Sand Art

It’s been so good to hear from so many of you lately! It’s great to know that you’re well and finding your own paths in this nutty world.

Some of you wrote about being shy or embarrassed because you didn’t dive immediately into the professional acting thing, or may have found great joy in a different field altogether. Folks, we all have our different roads to what it is we are meant to do. Training as an actor prepares you for ANYTHING. You don’t have to be acting to be an artist. I’d love to hear from you no matter what you’ve found, and I know we can all learn from what you are discovering.

Here’s what I’ve discovered lately acting in the grad student production of NO EXIT:

What we do, as actors or anything really, is a whole lot like being one of those Tibetan monks who make sand art.

We spend a spectacular amount of time crafting a wonderful story, or beautiful work – and then we open the window and let the wind blow it to smithereens.

Each project we accomplish, whether it be a show, a day at the office, or even a well-made cappuccino (yes, I was a barista before it was cool) – each endeavor shimmers in the moment before it passes and is consumed by time.

And then we start over.

Doing the craft is what is important. It’s not what we get from it. It’s doing the thing and staying in the moment while we create.

What do we get out of it? I don’t know. It changes. Sometimes it’s just the satisfaction that we’ve done it and finished it before we let our minds race forward to THE NEXT BIG THING.

For right now, I’m staying in the here and now. (For a change.) Talk to me after Sunday, when we show our work for the first and only time to observers who don’t know the story.

Then I’ll move on to the next thing, whatever that may be. For now – I’m doing my job, and I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.

I hope you are all well.