I Had No Idea How Much I Didn't Know

I was in a play once. Once. In high school. I played “hair dresser #2” in a breath-taking rendition of Singing in the Rain. (Insert sarcasm here.) It was magic. I still remember my single line: “Your beauty mark is coming off”. I laugh every time I think back on it. There wasn’t a whole lot of room for character development, and I definitely didn’t get a standing ovation, but I really enjoyed myself. It was fun. Yet still, this is the extent of my theatrical experience, and I’m finding with every class I'm suprised at how much I didn’t know.

My first great surprise came as I was looking over the book we were assigned, “A Practical Handbook for the Actor.” I reads, “The only talent you need to act is a talent for working – in other words, the ability to apply yourself in learning the skills that make up the craft of acting. To put it simply, anyone can act if he has the will to do so, and anyone who says he wants to but doesn’t have the knack for it suffers from a lack of will, not a lack of talent.” I highlighted this in my book. I had never considered the idea that acting could be a learned art. I always thought a person could either do it or they couldn’t. I can’t tell you how delighted I am that this isn’t true! Perhaps my hairdresser #2 days are over... or maybe I'll just be a more convicing beauty mark fixer.