Monday night I was talking to my old pal, Leazle. L & I lived across the hall from one another in the honors dorms. We became friends after she threatened to throw an apple at the back of my head. She's an odd duck, but she makes me laugh.
Anywho, she had found some of our old classmates from college on MySpace & called to tell me about it. Within minutes, I was on-line, looking at profiles, seeing what all of these old acting & music theater majors were up to. The biggest surprise for me is that so many of them are still living in LA or New York, chasing the ol' dream. Only one of them seems to be making some sort of living at acting. She appeared on the show "Rescue Me" last season & this year she was on an NBC show called "Conviction" which, sadly, has been canceled. As for the rest? Well, it looks like some have gotten little parts in mediocre independent films. I saw one of them in a beer ad a few years ago.
And that's about it.
I feel conflicted about this information. Part of me admires them for still trying, mainly because it looks like they may actually be enjoying themselves out in LaLaLand. But mainly I'm just reminded of how sad and difficult The Industry is ... and I'm reminded of why I've made the decisions I have.
Oddly, I never felt drawn to act for a living simply because of all of the crap that comes with it. I love to act. I love it because I love storytelling, but to actually work as an actor for a living is sooooooo difficult. All of those auditions. Headshots. Begging an agent to take you on. More auditions. To quote a favorite film, "Desperation - it's the worst cologne." Which must be why the very idea of acting for a living makes my nose wrinkle.
Most of the people reading this know why I didn't follow the same path as my peers. I originally wanted to become a theatre professor. But then I realized that the last thing this country needs is more actors. To teach a bunch of students knowing full well that less than 10% would get any sort of job in this field ... well, it would break my heart. I can't do it in good conscience. That's why I restrict most of my acting to the realm of community theatre.
Which brings me to last night. Tim and I visited an open house for a local theater company to find out about volunteer opportunities. Long story short: they found out that I have experience with stage management ... and began to drool. They also said that someone is working in that building every day of the week - building costumes, selling tickets in the box office, painting sets, the works. So if I'm bored, I can just drop them a line & they'll put me to work.
Strangely, they didn't seem interested in the fact that I act, too. Hmm.
1 comment:
Nothing will get you out of the house and involved in a community like local theatre. They always need backstage help. I was working on a show here before I had all of my boxes unpacked.
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