How Good Are You?

If you're as good as they say you are, you may believe it. But if their response is silence—no roles, not even audition callbacks, that means you're no good?

Let's forget what they say—or don't say. You are God's gift—some say that, too. I'm saying it. Being a success as an actor is assured if you persevere. If you never step on a stage again—outside of classes and workshops—and you just can't count those, can you?—then you're an actor, period, end of discussion.

I believe in you. Not personally, at least not at this moment—I mean, anybody could be reading this. But, whoever you are, I truly believe in you. I believe your success as an actor rests on you refusing to stop auditioning, continuing to think like an actor, whether it's critiquing someone's film performance or reading a play with your imagination in gear.

All art is process, though we will always obsess on the end product. Be an actor. After all, you are one.

Whose Play Is It, Anyway?

I have made many changes to several plays based on a director's sensibilities and suggestions. Granted, this was during the development process—though the development process never really ends, does it? This is called artistic collaboration.

Audiences are never in on any of this, and the audience experience means everything to me, more than my creative self-approval. I save all my material, including many alternate endings, cut scenes, songs. My art is all that others see and all that they don't. I'm king of my universe, as self-absorbed and proud of my work as the next megalomaniac. But in life, in business, even in the arts business, I strive to be patient, kind, and ever so tolerant.

The meek inherit the earth—and don't get an inflated sense of themselves.

Talk Backs

http://www.facebook.com/tcg.org?ref=nf

On its Facebook page, Theatre Communications Group wants to hear from those in the know about the effectiveness of "talk backs." See my comment and others.

For those of you who are not Facebook members, here's my Facebook comment:

"Anything that gives an audience an appropriate and substantive opportunity for dialogue with artists is a fine thing. I don't see how it in any way violates artistic values—it’s not interfering with the work itself, but is just another way to reflect on the work. And talk backs don’t thwart conversations among theatergoers as they leave the theater, they stimulate conversation.

Audiences attending readings at (Chicago Dramatists ) have a particularly uplifting experience at talk backs for plays-in-progress, because they’re monitored with one simple rule: The playwright is not there to defend or explain the play. If you haven’t experienced such a constructive talk back, you can only imagine how useful feedback can be with this simple constraint in place.

Worth considering making the “no defense, no explanations” rule in force at all talk backs. An audience may be looking for a talk back to interpret what’s just been seen, but they could be encouraged instead to reflect back the experience they had. It’s a powerful technique."