Tag: theatre

The Nature of Love

“The nature of love is to create.”
– Fr. Cecil Zinger, C.S.B.

There have been some recent situations where I’ve been asked what I “do” – that old chestnut. Sometimes saying I’ve worked on a legal marketing client database for nearly five years is enough to steer smalltalk elsewhere. If there’s a sincere desire on the asker’s behalf to know who I am, though, I have to follow up with the information that, after high school, I studied acting.

I’m an actor.

It’s true, even though I haven’t taken a bow since 2010.
It’s true, even though I’ve officially auditioned exactly twice since then.
It’s true, even though saying it feels more inauthentic than saying I’m in legal marketing (so much imposter syndrome, all the time).
It’s true. The Nature of Love (cont.)

Show Me The Mon(k)ey!

I have lots of opinions about theatre, especially the theatre I want to make. Generally, they’re passionate and have been refined over the years that I’ve been making theatre and attending shows, viewing them from a community member’s perspective. I will happily talk ears off when sharing these opinions, particularly after a couple of glasses of wine. I try to keep my more critical stances to myself, both because of the tight-knit interdependent theatre ecosystem of which I’m a part and because I know my own tastes and products are not for all markets.

But there is one topic I will sprint out of rooms to avoid. Fundraising for independent theatre – even when it’s for Monkeyman Productions, the theatre company I helped to found in 2008. I also very seldom read articles that bring up fundraising – you clearly have a stronger stomach than I do if you’re choosing to continue reading. For that, I’m grateful.

The reality is that making theatre requires money. And no one starts working in theatre to get rich. Or, if they do see it as a path to fame and fortune, they don’t hang around. And because we aren’t putting our geeky energies into scheming any major bank heists, for now, there are 3 obvious options Monkeyman Productions has explored as a company. Show Me The Mon(k)ey! (cont.)