Remember the FUN!
Can you remember the first time you saw a stage production of "something" and it hit you like a bolt of lightning? This is wonderful! Whether it was a musical under the stars in an outdoor summer tent or a production of Shakespeare that was thrilling even though you had never heard the 16th century language before.
Everyone looked so intoxicating on stage in those period costumes.
Or maybe you saw a comedy.
You know the moment.
You fell in love! And you said (not out loud to your parents but in your heart), THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO DO! You didn't mean that's what I want to do at summer camp or after school.
When everyone else was hanging out in Latin club or at cheerleader practice you were rehearsing a play and you wanted to do this for LIFE.
Everyone else in junior high or high school was just passing the time but you KNEW that it was for life.
And it became your identity.
I am an actor.
And you made the commitment to yourself- "When I finish school, I am willing to go without a 9-5 job, financial security and all the things that "civilians" take for granted - an expensive car, a house, a mortgage, luxury trips, and statusy things if only I can do the work I LOVE.
I don't live to make money so I can play at acting as a hobby.
" I act because that is my life, my profession, my passion.
OK.
So then you rehearsed your first play-something like "A Date with Judy" or "Our Town" and you probably were cast as the old man or the middle-aged Mother and your family had to come to see you and applaud.
"That's lovely, dear, you're so cute in the school play!" But you bided your time.
You were developing.
Next season it was Bye Bye Birdie or West Side Story and then your first Shakespearean production, "The Tempest" and it was so much FUN.
The time struggling with the dancing, the singing, memorizing lines was worth it as you rushed from a boring science class to get to the high school auditorium to be with the "gang" to rehearse.
Geez! What FUN! And then opening night and those all night "opening night" parties where you all took turns playing the other parts to hilarity and absolute joy.
What fun! And then waiting impatiently until the next casting session of the next play...
onto to college...
ditto...
the same thing but at a more professional level and finally the real world! Your first summer stock job, an Equity card and a role in TV series or Film and YOU MADE IT! You're finally a professional! What FUN! Segue way to a years later...
Now that you are older and have struggled to pay the rent or mortgage, get that Soap or Prime time contract, book another free-lance job in a commercial or a 6 week run in a play out of town or another role on a TV episodic and you truly hope your Indie film makes it to Sundance...
OK, after all the hard work can you think back to the first moment when you decided to became an actor? And can you fondly remember the years that followed where you learned your craft, studied everything from Meisner and Stanislavsky to film technique, got really good at auditioning and read all that dramatic literature from the Greeks to Chekhov, Shakespeare, Moliere? Then you mastered fencing, stage movement, dance, voice, speech, dialects, learned how to walk in 18th century costumes and how to build a set or design a costume (OK-Carnegie Mellon was thorough).
But, just for a moment, remember.
After all the study and effort, was it worth it? You bet your booty it was! It was the RIGHT decision! You're an actor.
You love your work and your life! Just try to remember the FUN! Successful Marketing! Gwyn
Everyone looked so intoxicating on stage in those period costumes.
Or maybe you saw a comedy.
You know the moment.
You fell in love! And you said (not out loud to your parents but in your heart), THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO DO! You didn't mean that's what I want to do at summer camp or after school.
When everyone else was hanging out in Latin club or at cheerleader practice you were rehearsing a play and you wanted to do this for LIFE.
Everyone else in junior high or high school was just passing the time but you KNEW that it was for life.
And it became your identity.
I am an actor.
And you made the commitment to yourself- "When I finish school, I am willing to go without a 9-5 job, financial security and all the things that "civilians" take for granted - an expensive car, a house, a mortgage, luxury trips, and statusy things if only I can do the work I LOVE.
I don't live to make money so I can play at acting as a hobby.
" I act because that is my life, my profession, my passion.
OK.
So then you rehearsed your first play-something like "A Date with Judy" or "Our Town" and you probably were cast as the old man or the middle-aged Mother and your family had to come to see you and applaud.
"That's lovely, dear, you're so cute in the school play!" But you bided your time.
You were developing.
Next season it was Bye Bye Birdie or West Side Story and then your first Shakespearean production, "The Tempest" and it was so much FUN.
The time struggling with the dancing, the singing, memorizing lines was worth it as you rushed from a boring science class to get to the high school auditorium to be with the "gang" to rehearse.
Geez! What FUN! And then opening night and those all night "opening night" parties where you all took turns playing the other parts to hilarity and absolute joy.
What fun! And then waiting impatiently until the next casting session of the next play...
onto to college...
ditto...
the same thing but at a more professional level and finally the real world! Your first summer stock job, an Equity card and a role in TV series or Film and YOU MADE IT! You're finally a professional! What FUN! Segue way to a years later...
Now that you are older and have struggled to pay the rent or mortgage, get that Soap or Prime time contract, book another free-lance job in a commercial or a 6 week run in a play out of town or another role on a TV episodic and you truly hope your Indie film makes it to Sundance...
OK, after all the hard work can you think back to the first moment when you decided to became an actor? And can you fondly remember the years that followed where you learned your craft, studied everything from Meisner and Stanislavsky to film technique, got really good at auditioning and read all that dramatic literature from the Greeks to Chekhov, Shakespeare, Moliere? Then you mastered fencing, stage movement, dance, voice, speech, dialects, learned how to walk in 18th century costumes and how to build a set or design a costume (OK-Carnegie Mellon was thorough).
But, just for a moment, remember.
After all the study and effort, was it worth it? You bet your booty it was! It was the RIGHT decision! You're an actor.
You love your work and your life! Just try to remember the FUN! Successful Marketing! Gwyn
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