This week has been so much fun. I was in full artist swing:
Monday I was shooting video at a law firm. Tuesday & Wednesday I was photographing an event in the city. Thursday I was teaching Acting & Improv to some middle school kids at Poe Park in the Bronx with the Caterpillar Crew. Friday was some more Improv and Hosting at JDP Studios with “Theater In The Garden”. And last night I did some acting as part of a screenplay reading at INTAR.
“All the world is a stage,” and so I am grateful to have these various artistic expressions as my part to PLAY. It keeps life fresh and full of joy.
What platforms do you have for artistic expressions? Do you feel you use them well enough? If not, perhaps you can find or create some new ones. 🙂
So next weekend I will be acting in a short play I have written called “The P Tape Chronicles“. It has been a while since I have been consistently on stage. My teenage years were filled with dreams and passions of being in films and on television.
I took a much needed detour in my 20s. The path I was originally on was one toward destruction. You see acting became more than a dream, it became the thing I worshipped. You can say it was my idol. I pushed family and friendships to the side in pursuit of this thing called “success”. Being driven is a beautiful thing but losing yourself in a craft as a means of validation is a whole other thing.
There are so many actors in the business who are attempting to validate their purpose for living through their craft. They justify who they are by what they do. Many compromise their values and morals in pursuit of “making it”. What I find amazing is the actual reports of actors who have made it. How many of them have such miserable lives? Depression, Alcoholism, Multiple Divorces, Gambling, Rehab, Prison. Not all of them but too many “successful” artists, many whom we worship in our Western culture, live so off balance.
I am glad I did not stay on that journey. My life’s purpose was more valuable than just being “talent”.
So after many years of assisting from the shadows, now I am being thrust back into the spotlight to share my instrument on stage. I am a little apprehensive about the “big-headedness” syndrome I experienced in my younger years. I am more mature at this stage in my life. I no longer desire the stage, but I understand it is a part of my storytelling vocation.
I truly want the audience to receive the words I have written in “The P Tape Chronicles“. My passion is for people to find healing and wholeness through the medium of the arts. That is what drives me. That is my motivation and what truly satisfies me. So if that requires me to be on stage, than that is what I will do.
If you want to be challenged to think about life and relationships, come check out “The P Tape Chronicles” on the evenings of Dec 17th and 18th in the Bronx. We will be performing as the opening show for Ezzy Castellon’s “Once Upon A Caterpillar“, which I am also directing.
Admission is free so all you have to do is make the commitment to be there. Â The flyer information is here.
