Stop Waiting. Start Making.
My last Insight was about the waiting game theaters put us through. The silence. The disrespect. And yet we keep showing up. We keep waiting to get picked.
To be an actor is to be a professional job seeker. I spent 33 years saying yes to whatever came my way—auditions; opportunities; rooms that weren't always worth entering.
Now, I'm selective. There are theaters in this city I simply won't audition for anymore. Not because I can't, but because I've decided my time and my process are worth more than what those rooms offer. My values and standards have changed over the course of 33 years. What was acceptable to me at age 25 just isn’t acceptable to me now. And I'm not apologizing for that.
Here's the other thing: I get fewer auditions than I used to. Some of it is just my age. I'm in that strange in-between—not quite old enough for the "55-65 mature" roles and no longer young enough for "early 40's."
So, given all that, there’s a lot of waiting. I stand by. I wait for my fabulous agents to send an audition to my inbox. And I keep asking myself: When does this stop? When do I stop being the low man on the totem pole?
Then I heard John Lithgow.
In an interview that's been making the rounds, he said:
"Have something in your life that's more important to you than acting. Something that's creative. Something that gives you a goal … that doesn't depend on somebody calling you up and hiring you. Write! If you want to play a role, produce it for yourself … You’re in charge of your own creative life."
YES. THAT. EXACTLY THAT.
I miss having a theater company for this reason and this reason alone. With Route 66, I got to choose the work: On an Average Day. High Fidelity. A Twist of Water. The Downpour. No Wake. Projects I poured my heart into, with artists I admired—people who made me better.
Nobody called me. I made the call.
So I'm making the call again. I’m done waiting.
I’m getting back to the creative process. I'm writing—a half-hour a day. My wife is my accountability partner. I can find a half-hour a day. Self-tapes are part of my life, but they are not enough.
Time to get cracking. Stay tuned …
