Several times a year for the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of working on Self-Management for Actors principles with actors from the Australian Institute for Performing Arts, both here in Los Angeles and in Sydney. I’ve met actors from all over the world who have been selected for the various programs AIPA offers, but last week was my first time working with kids from the Glee Club program. This is a group of Australian triple threats between the ages of 13 and 23.
They’ve been training in Australia for a couple of weeks (in two intensive short-run sessions over a couple of months), and now they’re here in Los Angeles — then headed to New York — immersed in a training and performance schedule that would make most folks’ heads spin.
During a pre-SMFA seminar lunch with the director of the Australian Institute for Performing Arts and its programs, Marg Haynes, I was invited to go over to the studio early and watch a run-through of the show this particular cast of the Glee Club will be performing in Los Angeles and New York, several times (see below for details on the schedule). “Watch a run-through” is not actually accurate, though, as no run-through was scheduled. The kids were wrapping up a commercial intensive class with a top casting director and then would get a few minutes to relax, hit the loo, grab water, check email, etc., before my class on formatting the “LA style” resumé and understanding the differences, market to market.
A few dozen young performers (a total of 57 are participating in this particular program, this season — photo here) who were probably already in complete overdrive, from having worked with coaches in various areas nonstop since arriving to town just 24 hours before) gathered in the dance studio and plopped onto the floor like teenagers do, eager, bright-eyed, excited to soak in whatever it was that I was there to share with them for our hours together. Early. They didn’t need that scheduled break. And I was there, so why not start?
Then Marg said, “Hey, guys, let’s run the show for Bonnie.” The kids looked around at one another and back at us and then — collectively — got it. Ooh! We get to run the show! Right now! Let’s do it!
And up they went. Backpacks and lunch sacks and water bottles and hoodies and notebooks all got stashed to the sides of the room, a CD of backing tracks went into the audio deck, and the show began. A private show. A half-hour of singing, dancing, laughing, telling a story… with as much enthusiasm and elation and delight as I have ever seen. Truly, the rush of energy pulsing in that room was no different than what I’ve experienced in the largest venues on the planet. Because it wasn’t about hundreds or thousands of people in the audience. It was about the work. It was the joy of getting to share a gift with the world, even if only via one recipient at a time.
Being the sap that I am — and not just any old sap, a sap who started out as a kid actor in musical theatre in Atlanta — it didn’t take long for my heartstrings to be tugged. I was sniffing back tears midway through the first number. By the second number, the tears were streaming. Into the third song, I looked at Marg with a shrug along the lines of, “Can you believe what a freakin’ softy I am?” and just let out a big ol’ boo-hoo.
What struck me in the next section of the performance was this: It’s not that anything these performers were doing in particular was setting off my emotions. It’s that — especially in the day to day of Los Angeles — we’re surrounded by people who’ve lost the FUN. We’re exposed to a non-stop barrage of tweets and Facebook status updates and blog posts and bitch sessions about how hard this whole pursuit is. And a huge chunk of those who claim they want this more than anything else would rather complain about it than get up and PLAY.
What was amazing was the fact that these AIPA Glee Club kids haven’t lost the love. They’re riding on a high of what ifs. They haven’t let any failure they’ve experienced get to them in such a way that it affects their ability to get up and share their gifts with the world.
And I wept because I want that for everyone. I want even the actor who feels beaten down by rejection and mired in bitterness to find joy in getting to play. I want even the actor who believes everyone is against him to delight in showing off his gifts. Without hesitation. Without doubt. Without agenda.
Perhaps it’s the immersion of it all. At age 16, I was one of 28 actors in the state of Georgia who was selected for the Governor’s Honors Program to participate in a six-week immersion program on a college campus, learning from people at the top of the field, pushing myself outside the comfort zone of what we were doing in school, performing for thousands of people doing work that was more challenging than anything I had ever experienced (and probably ever experienced after, as an actor). And I was alive in a way that I would try to tap back into, as an actor living on Franklin Avenue at age 23, then again as an actor living on Moorpark at age 28 or on Hauser at age 29.
We lose that bliss if we don’t find ways to stay tapped in. Something about the immersion — the “I’m all in” of it all — fuels the passion. It’s a thing of beauty.
If I walked into a room filled with actors who are occasionally bitter or sometimes blue and said, “Show me what you’ve been working on,” NO ONE would leap to their feet, elated over the invitation to share their gifts with the world, even one person at a time. But a group of people who are just so plugged in, so in love with the GETTING TO DO IT of it all, they’ll remind anyone why any of us chose this crazy pursuit in the first place.
I ask you: How often do you get to plug in and just play? How often do you get to share your gift with the world? How often do you jump up and put on a show, just because it feels good?
And if your answer is all about how no one will let you, you know I’m gonna call bullshit on that, because YOU can create, YOU can get out there and share your gifts with the world. YOU have that choice. It is a choice.
Want to be inspired by these outstanding kiddos visiting from Australia? Join us at any of these amazing performances:
December 5th, 7pm, Hollywood Blvd. at McCadden Place
December 6th, 6:30pm, Hollywood Blvd. at McCadden Place
December 9th, 10:30am, Blues Brothers Stage, Universal Studios
December 10th, 12pm and 2pm, Calico Stage, Knott’s Berry Farm
December 11th, performances TBA
December 12th, 2:30pm and 4:30pm, Carnation Garden Stage, Disneyland
December 13th, 10:25am and 11:25am, California Adventure
December 18th, 11am, Singing in Harlem
For more information, visit performingartstours.com.au (and for working actors — worldwide — interested in the Professional Actors Masterclass for 2012, email talent@aipa.com.au).
Punchline: Stay inspired. Immerse yourself and be willing to play when given the chance (and, oh, don’t wait for the chance). Just play. It’s so damn good for you!
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001432.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.