Attitude and Passion

I have a friend named Chris.  He’s not an actor.  However, he’s a great guy, and he’s got one of the most interesting personalities I’ve ever seen.  And he just so happens to be the perfect type for one of the play’s smaller roles.  So I asked him to audition.  He did really good (no acting training whatsoever).  So I brought him to the callback.  He did really good again.  More importantly he showed a tremendous amount of passion and excitement for the work.

I was really torn when it came time to cast.  He did really well, and I wanted to give him a shot, but on the flip side, I’ve studied acting for the last decade, and I know how important training and experience is.  Trained actors typically take direction better, grow more with rehearsals, and can focus better under the pressure of a large audience.

So I cast another actor who auditioned equally well, but had a lot more experience and training under his belt.  However, I talked to Chris, and asked if he’d like to understudy.  Most actors would scoff at this, but not Chris.   You should have seen the way his eyes lit up.  He didn’t care about attention or “being seen” – he just wanted to learn more about acting and be part of the project.  He thanked me profusely, and then proceeded to tell me that he’d work as hard as he could and even take time off from work to make it to rehearsals.

The reason that I’m telling you this is because his excitement towards the craft is better than most actors out there today.    And that really made me think because I’ll bet you most actors were like that when they first started out.  But after years and years of rejection that passion is slowly destroyed, and you’re left with someone who cares about money and how much screen time they’re going to get.  And what a shame that is.  Imagine if there was an actor out there who had that passion and ten years of experience to boot?  I’ll bet you agents, directors, and producers would be killing themselves to meet him.

                I really hope that something works out and Chris is able to go on stage.  But either way, he can’t lose.  The theater is what you make of it, and with an attitude like that, he’s only going to have fun and learn.