The Show Must Go On

By Rev. Dr. Karin Derenne

Forthcoming 2027

The Show Must Go On is a collection of essays about resilience in life, experiences, and nature. The phrase “the show must go on” is often attributed to P. T. Barnum with roots traced back to nineteenth-century circus ring masters. It provided direction to performers that they must carry on during unexpected and unscripted events in live performances. It seems life expects the same.

Resilience is the adaptation that human beings, nature, and other things have in response to stress. Resilience is witnessed in the ability to adapt and evolve to a “new normal.” The ability of a building to withstand hurricanes is resilience, the capacity for the body to undergo treatments of chemotherapy or radiation is resilience, a person’s capability to undergo trauma, grief, loss or even change is resilience.

As a chaplain and clinical ethicist, Karin has spent thirty years walking with individuals during their most challenging times of life. She has witnessed how tragedy, trauma, and trouble can be transformed into healing. She has observed the gut-wrenching darkness of death, injustice, and pain, and, out of necessity, the way it became possible to carry on and sometimes even thrive again.

As much as resilience can be explained as something that is possible to achieve, Karin suggests that its power is rooted in the capacity to believe that resiliency can happen.

The Show Must Go On nurtures this belief, while it offers stories and essays as inspiration and proof that it can. In the darkness, the tiniest bit of light can guide us, comfort us, and inspire our own belief in self. This collection of essays is a companion for readers, to honor and hold the raw pain, and inspire one’s own belief in the ability to carry on.

About the Author

Rev. Dr. Karin Derenne is a board-certified chaplain and clinical ethicist. She has served more than thirty years in hospitals, hospices, and long-term care, witnessing resilience amid life’s greatest challenges. Karin’s experience of companioning people in challenging circumstances shines through in The Show Must Go On. Karin makes her home in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and is a member of the Wisconsin Writers Association. Her work has been published in multiple editions of Creative Wisconsin, and she was a 2025 Jade Ring nonfiction honorable-mention winner. She writes to inspire strength and courage within each reader.