Friday, September 3, 2010

There are no small parts....

As a grown up, I realize that through the course of life I have learned many valuable lessons. Some of them were taught to me by my mom and dad. Some of them I learned in school and through experience. Many of them weret aught to me by my aunts. Now, I am an aunt and my oldest niece recently started kindergarten. I know that they say everything you need to know you learn in kindergarten. I disagree. I believe that there are many things that one cannot learn in a classroom. These are lessons that can only be learned by living. So, here it is. A year's worth of tiny words of wisdom for all of the nieces and nephews out there, or really for any one who will listen. They may not work for everybody and you may not agree with all of them, but each is a rule that I either try to live by or wish I did.

# 18 There are no small parts, only small actors.

It was definitely originated by Stanislvsky, but since then I have heard it from my mom, my kindergarten, my high school theater teacher, my college theater professor, and as of last night, one of my very good friends. Every role in a play is there for a reason. Without everyone, that show can't go on and we all know that the show MUST go on.
I moved to New York to be an actor. I definitely had a doe eyed perspective about the whole experience. I thought for sure I would move to the city and be famous by now. Well, kids, that is not the way it works. I have been here awhile now and I spent a lot of time "adjusting" and not really auditioning. Now I am more focused and I am in full swing audition mode. I finally went to an audition where I did not know the director and I got cast in a show.
It doesn't pay me any money, and it is not by any means a large role.
However, it is my first real gig. I plan to treat it as if it is my Tony Award winning performance. I will be professional, and show up on time and say "thank you" when I am given a note. I will be the best that I can be, because if I am not, the director will certainly not cast me in the lead in one of his next plays. Without this role, there would be a hole in the script and it would not be complete.
If I had not been the M when my school spelled out Grahamwood, it would have just been Grahawood, and that is just silly. If I had not been the icicle in the kindergarten Christmas pageant, it would have been a year without icicles. If I had not been the zombie in that one film I did, the victims might have actually prevailed.
There are no small parts, only small actors.

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