"If you can imagine doing anything else..."

This morning I read a really fantastic blog post over at the Huffpost Blog: An Actor's Dilemma. In it, Bobby Steggert thoughtfully asks why, when there are such stresses, economic holes, and fallow times, does he continue to pursue a career as an actor. His answer has to do with the intimate connection that happens between audience and actors over story. The ephemeral theatrical moment. Please go read the article, because I'm not even really paraphrasing here and his post is so great!

This post isn't actually about why we theatre though. It's actually about something he brought up in the course of the article. The dreaded phrase that teachers, mentors, and actors repeat:

"If you can imagine doing anything else in life, then do it"

When I came across it, I was suddenly awash with deep anger about it as I recognized the real damage that this phrase has done. I'm going to unpack it in a couple ways. But damn. I've often had conversations about the way that actors can be (please note that not everyone is) vicious to one another. Especially when they're afraid--and telling stories with truth, vulnerability, and love can make one very afraid. Performing, working, openly with yourself as instrument leaves you very vulnerable and in a state of vulnerability is where, I believe, we do our best work. This doesn't mean weepy puddle all the time, this means open to each other and sharing with the audience. It only takes a few kicks right in the squishy, human insides, to make us cover up.  "That was your choice?" "The actor play Iphigenia was bland and failed to move me." "This production had the worst kind of overacting." "Which one were you again?" "Oh my god, I'm terrified to work with him." "I don't believe it." "She won't come drinking with us." "She's awful." "He's having trouble with the choreography." "No, you weren't cast." "No, you weren't called back." "No, don't make that choice." "No, listen to me." "No, you won't be getting paid for this." "No, your opinion of the play is not valuable or important."

Which leads to the statement, "If you can imagine doing anything else in life, then do it." Varieties include "If you can do anything else, do that."

As a fear response, a defense mechanism, is the only way this makes sense to me, especially since that is the ENTIRE JOB of an actor. To imagine themselves doing other things, with other lives, as other people. If you can't imagine yourself as a different person with different given circumstances, you probably are in the wrong line of work. Instead of weeding out those who are committed to the ephemeral power of live storytelling, this sentence gives those who do it an inferiority complex and shames those who have imaginations.

The sentence implies that if you can imagine yourself doing other things, you have no business making art. That is an impoverishing stance to take. We grow richer by sharing. The idea that only people who have no way to imagine another career belong in theatre short changes the theatre by keeping out those who can bring new blood, new perspective, and who can bring their own human lives and imaginations to the theatre. It also is a way to shame struggling actors out of the business. Instead of working together to develop skills, we ask "can you imagine yourself doing anything else? Get out."

It's a hard life and I can get behind letting people know that we are underpaid, overworked, and misconstrued as mystical creatures who only memorize hundreds of lines of text and emote nightly. However, the flip side of this sentence is that it adds to the undervaluing of actors.

The statement implies that if you are a good actor, a skilled actor, a talented actor and a career actor, you aren't good at anything else. I have met so many wonderful actors who are self-effacing, who believe the lie that they aren't smart, talented, or skilled. Who, when complimented, say "Please" brushing it off as if their negative self view has eaten up their ability to see themselves. Who treat the director as if he/she is god, while working their asses off and never feeling good enough. Actors afraid to express an opinion because they're "just an actor." This statement activates that myth by pointing at those performers and saying "they're here, they're succeeding, because they would fail anywhere else".

This grinds my gears!  Undervaluing, mystifying, and shaming actors is a good way to get mediocre theatre and to reduce the number of people who want to work there and to devalue the entire system by encouraging those who "can't take it" to get out.

As Steggert notes, actors are not only multitalented, the skills of being an actor are coveted and useful skills in other working situations.  Physical adaptability, listening, public speaking, emotional presence, learning information, tenacity, social skills, sharing with people.

As actors, we get to perform and share storytelling with our whole being. It's a gift that we give and receive. We can and should take care of each other, nurturing the skills and talents and hearts that we all possess. How can we expect other people to do that if we won't do it? What are your thoughts?

/rant