self-serving propaganda about the arts and how society should buy us dinner
We had a talk-back session after tonight’s Tupperware for the League of Chicago Theaters.
They have a “Theater Thursday” and we put out sandwiches in turn for them coming to see our show and stay to ask us questions at the end. Our company can talk about ourselves for hours.
One of the final conversations revolved around “Yes, we all have day jobs,” and it was phrased as this–the production and acting in general–is “play time.” It was thought of as what we do for fun. And I just find this so interesting, this concept of this being just a hobby rather than such a hard career to make a living at that it’s just thought of as “fun.” (Click on Lacy’s blog for great insights on this. She’s doing what I strive to do. She makes a living being an actor and is constantly either involved in a production, or going out on auditions, studying lines, etc. It’s terribly difficult to do, and she fucking works her ass off to be where she is and… Oh, sorry… I have a little professional actor crush on Lacy, so I get a little carried away… Lacy’s cool. Go read her shit and see her shows and some junk.)
ANYWAY. I had to hold myself back from weeping at this audience member since I constantly (and delightfully bitterly) obsess over this in my head day in and day out. A doctor gets to be a doctor. A cop gets to be a cop. An accountant gets to be an accountant. This is their career and passion. They get to do this as their job. These people are not going to do surgery after they get home from another job. They don’t work 40 hours a week waiting tables and then go off to arrest people because it’s “FUN.”
I guess if it’s easy then everyone would do it, but I shake my fist in the air a lot at the fact that I have to waste 40 hours a week rather than working on THE ART. ”Can you imagine how good this show would be if we
got to do this for 40 hours a week?” Danny said back to the audience member after I went on a 20 minute rant about starving artistry. Yes. Can you imagine.
Same rant as always. We’re all pursuing what we love in the nooks and crannies of our other lives. And it will hopefully be our full-time lives in the future with the hard work we put in now. This is particularly tough
as of late because I didn’t get the position I interviewed for at my current job (after my position was “renamed”) and I will now have to go back to the sales floor. My goal, if it is in Day Job World, is to avoid being unhappy for 40 hours a week. I will see how I can alter my emotions in order to come to terms with
this predicament.
Man, where’d all my funny posts go? I was funny when I had no job and had time to focus on my ar–HEY, WAIT A SECOND…
I’ll write the next thing off the soapbox:
I have a callback tomorrow where I get to smear pudding on my face. That’s just how good the product is. Smear it on your face good. Take that, Yogurt-Ad-Girls. If there’s one thing I do well, it’s heightening something messy.
Take this photo from circa 2003 that I sent to Amy Sedaris in a fan letter, for example.
