I was meant for the stage

God. I love theatre. I believe it has the power to inspire change, provoke thought, and present ideas. I believe that the relationship between the audience and the performance that you find in theatre is unique and beautiful and wonderful. There is a give and take in theatre between the performers and the audience; a connection, that I have not found in any other art forms.

Perhaps this is my ignorance. Either way, theatre has spoiled me. I've found my home in theatre. I've found a place where I can love and be loved. It is my passion; my dream. I aspire to inspire. The workshop that I've been taking for the past two weeks is culminating tomorrow in our one and only performance. It's rather astounding: the production periods for shows go on for weeks and then what? I've never been in a show that's had a run longer than a single weekend. But it's worth it. What we're doing tomorrow is different and wonderful and I love it. I am inspired by it and working in this genre has been truly a gift to me.

Slow tempo. Imagine that your everyday pace is a five on a one to ten scale. Now imagine that your five is equivalent to 100%. We work at 5% for most of the show. Approximately 35 minutes. There is no speaking, at least none audible to the audience. Everything is portrayed on a physical level. The fact that we can do this, that theatre has a place for this, makes me stand back, speechless, in awe.

Some of the best memories of my life involve theatre. It was something that I always loved doing. As a young child in my school's productions, I would stand backstage, mouthing along with the lines of the actors. When Rent went on one of its closing tours, with Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, I went with my aunt and my sister to see it. It was amazing. I have never heard so much applause and cheering.

I believe that theatre has so much potential as an art, but where it fails is in bringing in a wide enough audience. Approximately 8% of the US population goes to see a play in a year. 8%. That saddens me. Meanwhile, movie theaters and television capture more and more viewers. It is time for theatre to make a comeback.

People say that acting is merely lying. In a sense, that's true. But in another way, I have found that the moments when I have been most vulnerable and true and exposed are onstage. Acting requires you to give a certain amount of yourself to your character and to the storytelling. Yes, we put on the mask of a different person, but acting requires us to find the lines between us and them and blur those lines.

Ah hell. This post is really a disjointed series of some words that barely portray some of my thoughts about theatre. But, seeing as I have a show tomorrow, I really should stop fussing about it and go to bed.

See you tomorrow.

Cheers,

-T.A.D.