Life's stage

As Jaques said in As You Like It, "All the worlds a stage, and its men and women merely players." Even now, many people ask me why I still stick with theatre after all these years. Many ask me why I haven't knuckled down and gotten a real job, or pursued more "realistic" dreams. It's a hard concept to explain.

I got started at around age twelve, but it took a few years before I took it seriously. My first middle school audition gave me the lead role, and I had my part memorized in three weeks- lines, cues, and all. People told me I was a natural. I did admittedly buy the hype and got a little cocky. However, I had some great teacher in high school and college that brought me down to Earth, and helped me realize that I may not be the best, and honestly, I may not need to. I needed to simply be my best. They also helped refine the acting skills I did have, and taught me directing, stagecraft, and writing skills. For outsiders who don't know all the effort that goes into a theatrical production, I challenge them to shadow a production during tech week. The late nights, the lack of sleep, the passions and questions about whether this is right have reaffirmed for me the idea that this is right for me. 

This is where I belong. 

I feel strong on stage, in a world where I don't feel strong in most other places. The stage allows me to set my own rules, and let's be honest, it's fun to play pretend for a living. Because in the end, that's all we do. We're just people who play pretend for a living. And what's more fun than that? 

From an outsider's perspective, actors may not be the highest rung of the food chain. However, the dedication that we in this industry put is second to none. We are forced to put our hearts on the line every day, and not everybody is willing and able to do that. 

It takes a lot of blood, toil, sweat, and yes, a few tears (of sadness and joy, sometimes both simultaneously), but actors survive. We are a nomadic breed, but we survive. 

If art wasn't important, they would have found a way to kill it already. But here we keep chugging along. Art is the ultimate survivor. Not saying it would survive a nuclear Holocaust or anything, but artists, particularly performance artists, are among the strongest people I know. 

And so, as another show lurks on the horizon (running June 7-10), I go forward into the show, balancing two "real" jobs with learning a 24-line monologue; working concessions versus playing on stage. It's a fine line, a tightrope if you will, but it's a world I couldn't see myself without. 

So this one is for the creators, the artists, the survivors.