The Process

I am so excited.  I'm in a play!  Yes, I have a very nice role in a local Christmas production.  I haven't done any theatre in recent years because I teach a late class on Thursday nights and most small theatre have Thursday night performances.  This production has only two performances on a weekend in mid-December, so it is perfect.  My first rehearsal is tomorrow and I can't wait.

I love the process of rehearsal.  It is the discovery of what it is to be someone other than yourself.  You get to step out of your own shoes and walk a mile in someone else's.  It is a complicated game of finding in your own behavior what best suits your "new" personality.  What does your character have in common with you and how are you different?  I love answering those questions because it usually means that I have to confront a part of me with which I may not be very comfortable and introduce it to the part of me with which I am content.  After I go through a rehearsal process, I am usually mentally much healthier.  And I've usually overcome some personal inhibition.

Rehearsal and performance also engages me with a community.  That temporary family thing that happens in a cast makes my heart sing.  As actors, to do a good job, we have to be vulnerable, emotionally accessible.  I love that!  In a world where so many people are closed off, to be with folks who can express their feelings easily is a real treat.  Okay, maybe not everyone, but most actors share and it is delightful.  I don't get enough outside stimulation.  No one's fault but my own, but it's the truth.  Rehearsal get me involved with others.  I need that, particularly as we begin the holiday season.

In all honesty, I have to admit that I am also an adrenaline junky.  Rehearsal and performance will get the adrenals pumping so I'll get my fix.  Heighten adrenaline means more activity means more stimulation means more...well, you get the point.  It's a healthy high and very good for me.

So I'm in a play.  A true theatre fanatic...I'm in heaven.  Totally blessed, I am doing what I was created to do.  So let's kick start this holiday season and let the games begin.