The Art of Dramatic Living

An evening in the theater will cost you three hours of your life. It’s only worth the time if your mind cracks open, your heart breaks – or you laugh so hard you snort out loud.

One of my favorite acting teachers used to say, “Drama is not about the day that nothing happened!” He would scream this at us in class when we were BORING – when we were mis-handling a character’s passion with too much reason – with too much intellect, distance, sophistication or insight – when we were too rational.

I can hear someone much more intellectual than me asking, “What about Waiting for Godot?” And – whoever you are – you’re right. Waiting for Godot  is precisely about the day that nothing happened. That’s what makes it so heart-breaking.

Rational people (too rational) postpone their creative dreams and ambitions because they think it is the right thing to do. We fool ourselves into the belief that it is reasonable to wait until the kids are off to school, the house is paid or until we have more time.

Time is everything and it is also nothing. The idea that we will always have more time is a myth. The idea that time is linear is a myth. Time is central – this point in time only – right now – this moment – this is it.

Onstage or off – in the theater and in the daily grind – life is too short to be about the day that nothing happened.

We must be passionate,
we must live our dramas out loud,
we must create our own stage,
make our own platform,
paint our own canvas,
live our stories and
play out our lives
while letting our guts hang out, baby!

I hate it when people tell me I “must” do this or that I “should” feel a certain way – but, I feel passionate enough about this to rant.

Do you remember the movie, Network, when Howard Beale throws open his window and screams, “I’m mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!” If mad is what it takes to live out loud, let me be mad. Let me wake up every morning and create. Create art. Create change. We are always creating anyway – let’s do it with purpose.

I’m telling you – we do not have the time to put off writing for one more day – we do not have the time to wait for our fear to go away before we drag ourselves to the next audition.

I have lived numb. I have tried to be who I thought I was supposed to be – as a grown-up as a mother as an employee as a woman – and I am mad as hell at myself for letting me get away with it. It doesn’t work and it’s painful. Let me beat the metaphor to the ground – let me body-slam that cliché one more time – I am throwing open the window and I will suffer “numb” no more!

I’m a drama-queen. I create. I create some cool stuff and I create some crap – but no longer will I be so afraid of my own crap that I stop myself from creating.

I hope this breaks your heart – or I hope you laugh at me – or laugh with me. I don’t care – just react. It’s fun. Not everyone is doing it.

Do you want to create? Do you want to play? I do. Join me.

With love, determination and passion,
Kirsten