The Acting Award

I attended my first acting class, forty years ago. It was “grade eight drama” in Junior Secondary. I enrolled because I deemed it to be the easiest of several electives offered to grade eight students. The second easiest I deemed to be Foods 8, which I quickly learned, was not the case.

Drama 8 was a unique experience in my life; improv, emotional expression, sense memory, connectivity and collaboration; a safe place with a nurturing vibe, provided by a teacher who loved her work, and truly cared for those she was working with. It was a refuge in the storm, and a club for those who wanted to be seen and heard… so they could learn how to see, and why to hear.

In Grade 8, 9 and 10, I pursued the Acting Award.

At Senior Secondary, I was introduced to accountability and discipline in Acting 11 and 12. We worked on character and story, and having a reason for our actions. We had to hold our own, in a competitive environment, and be resourceful, dedicated and responsible for our work. We were led by a teacher who loved his work, and insisted we honour our best selves. In grade 11 and 12, I pursued the Acting Award.

As a young adult, I hired an Agents and attended a thousand auditions, some good, and more than some, not so much. I posed for photos and did background and worked on my hair. I was in a constant chase to be seen and heard; to be known as special and admired. I pursued booking jobs, so that telling people, would be my Award.

It is said that an Actors reason for wanting to act is to be seen and heard. In my case, that was certainly true. But perhaps we are also misunderstanding the statement.

Maybe we are all people who need to be seen and heard, and rightfully so. I’m certainly one of them…and likely so are you. And maybe that sometimes leads some of us into the performing arts. And maybe some of us, like me, carry on the chase; audition to audition to audition.

But what if there exists a place, that’s not an audition, where upon crossing the threshold, we ARE seen and heard?

Well, then I wouldn’t need to act for my award. And I could do what I really love: living truthfully under imaginary circumstances; connecting & collaborating, feeling, sharing, and evolving; empathizing with characters and their story, and realizing my highest artistic expression.

“Playing” in a safe space, with people who see me, hear me, and care.

These are the things that enraptured me when I walked on to the carpet of the drama room in grade 8.

Acting class is a safe place where I don’t need to ACT. I can just BE.

So I get to love the work.

And acting becomes its’ own reward.