Making your own luck
I subscribe to the free email from Backstage ‘espresso’. In it they link to interesting articles.
Today I opened up the article by David Dean Bottrell entitled 3 ways to improve your luck as an actor
He writes, “Ambition will not make you better in the room—only skill gets their attention. And skill is gained through practice and by observing what works.”
I read this shortly after watching the Uta Hagen acting class DVD and there she mentions the agony of an actor (disc 2). An actress talks about wanting to show it all at once, then lose the grounding.
Uta tells her it’s because “you aren’t functioning as an actress”. After a moment of confusion by the actress Uta continues, ‘That’s the agony of being an actor and not getting the chance to show’ and “that’s why we need to make our own theaters.”
That was the moment when she and the actors onstage (as well as myself) began to tear up. [as I am again while writing this, hoping no one in this waiting room is noticing me as I type on my iPhone].
How absolutely true! It is AGONY to love to do something and not be doing it. I LOVE acting and I’m not doing it as much as I’d like and it hurts!
Who is to blame though? I am so fortunate to live in an age where I can make my own things, share my own ideas and possibly touch so many people’s lives.
I think the obstacle I am working on overcoming is to make ACTING and CREATING MY OWN PROJECTS a higher priority. Otherwise things get lost in the ‘fill’ of my own life. The daily tasks or distractions that whittle my days away.
My girlfriend and roommates probably get sick of hearing me talk about all things I want to do, that I haven’t made time to do. No one is more sick of it than me.
Instead of looking what I’m not doing, I can be thankful at the experiences I currently have. I’m taking an acting class at Howard Fine Studios (I’m even performing an exercise tonight). Friday I am performing at an improv show. I teach improv every Monday (where I learn a lot), and every other week I practice improv with my roommate.
I just know there is so much more I want to share.
The way out of this agony is to perform.
And I will.
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