you know what i love?
i love storytelling. that's what theatre is in all its forms: telling a story. there is nothing more fun, rewarding, and meaningful than great plays, great acting, and great story telling. i loooooove to see shows. that brings me more pleasure than you can imagine. i love to watch theatre. it is my favorite passtime. i enjoy participating as well. when actors come together and create a piece of art that shines of selflessness and work, it's magical. the greatest feeling in the world is right before a show goes up, and the energy feeding off of everyone is "this is it. this is our time to do our jobs". our....jobs. our obligation to ourselves, to our other actors, crew members, etc, and to the audience. it seems as of lately in my continuing quest to see great theatre, i have come up short. many have criticized me for being brutally degrating in my criticism of theatre. "why can't you say things are good?" "do you think everything is bad?" "you're too harsh". the truth is, is that i have high expectations of the art of which i hold so close to my heart. it's the truth: i can actually think something is good. i just feel the need for high expectations because i know that a) if everyone gives it their best, it's very hard for something not to work, b) just because it's "high school theatre" doesn't mean we need to treat it as such, and c)if people want to do it enough, then everyone will have fun. isn't that what it's about? having fun?
at the same time, for as much as this craft has been important to me, i've learned to let it go to an extent, not let it consume my life. THEATRE IS NOT MY LIFE. i have my life, i have my friends, i have my ups, i have my downs...and i have theatre. theatre, in fact, is simply my escape from my life. my personal time, my personal work. those who say "i have no life" or "theatre is my life" are going to end up, in my opinion, feeling empty in their lives. why? because they have nothing else to base their "successes" and life on. look at ralph nickleby (i give this example indicating that storytelling has lessons learned from it, this being one i've personally taken away). at the end of the show, everyone left him. he had no friends, no one to work for him, no people to support him. unfortuantly, his business WAS his life, and thus had no meaning left in it. he had no reason to live.
what i'm trying to say is, is that whatever your reasons are for participating, remember to do it because it's fun. i myself lost that idea for some time over the past few months. it was no longer the meaningful craft i had built up. alas, i have found something now, that has rejuvinated that feeling of enrichment. the job description is the process of putting a show together, which, in my opinion, is more fun than the actual show.
you know what i love?...
i love storytelling. what about you?
at the same time, for as much as this craft has been important to me, i've learned to let it go to an extent, not let it consume my life. THEATRE IS NOT MY LIFE. i have my life, i have my friends, i have my ups, i have my downs...and i have theatre. theatre, in fact, is simply my escape from my life. my personal time, my personal work. those who say "i have no life" or "theatre is my life" are going to end up, in my opinion, feeling empty in their lives. why? because they have nothing else to base their "successes" and life on. look at ralph nickleby (i give this example indicating that storytelling has lessons learned from it, this being one i've personally taken away). at the end of the show, everyone left him. he had no friends, no one to work for him, no people to support him. unfortuantly, his business WAS his life, and thus had no meaning left in it. he had no reason to live.
what i'm trying to say is, is that whatever your reasons are for participating, remember to do it because it's fun. i myself lost that idea for some time over the past few months. it was no longer the meaningful craft i had built up. alas, i have found something now, that has rejuvinated that feeling of enrichment. the job description is the process of putting a show together, which, in my opinion, is more fun than the actual show.
you know what i love?...
i love storytelling. what about you?