I'll be honest, most of the time I have plenty of opinions on things, thoughts I feel merit sharing, etc. However, I just . . . don't necessarily consider myself a "blogger." I just don't have the instinct "Oh, I should blog about this!" which probably isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, I'm trying to challenge myself so I'm going to try to be better at maintaining this blog so . . . if you care . . . AWESOME! If not, that's ok I'm not offended.
So, what have I been thinking about lately? Here goes:
I truly love theatre, there is nothing that makes me feel the way I do when I walk into a theatre to see a performance. I love the magic of the lights dimming, I love the sounds of the candy wrappers and cell phones shutting off during the curtain speech, I love watching powerful performances and I love watching a "great try" in performance. There is just something about this art that I love and I want to make sure I remind myself of how lucky I am to have found something I love that much. Some people don't have that and I am blessed.
However, as I apparently was thinking in October, this business is anything but easy. So often talent gets passed over for someone who fits in the costume or someone who knows someone who knows someone, so often people are hurtful and forget that humanity is what makes art magical. It's so easy to let not being cast make you feel like your worthless, it's so easy to grow resentful of someone you know and love because they happen to have a lucky streak directly correlating with your unlucky streak. Why on Earth would we ever do this to ourselves? I don't know for sure but I am positive that every time I see a moving or inspiring performance I am energized to go out an "do that!" I want to move people like I was just moved. I want to rip off all of the layers and expose humanity, I want to make magic. This week I was inspired by The Outgoing Tide at Philadelphia Theatre Company. Not to mention the gorgeous set and lighting, the performances in this show were devastatingly human, the writing by Philadelphia playwright Bruce Graham was so human it was terrifying. I was pushed as an audience member and I am so grateful to have witnessed this performance.
I have been inspired by the classes I was blessed to take at the Walnut Street Theatre this spring, a musical theatre auditioning class that challenged me to push my own limits that I had set for myself, I was inspired to see my fellow students break down personal barriers and it was exciting to risk failure as it was to succeed. I danced in front of people every week for 10 weeks as part of the new Dance Call class and while I still don't skip with joy into a dance call, I know that if I just put the same attitude towards that as I do singing or acting I might stop being so terrified of making a mistake and actually start to enjoy dancing! I feel extremely blessed right now.
I am working with two wonderful actresses in Vanities with Quince Productions through April 21 and we have a wonderful time turning back the clock every night and visiting Texas in 1963, 1968 and 1973. I am inspired by these ladies and am so proud of this show.
And so, I am going to make a concerted effort to get on here and do this "blogging" thing more often . . . we'll see what happens :)
Love,
Sarah
