This Is My Story, This is My Song: An Evening With Fanny Crosby
Shellie O’Neal has long been inspired by the life and work of Fanny Crosby: she first learned of Mrs. Crosby in a Sunday School class when she was 7 years old. Thirty-one years later, while Shellie was writing a children’s religious play, she encountered Fanny’s story again and felt God leading her to write a play she could perform about this remarkable woman. O’Neal penned this play after conducting research, which culminated in a trip to New York City, where she visited the New York Institution for the Blind, where Crosby received her education and served as a teacher. She also visited the New York Public Library and viewed Crosby’s personal scrapbook; the Bowery Mission, where Crosby did social work; and Plymouth Church, where Crosby listened to her favorite preachers. This is her first one-woman show.