Pepper Faye & The Studio of Shadows

By: Pepper Carlson-Humphrey

For the ones who smile on cue, and ache in silence when the cameras stop rolling.

Behind a velvet curtain in the Forest Between, Pepper finds a hidden studio where mirrors distort, scripts echo, and everything feels just a little too perfect. Inside, she meets the ones who’ve learned to perform their pain: A costume maker who can’t remember who she is beneath the fabric, a stunt double applauded for falling, but never asked if she’s okay and a writer who’s given everyone else a voice but lost their own.

This is not a stage of pretending, it is a sanctuary for unmasking.

As the lights dim and the roles unravel, Pepper invites truth to step forward, not polished, but present. Together, they remember that they were never meant to be perfect performances. They were meant to be whole people.

This is a story about the weight of roles and the power of realness.
About applause that fades and the self that remains.
About resting, revealing, and reclaiming your own script.

Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do… is stop performing.