You Must Act

The title of this post comes from a web site of the same name from which the aspiring actor can get much good information. But I have been thinking a lot lately about the people I advise and what they are currently doing. It seems to me that only a very few are actually doing any acting and that is troubling. You see, if you are an actor, you must act. That means that you must be acting in something.

I can hear the excuses from many: "I've been cast in something, but it doesn't start until next Spring," or "I'm waiting for may agent to call," or "I have an audition next month or next week," or "I'm not ready yet," or "I can't find any auditions," or a million other reasons why they are not acting. They need money and cannot take off work. And on and on and on, until, frankly, they just give up on ever being a professional acting. And the reason they have given up, no matter what it is they tell you, is that they did not try.

An actor, acts. That's what he does. He doesn't wait for a role to drop from heaven, he goes out and finds one. Oh, it may not be a professional role. It may be an amateur one, community theatre, student film, a volunteer spot on local TV. But it is a role. It is acting.. It is not sitting around making excuses why he is not acting.

Where ever you are located, there is an amateur community theatre, there may be student or indie films, there may be a college theatre program whose productions are open to anyone interested in participating. And, as I say in my book, "The Tao of Acting," if there is no other, make your own acting opportunity. "Oh, I don't have the ability to organize that," you may say. My only answer is then you may not have the ability to succeed professionally. To succeed you need to be outgoing and able to meet and talk to people, and that is what you need to organize your own theatrical production.

The bare truth is that if you are not acting, you are not an actor. If you are not an actor,then why keep pretending you are? The field is over crowded, get out and make room for those who must act.