveling, two weeks of 3-A-Day practices on top of a mountain near the Alps with a team that barely spoke English, and after eight hours of sitting in front of a 12-course meal which I barely ate because I was a vegetarian, I was invited to meet the president of the team to sign it. Persistence and perseverance paid off.
MM: How did you get into acting and theater, and is performing on stage anything like performing on the basketball court?
TM: After playing pro ball in France I came back to the US and all I knew was that I wanted to express my design and athletic abilities, but I also wanted to help people. I was inspired by Madonna at first so I thought, OK maybe performing…I had done some modeling so the visuals and all the stuff she was doing made sense to me. I started taking classes, kept modeling, got some nice roles and then I produced and performed a show that had five women in it. It was just the best. I really enjoyed creating a way for women to work together. I also kept playing ball in the streets. People would stop and watch and it was fun! And the two can be similar very much at times, the training and practice are like rehearsals, and when playing in an ensemble it’s very much like playing on a team. When I drop a ball or a line it’s a hoot to recover and usually gets a laugh! I have found through theater that I really enjoy the script element. Playing with words, learning, expanding that part of my self. Athletics is great and via my solo show, they both come together. And then on top of that, the show inspires folks to look out for each other.
MM: Since this is such a personal story, are any parts hard to discuss, especially to audiences?
TM: It’s never hard telling stories. It was hard going thru some of my actual experiences for sure. And the realization of what I had been through was very enlightening. I had no definition of what it all was until I started writing it down and shaping it. That process has allowed me to share it in a way that’s not “hard” for me or the audience. Instead, it’s entertaining and inspirational.
MM: What have been the highlights of critical and audience feedback?
TM: Probably Mansfield. The applause, the kids’ faces after the lights went up, and, the next morning when I was pumping gas at 6 AM for the ride home, I was thinking about the show, thinking about what I could have done better and just as I had this exact thought, I should have added the name of Mansfield’s football field into the part where I say… I heard someone say, “Hey are you the person who performed last night?” I said “yes” and he said, “You did an incredible job! I’m the coach for the football team and we are going to implement what you said in our practices. It’s not about the winning, or being the best it’s about looking out for each other. You were just fantastic. Thank you.”
MM: What is coming up next for you professionally and is there anything else on your mind that you wish to discuss?
TM: Sometimes I think threading a camel thru the eye of a needle would be a lot easier than putting up this show. But then I talk to the audiences and sense that they have been inspired and that they too have a story and it’s time to hear it! I think, “Keep going, have heart, play defense and make your free throws!” So I keep going….
I have a child-friendly version of the show I’d like to share. I’m playing ball again in different school gyms near Woodstock. I want to thank Seth Barrish and Lee Brock at the Barrow Group Theatre and School in NYC. Seth has been the lead dramaturge of the show. We’ve been working together on it for about four years. I touch base with Lee as well. With their guidance, love, and support I’ve been able to gracefully work this stuff out in my heart, mind, and soul. And I am eternally indebted to my husband Brian. He is amazing. He is a surrealist painter and wood smith and the love of my life. We met and thirty days later we got married. It will be twenty years this summer. Without these people, this team, there is nooooooo way this show would be around. And I am super glad and grateful you gave it a place on your site and hope all your readers will come. Here’s how!
Previews Begin Saturday for TBG Studio's A KIND SHOT
by Broadway World News Desk Jan. 5, 2018
Back by popular demand, A KIND SHOT, the critically acclaimed one-woman show by former basketball star and model Terri Mateer hits the boards at the TBG Studio Theatre (312 West 36th Street) with previews beginning Saturday, January 6th at 7PM. A KIND SHOT will run through February 25, 2018. Tickets are $20 in advance at akindshot.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006. Tickets are $25 at the door. Shows runs 75 minutes. There is adult language and a talkback following each performance.
In A KIND SHOT, 6'1" blonde spitfire Terri Mateer tells her life story of becoming a pro basketball player in France. Raised by a single, hippie mom, an African American surrogate father steps in and teaches Terri how to play the game. Clearing six feet in sixth grade, she's a natural, but dreams of becoming an architect. Terri's unbelievable journey includes playing pro ball, modeling, stripping, designing Michael Jordan's headboard, and taking lots of shots at life.
Terri Mateer (writer/performer). In NYC is the tallest actress to ever play Molly in Israel Horowitz's Line and brought out her FSU high tops to play Meredith in Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. Other credits include: Joseph in Jesus Christ Superstar, Olive in the female version of The Odd Couple, Mona [Previews Begin Saturday for TBG Studio's A KIND SHOT] in The Secret Lives of David Ives's, Rosalind in As You like It, Vivian in Lucy, and Jill in With & Without. She has played Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Sergeant O'Hara in Arsenic and Old Lace, Marianne in The Miser, and in Carey Harrison's Midget in A Cat Suit Reciting Spinoza in addition to The Full Monty. She produced and performed in Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues which raised $12,000 for Family of Woodstock and Women in Need and was a Co-Organizer for Women's March on Woodstock, which was held in solidarity with the same-day Women's March on Washington. She is also the writer and performer of Going Public.
Visible Soul
The musings and diatribes of a New York actor and playwright.
The musings and diatribes of a New York actor and playwright.
People You Should Know . . . Terri Mateer
Zach Calhoon- December 2017
Terri Mateer (SAG-AFTRA) has had the pleasure of playing Joseph in Jesus Christ Superstar (Rhinebeck), Olive in the female version of The Odd Couple (New Paltz), and in her hometown of Woodstock, she has been seen as Mona in The Secret Lives of David Ives’s, ensemble in Carey Harrison's Midget in A Cat Suit Reciting Spinoza, Rosalind in As You Like It, Vivian in Lucy, and Jill in With & Without. She has played Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream Sergeant O'Hara in "Arsenic and Old Lace", and Marianne in The Miser. In Rhinebeck, she was the gal in The Full Monty who dunked the rolling roll of toilet paper in the men's bathroom stall. In NYC, she is the tallest actress to ever play Molly in Israel Horowitz's Line at the 13th Street Theater Rep and brought out her FSU high tops to play Meredith in Five Women Wearing the Same Dress at the 78th Street Theatre Lab. She produced and performed in Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues which brought in $12,000 for Family of Woodstock and Women in Need and was a Co-Organizer for Women’s March on Woodstock, which was held in solidarity with the same-day Women’s March on Washington. She is the writer and performer two solo shows, Going Public and A Kind Shot. Day and night, she loves Brian, her great tall man who means the world to her. Someday she will knit him a fisherman's sweater.
How did you get involved with theatre? When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? How do you feel basketball has influenced your work as an actor?
The very first time I did anything in theatre was at a farm camp in Vermont called Hearts Bend. I played Brer Rabbit in a staged production of “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby” based on the Uncle Remus folktales. I was in the fourth grade and almost six feet tall. I wore denim overalls, big floppy ears and a bunny tail. Michael Lynn played Tar Baby. Michael was 6 foot 8, a former pro basketball player for the Las Angeles Lakers and Co-Owner of the camp. He hid under a big black tarp and there was a bunch of dark sleeping bags on the ground around him so he looked like a big tar blob. So, I come hopping along, snooping around, try to talk to him. No response. As directed I take a swat at ’em. He easily grabs my arm. I take another swat with my other hand, he catches it and holds. I try mushing him with my legs and feet. He grabs those too. The more I tried to get free, the more he'd latch on till eventually I was really stuck and could not move. It was quite a spectacle. And I kept having to say, per the script, "Don’t throw me into the briar patch!”, and I remember not getting the joke at the time cuz to me briar patches hurt so I was really yelling, “Do what you want but please don’t throw me into the briar patch!”
That was the literal seed of my soul knowing I wanted to be an actor. I think the soul knows a bunch of stuff so much earlier on then the rest of the parts that make us like, skin, bones, eyes and ears. They catch up later. And I think our parents, coaches, guides, cast us in roles we might be good at and it helps us, you know, to realize who we are.
BTW: I got a rabbit that next summer. He was my first pet, Snoopy. When I'm not acting I'm landscaping. I have a business called Hearts Bend Landscaping. Poison ivy, weeds, thorns are a daily thing. I am comfortable in the dirt. “Born and bred in the briar patch!”
Tell me about A KIND SHOT.
The show is me telling a story based on my life events. It’s very intimate story telling. It's a one-woman show about my life as a pro basketball star in France, but also how I was raised by a single, hippie mom, how an African American surrogate father stepped in and taught me how to play the game. I talk about modeling, stripping, designing Michael Jordan’s headboard, and taking lots of shots at life. It addresses sexual harassment and what anyone can do about it but that’s not the whole gist. I think because I'm comfortable at telling it, the parts that are heartbreaking can be experienced and the funny stuff brightens things up. It's simple technically, just one lighting cue, me and my basketball so it can pick up and go anywhere or it could be done with a lot of bells and whistles if someone wanted to do a big production like with a basketball net, a gym floor and all that but it doesn’t need it. The story holds it all together.
It’s running at TBG Studio Theatre 312 W 36th St 3rd Flr. NYC 10018 Jan 6-Feb 25. Online tickets are $20 bucks. They are $25 cash at the door. If you are reading this article you can get 2 for 1 tickets online at akindshot.com Enter code: KIND
What compelled you to write the play?
I wanted to write a better version of Going Public, my first solo show. I wanted to be a better performer. I wanted to work with a legit coach. I wanted something more real. Going Public is a great piece but it’s pieces of me doing different characters. A Kind Shot is just me and my story. It’s the big more.
How do you feel performances are going?
The performance aspect has upped its bar in the last six months. I did some additional shaping of the writing and it worked. I've performed it soooo many times so I have confidence in it. I rehearse some aspect nearly every day like when I garden, do laundry, feed my cats. I’m performing it in a theaters without running time restrictions so I can relax and take it in.
What do you love most about the show?
I love the audiences the most.
What kind of writing inspires you?
As far as plays, with people...stuff that seems like real talking. I think they are called straight plays. I love it when actors are free to overlap each other, I like it when no one says anything for a while, I like mistakes and watching what’s gonna happen. I like John Irving. I read his books growing up cuz his son and I went to the Putney Grammar school and I liked how when I read his work I could see pictures in my mind. I like books that you can pick up in the bathroom, with little notes or quotes. I could not stand Grapes of Wrath. I loved The Fountainhead. I read it, put it down for about 20 minutes, then picked it up and read it again.
Who or what has been the biggest influence on your work as a theatre artist thus far?
Seth Barrish. He’s a director, musician, writer, dramaturg, Lee Brock’s husband, father of two kids, actor, swimmer, Co-artistic Director of the Barrow Group Theatre Company and School in NYC and sort of the sherpa of A Kind Shot. I have also worked with Lee on the show. She is the other Co-artistic Director of the same theatre. Brian Mateer, he’s my husband. He’s a surrealist painter, wordsmith, journeyman carpenter. They have been a huge influence because they are all artists who are committed to making changes in the world, they have a strong sense of language and how stories can inspire transformation. I look to all them, to my team for encouragement and inspiration. I am deeply grateful for them.
What else are you working on right now?
I am working on getting strong physically again. I am working on a kids version of A Kind Shot. I am getting prepared to bring A Kind Shot to SUNY New Paltz. I’m always looking, creating, and re-creating ways to share my story. I'm working at practicing what I preach: be kind.
Make Your Free Throws!
Terri Mateer stars in "A Kind Shot," her one-woman show at Mountainview Studio in Woodstock
Hillary Harvey-Chronogram December 2017Terri Mateer stars in "A Kind Shot," her one-woman show at Mountainview Studio in Woodstock.
When women took to social media to share their stories of sexual harassment and abuse amidst the national conversation around revelations about Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men, Terri Mateer wasn't surprised; actually, she found it all fantastic. "It's beyond time," the performer, producer, and writer says. "To hear guys sincerely respond, and to read apologies and reflections, I think that's great. I hope it's not all forgotten."
In this national context, Mateer's one-woman show, "A Kind Shot," which will be presented later this month at Mountain View Studios in Woodstock, couldn't be more timely. The 75-minute show, which began production and preview in 2014, is a roller coaster—with an uncertain course that's at once funny and heartbreaking. In it, Mateer traces her story as the first female basketball scholarship recipient from Brattleboro Union High School in Vermont to playing professional basketball in France (before the advent of the WNBA) to her life as a performer in New York. She shares her history with sexual harassment and abuse in simply factual terms. "I've gone through the mourning and the mining and the pain," Mateer explains. "So, people can really experience it rather than listening to someone complain."
After playing professional basketball in France, Mateer played street ball in New York City. On Manhattan's gritty playground courts, people would stop to watch the anomaly of an ultra-feminine player among the guys. "I used to play in these spandex dresses and leggings," she laughs. "It was just a hoot. I became a quasi-famous street ball player." That helped bring her into the performance world, and she began working a precursor to "A Kind Shot" with a coach from the Barrow Group, a performing arts organization dedicated to transformational storytelling.
After 9/11, Mateer and her husband left New York City to live full time in Ulster County. Developing local businesses in construction and architectural design, Mateer connected with the local theater community on the side. She produced and performed Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" locally, raising money for Family of Woodstock. Earlier this year, when women marched on Washington the day after President Trump's inauguration, Mateer co-organized a sister march in Woodstock which drew 1,500 people. "I'm all for pulling women together. Any way that we can give each other opportunities, encouragement, and guidance, I'm all about that," Mateer says.
Using basketball as a metaphor to drive the personal narrative in "A Kind Shot," Mateer says that's how she also drives her life: keep going, have heart, play defense, and make your free throws. Mateer feels it's a choice to give up or keep going. "I just need to take a second to figure out what's still burning in me, and use that as momentum." She says if people are coming from the heart and kindness, things will work out in time. Playing defense, she explains, is about telling people to back off. Taking the free throws, or the opportunities life offers, is often hard for women, Mateer says. "Women, they'll pass the ball. You got to take your shots, especially when they're free."
After each performance of "A Kind Shot," Mateer stays to answer questions, and it often sparks deep conversation. Mateer hopes the ultimate takeaway of "A Kind Shot" is to inspire people to look out for each other.
"A Kind Shot" will be presented at the Mountain View Studios in Woodstock on December 16, at 3pm and 7pm. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and in New York City at TBG Studio Theatre Jan 6th -Feb 25th. Tickets/info akindshot.com
Hoop du Jour
Terri Mateer’s solo show hits from downtown
Terri Mateer’s solo show hits from downtown
Mikhail Horowitz -Ulster Publishing October 2017
I first met Terri Mateer when I was a 379-year-old philosopher and she was a Nazi. We mounted the boards in a play by Carey Harrison, Midget in a Cat Suit Reciting Spinoza, and although her role was small, her imposing presence
—all six-feet-one of her—was not. She commanded the stage with confidence and authority in each of her scenes.
Flash forward to July of 2016. At Bridge Street Theater in Catskill, I finally got to see what Terri could do with a leading role. The character she played was a pro basketball player, fashion model, wannabe architect, and sometime stripper and actress named
Flash forward to July of 2016. At Bridge Street Theater in Catskill, I finally got to see what Terri could do with a leading role. The character she played was a pro basketball player, fashion model, wannabe architect, and sometime stripper and actress named
. . . Terri Mateer, in a one-woman show titled A Kind Shot. From the moment she entered, dribbling a basketball,
both the ball and the audience were in the palm of her hand.
This weekend, Mateer’s autobiographical play, which elicited bravos at the Davenport Theater Off-Off-Broadway, is coming to Rosendale Theatre for two performances—on Friday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 28, at 4 p.m.
A feature-length monologue, A Kind Shot is an unflinchingly candid, darkly comic narrative that holds nothing back as it lays bare the checkered career of its author, who evolves, over the course of its telling, from a talented naif to a politically awakened woman. Throughout, the percussive pounding of the ball provides a rhythmic accompaniment to the narrative, as well as reminding us that, whatever crazy shit was going on in her life, there was always one thing, at least, that she could control—the responsive, round object that always came back to her hand.
As the first female from Brattleboro (Vermont) Union High School to be awarded a college basketball scholarship, Mateer went on to acareer in hoops that encompassed playing for Florida State University and then spending one eventful season, 1988–89, as a pro in France, on a team sponsored by Michelin. “The basketball culture was very loose over there,” she says, adding how shocked she was that the players would drink and smoke at half-time. “I was a vegetarian, and I got so fat—I was eating croissants, and I couldn’t believe these 12-course meals! But the level of play was awesome.”
Why she returned to the States is taken up by her solo show, where the incident is examined in detail. But suffice to say it was part of a long series of betrayals, involving exploitative and piggish behavior by many of the men in her life. Happily, that cycle was broken when she married Brian Mateer, a woodworker, surrealist painter, and all-around mensch who has schlepped props and handled the lights for her shows and provided constant encouragement.
Standing up to chauvinist coaches and abusive bosses led by gradual degrees to a heightened sense of social awareness and a strong commitment to political activism. Mateer was one of the organizers of the Women’s March on Woodstock, which was held in solidarity with the same-day Women’s March on Washington. She also produced and acted in a V-Day performance of The Vagina Monologues that raised more than $12,000 for Family of Woodstock. And her solo play delivers a strong message of empowerment to young people in general and to young athletes in particular.
“The day after Hillary lost, we did the show at Mansfield University, in front of all the student athletes—girls’ teams, mens’ teams—and all their coaches,” as well as faculty and administrators, Mateer recalls. Because of the play’s raw language and the “tension of the times,” she thought it would be a good idea to be paid before the gig. She needn’t have worried.
“After the show, I could see [Mansfield President Francis L. Hendricks] making his way over to me, and I was pretty sure he was gonna ask me for that check back,” she laughs. Instead, he shook Mateer’s hand and said, “Cassius Clay, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King and many others have appeared on our stage, and now you have graced it with your show and presence. Thank you.”
Although her pro-ball days are over, Mateer can still hold her own in a pick-up game. The most recent occasion came at the Community Center courts in Woodstock. “There were three other guys, so we played two on two,” she says “My team lost, but we had fun. The smells, the sound of the ball, the smack talk with chuckles, the getting to know someone quickly, genuinely, not even knowing their name or what they did, it didn’t matter, it never has. I used to play all over the city, with all sorts of people— homeless, rich, black, white, girls, guys, all colors, all economic backgrounds.”
Mateer’s main gig when she’s not on stage is working as a hands-on landscape artist, counseling her clients to plant vegetables and encourage native plants, helping them to feel connected to the earth and to do what they can to sustain themselves. But more than anything, she is grateful to be part of such a supportive local theater community. “I got my start in community theater,” she says, and the strengthening of self-confidence and personal power it provided is something
This weekend, Mateer’s autobiographical play, which elicited bravos at the Davenport Theater Off-Off-Broadway, is coming to Rosendale Theatre for two performances—on Friday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 28, at 4 p.m.
A feature-length monologue, A Kind Shot is an unflinchingly candid, darkly comic narrative that holds nothing back as it lays bare the checkered career of its author, who evolves, over the course of its telling, from a talented naif to a politically awakened woman. Throughout, the percussive pounding of the ball provides a rhythmic accompaniment to the narrative, as well as reminding us that, whatever crazy shit was going on in her life, there was always one thing, at least, that she could control—the responsive, round object that always came back to her hand.
As the first female from Brattleboro (Vermont) Union High School to be awarded a college basketball scholarship, Mateer went on to acareer in hoops that encompassed playing for Florida State University and then spending one eventful season, 1988–89, as a pro in France, on a team sponsored by Michelin. “The basketball culture was very loose over there,” she says, adding how shocked she was that the players would drink and smoke at half-time. “I was a vegetarian, and I got so fat—I was eating croissants, and I couldn’t believe these 12-course meals! But the level of play was awesome.”
Why she returned to the States is taken up by her solo show, where the incident is examined in detail. But suffice to say it was part of a long series of betrayals, involving exploitative and piggish behavior by many of the men in her life. Happily, that cycle was broken when she married Brian Mateer, a woodworker, surrealist painter, and all-around mensch who has schlepped props and handled the lights for her shows and provided constant encouragement.
Standing up to chauvinist coaches and abusive bosses led by gradual degrees to a heightened sense of social awareness and a strong commitment to political activism. Mateer was one of the organizers of the Women’s March on Woodstock, which was held in solidarity with the same-day Women’s March on Washington. She also produced and acted in a V-Day performance of The Vagina Monologues that raised more than $12,000 for Family of Woodstock. And her solo play delivers a strong message of empowerment to young people in general and to young athletes in particular.
“The day after Hillary lost, we did the show at Mansfield University, in front of all the student athletes—girls’ teams, mens’ teams—and all their coaches,” as well as faculty and administrators, Mateer recalls. Because of the play’s raw language and the “tension of the times,” she thought it would be a good idea to be paid before the gig. She needn’t have worried.
“After the show, I could see [Mansfield President Francis L. Hendricks] making his way over to me, and I was pretty sure he was gonna ask me for that check back,” she laughs. Instead, he shook Mateer’s hand and said, “Cassius Clay, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King and many others have appeared on our stage, and now you have graced it with your show and presence. Thank you.”
Although her pro-ball days are over, Mateer can still hold her own in a pick-up game. The most recent occasion came at the Community Center courts in Woodstock. “There were three other guys, so we played two on two,” she says “My team lost, but we had fun. The smells, the sound of the ball, the smack talk with chuckles, the getting to know someone quickly, genuinely, not even knowing their name or what they did, it didn’t matter, it never has. I used to play all over the city, with all sorts of people— homeless, rich, black, white, girls, guys, all colors, all economic backgrounds.”
Mateer’s main gig when she’s not on stage is working as a hands-on landscape artist, counseling her clients to plant vegetables and encourage native plants, helping them to feel connected to the earth and to do what they can to sustain themselves. But more than anything, she is grateful to be part of such a supportive local theater community. “I got my start in community theater,” she says, and the strengthening of self-confidence and personal power it provided is something
she’d recommend to everyone: “Go do it! Audition! Knock on doors and say hi!”
Advance tickets ($15; $20 at the door) to Terri Mateer’s two performances at Rosendale Theatre may be obtained from akindshot.com You can also visit Terri's website for details of the show's run at Off-Off-Broadway TBG Studio Theatre, opening this January 13, 2018 and continuing through February 25.
Advance tickets ($15; $20 at the door) to Terri Mateer’s two performances at Rosendale Theatre may be obtained from akindshot.com You can also visit Terri's website for details of the show's run at Off-Off-Broadway TBG Studio Theatre, opening this January 13, 2018 and continuing through February 25.
"I just thought it was an extraordinary performance of extraordinary material. It's a fantastic message which seems to be coming just at the right time in our culture. Not only is " A Kind Shot" a perfect showcase for you as a performer (and you are such a pro already) but it offers an engaging cautionary tale with a strategy that can change lives."
- Christine Donnelly
- Christine Donnelly
"Terri is funny and talented. She has a unique and refreshing voice. Terri pours her heart out
on stage. She has performed her show in theaters, small studios, and gyms. She is a dedicated performer, committed
to making a positive change in the world
with her art."
Lee Brock - Co-Artistic Director,
The Barrow Group
"It's beyond talent.
You're a natural but it's beyond that. You have genius. I've said it before & will say it again - in print if possible! You have genius that only a few have. I think when people see this show they will realize that you belong in a tradition of physical comediennes of genius."
Carey Harrison, Artistic Director, The Woodstock Players Theater Company
No tall tales, just real life - 6' 1"
former pro b-baller
Terri Mateer’s
A Kind Shot" holds court at MITF"
Preview by Scott Stiffler -
A Kind Shot" holds court at MITF"
Preview by Scott Stiffler -
Downtown Express - November 2015
Whether working every angle on the court or navigating the field of life, former pro basketball player Terri Mateer has taken plenty of hits — but that hasn’t diminished
her drive to score. Performed with an athlete’s grace and confidence (but none of the indulgent swagger), the 6’ 1” Mateer’s “A Kind Shot” (Nov. 17, 21, 22) has plenty of
insider anecdotes and famous names that will appeal to fans of street, college and
pro sports.Besides her experience in these worlds, Vermont-raised Mateer also worked
as a model, a stripper, and a designer. Raised by a single hippie mom and an African American surrogate father, and mentored by numerous others, she credits them with giving her the fortitude to confront sexual abuse and harassment.
“The point of my story,” Mateer says, “is to inspire people to look out for each other.”
A Kind Shot Performance History
DCTV Firehouse NYC 2018
SUNY New Paltz Parker Theatre for Title IX & Diversity Programs 2018
International Women's Day 2018
TBG Studio Theatre NYC 2018
Mountain View Studio, Woodstock, NY 2017
Rosendale Theatre Collective, Rosendale, NY 2017
Mansfield University 2016
Bridge Street Theatre, Catskill, NY 2016
Midtown International Theater Festival -NYC 2015 & 2016
Keynote Presentation for APCA Broadway Experience - NYC 2015
Official Selection of The Chicago Fringe -2015
The Tank - SoloWeek -NYC 2015
The Davenport Theatre Black Box Studio - NYC 2014 & 2015
Bridge Street Theatre, Catskill, NY 2016
Midtown International Theater Festival -NYC 2015 & 2016
Keynote Presentation for APCA Broadway Experience - NYC 2015
Official Selection of The Chicago Fringe -2015
The Tank - SoloWeek -NYC 2015
The Davenport Theatre Black Box Studio - NYC 2014 & 2015
Cap 21 2014
Nuyorican Poets Cafe 2014
NY Fringe Festival 2014
NY Fringe Festival 2014
Under St. Marks 2013
Featured on New York Events
One of the Top Ten Standout Shows To See New York International Fringe Festival 2014
Featured on New York Events
One of the Top Ten Standout Shows To See New York International Fringe Festival 2014