Why Act?

Just ask anyone in Los Angeles what acting is and what it takes to become an actor. And every acting coach in every acting studio will tell you without hesitation that he knows the way, the way to greatness, the way to personal brilliance on the magical side of the footlights or on the business end of a film lens. And so it goes, this most elusive, mysterious and often misunderstood art form, the art of acting (and acting training) lends itself to endless interpretation, endless speculation, and varying degrees of charlatanism.

Yet if there is an authentic desire to study acting and become an actor, who do you trust? How do you find an acting class in Los Angeles, or how do you find an acting school in Los Angeles? And how do you tell the genuine from the sham, the well intentioned but obsolete old time theater school that teaches beginning acting for the stage, or the too good to be true California acting school which promises exposure to agents and managers and thus the possibility (and probability) of overnight stardom - how do you tell these from the real thing?

The answer, like it or not, lies with you. When pursuing the craft of acting a lot depends on your objective, or on what you want to get out of all this and where you want to be at the end of the day. In other words, why act? Why? There are other things you can do with yourself. Is acting a need to express your authentic self? There are other forms of _expression. Is it a need to help humanity? There are more practical ways. Is it a need to receive love on a global level? You can always be a rock star. So why acting?

The answer is as personal and unique as every one of us who takes this most seductive plunge and it will only come with time. Certainly along the way some will concede that acting was only a diversion, a procrastination of sorts until they settled down to the serious business of a mortgage and a steady paycheck while some will go into writing or directing and find great satisfaction there.

But if you have a fire in your belly and only acting will put it out and only acting will fan the flames- (we are not always looking to put out our fires, sometimes we require them to consume us)- then embrace this art form and you will have your answer. You will be guided to the right teacher, the right school, the right life choices, you will all of the sudden begin to listen to the previously ignored yet profoundly authentic voices in your head which have been trying to guide you all along. And you'll always be in good company, if only in the company of your own personal truth.

A renowned jazz musician once summed it up by saying - “Will your music be enough when you got nobody to hold?” It’s a hell of a question. Should you answer it in the affirmative day after day, year after year, you are one of the lucky few (a mixed blessing, really) for whom this is not a passing fancy or infatuation. It is indeed your life’s work, your m�tier, your reason for hanging around this troubled sphere.

And around this time two things occur. One, you finally know who you are, you are free - Henry Miller talked about everything falling away, all lies, or artifice, or notions of ego, he knew he was finally an artist. And the second thing that occurs is that you suddenly feel like you are in some sort of trouble. After opening in my first real play and having some success the director came up to me and said “You are no longer a civilian, now you’re in trouble.” What could he mean? Now I finally know.

He was referring to the trouble of creative responsibility. It is the forbidden fruit and there is no re-entering the Garden of Innocence and lounging about – no one has stamped your hand at the door, you are gone for good. You have chosen between truth and rest and now that you have made that decision, you will have only truth, and should you choose rest, you will discover that it is no longer available to you. It belongs to civilians, and what a beautiful thing that is.

 

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