That's me. My whole life I have thought theatre, and talked theatre, and dreamed theatre. But it wasn't until college that I really understood the difference between real theatre artists and the rest of the world.
People do theatre in elementary, middle and high schools for two reasons: one, it's social and an easy A--and if it's high school they're required to have "fine art credit"; or two, this is truly what they want to do with the rest of their lives.
It's the second reason that becomes more apparent after high school. That's when they go from "theatre people" to "theatre Artists." And theatre artists are not like the rest of the world. We do things, say things, feel things, differently from other people.
You want a list? I'll give you a list:
We Rehearse. All the Time.
All human beings on the planet talk to themselves at one time or another. Sometimes we are the only people who will listen, so we have full on conversations with ourselves, both mentally and vocally. And we aren't the only ones.
Only with Theatre Artists, we don't just talk to ourselves willy nilly. We rehearse. Actors and Directors have lines, blocking, cues to memorize; playwrights have dialogue to write; and the only way we will retain it is by practice. Both on and offstage.
So we talk it out. Literally. We talk to ourselves in character, no matter where we are. We're not crazy; we're just rehearsing.
One Of Our Worst Vices is Our Ego
Everybody's got one, but Theatre Artists sometimes have a bigger issue controlling them. Because we spend so much time in the spotlight, are egos are constantly fed.
Constantly. If we don't learn to control it, we can turn into awful egomaniacs.
On the other hand, our egos can also be our inner drive. We love to feel good, and the more we get involved in a production, the better we tend to feel.
We are Really Good at Multitasking
A To Do list is everybody's best friend. I have a roommate who plans her day out by the hour the night before so she can get everything done when it needs to get done. The first Sunday of the month my family gets together and plans out the month so we can coordinate everyone's schedules. There are some people who operate via checklist and won't move to the next task until that particular task is done.
Artists multitask.
When have this uncanny ability to focus on more than one thing at a time--and we manage to get them all done. Ok, maybe we don't always meet deadlines, but we can get a lot of things done simultaneously.
We Get to Create Worlds.
You've all played with Legos, building blocks, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs--anybody? anybody? am I really that old?--Minecraft? Is that better? Whatever, the point is everybody's built something, even if it was created by pixels.
Theatre Artists don't just build things. We build worlds.
Designers spend hours researching what will go on the stage, on people's bodies, on people's faces, in people's hands, to bring this world to life. It is their job to transport audience members from the humdrum of their daily lives and into--I don't know, 1980s New York? A South Pacific Island? France? Space?
For a few precious hours we can be transported to these magical places. Places that we create.
Every human being on the planet had some kind of imaginary friend, or some kind of story he or she would act out in some way or another. Don't lie, every one of you has some fantasy storyline you've played out where you're a superhero, or a princess, or a rogue dragonlord or whatever. And then you grow up and you grow out of it.
Unless you're a Theatre Artist.
We don't necessarily grow up. I mean, physically yes, we do; but we spend the rest of our lives playing someone we're not. And we get to enjoy that for however long we want--the hero; the villain; the victim(thank you Michael Vincente Gazzo); a member of some quirky family for better or worse(thank you Tracy Letts and George S Kaufman&Moss Hart); the outlaw who kisses her victims after death (thank you Louis Sachar); the talking frog (thank you T James Belich); the talking sheep(thank you David Mamet); the DM(thank you Qui Nguyen); or some classic character-that-was-made-up-and-never-seen-and-wants-justice-for-being-left-out(thank you Tom Stoppard).
We Rarely Say What We Don't Mean.
Anyone who has any kind of common courtesy can tell a friend "you look nice". Any other friend can read something you wrote, or see a show you're in, and tell you you are amazing, don't change a thing. They do this because they're your friends and family and want to make you feel good.
Theatre Artists mean it.
For better or worse, we are the most brutally honest people on the planet. We will tell you if something sucks, or is amazing, or not so much. We spend a good part of our lives on the stage pretending to be someone else; so whatever we say offstage, we mean it. If another actor tells you you're brilliant, there is a good chance you actually are. If he tells you that something you wrote kinda sucks--or is totally terrible and doesn't make sense--then take it seriously, because he's probably right. The occasions when we say things we don't mean are few and far between.
There's More.
There's so much more; but if I tried to make a full list I'd run out of room. Or blog space. Or both. Artists are unlike anyone else. We're quirky and open and fun-loving and sometimes so weird no one knows what to do with us. But that's part of who we are.We want nothing more than to create and inspire the people around us. Theatre Artists are always playing new parts; creating new worlds; developing our craft. And loving it. I, for one, won't stop til I'm dead.
Probably not even then.
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