careful what you wish for

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I had this audition recently. Everything I tend to like these days - a cool play, an amazing director, a great part and (the deal maker for me) only 2 scenes! Dreamy. I prepared, I did well. You can never tell, but I got the impression that I was in the final running. I thought I might get it, but I didn’t. I got the call, hung up, and I was all like, "I wonder what I should eat for dinner." It is in that moment that I realized I needed to take a sabbatical.

So I’m giving up acting. It is therefore certain that within a short period of time, all the most amazing opportunities will fall from the sky into my lap without any effort on my part.

And let’s be true --- I’m not really giving it up. Per se. Maybe. It’s simply true that you never know what’s around the corner. Maybe the perfect acting opportunity will come along and I will be thrilled and grateful to accept, maybe the perfect acting opportunity will never come along and I won’t even notice, maybe I just need a season off and before I start losing my tater mind about not performing.

I just know that right now, I’m excited to find out what it feels like in the short-term. I’ll move on to medium-term and long-term later, when they get here.

Comments

Christopher said…
You do have the advantage, in that, you can always jump right back in pretty much at the point you left off. So, unless the sabatical ends up being, say a couple of years, you shouldn't have to worry too much about the dreaded "will I ever work again?" syndrome.
4/5/07, 11:35 AM
(egg) said…
Yeah, right!? True; and I know that in my head. The thing is that right now - in this very instant - I don't care a damn whether or not I work again. And I've never felt that way before. That's why I need the sabbatical.
4/5/07, 11:48 AM
Lively said…
I'm stunned, but congratulations. I noticed that you are not giving up the theater completely- aren't you directing one of the Quickies for Live Girls?
4/5/07, 3:31 PM
(egg) said…
Yeah, no -- just stage acting. For awhile. Kinda.
4/6/07, 11:54 AM
Anonymous said…
I quit writing all the time. All. The. Time.
4/6/07, 12:11 PM
the beige one said…
Having emerged from my own sabbatical this last September, I encourage you in this act. Will things change? yeah. I came back to a different landscape, but not so that I felt frightened for my life.

Enjoy!
4/6/07, 4:42 PM
Basil said…
Dude! That's the WAY! I am totally for cheating on theatre. Go "play the field" or "sow your wild oats" or whatever else your dad might have said to you if you were a teenage boy.
The sad fact is that, like the mafia, we can never truly get out. Our egos would reject our bodies and take up acting on their own, which would be scary and gross.
So be joyful in your decision, egg. I think you're a great actor and right now you just need to stop acting.
4/8/07, 11:11 AM
Unknown said…
Yes, sabbaticals help clarify what it is we really do or do not want to do. They enable us to make more conscious decisions.

I didn't act for 15 years (not counting sketch w/DBP), and didn't really miss it. It's been fun to do a couple of roles in the past year, but they've been on my terms, with people I wanted to work with, on scripts I loved. And if I never act again, that'd be okay, too.

I also know that you're around the age I was when I took a couple of years off, away from theatre, before re-incorporating MSC.

Things become a lot clearer when you get a little objective distance.

And the thing is, you can always come back to acting, if that's what you decide you want to do. As you well know, I, too, think you're a fabulous actor, and have always enjoyed working with you.

But give up theatre entirely? Um, no, I don't think so. Not for either of us...
4/18/07, 9:05 PM
(egg) said…
It's true, Suzanne --- it's unthinkable to actually give up theater. Although it was unthinkable to give up acting, so I suppose we'll just have to see. Life is a dangerous and exciting place. Who knows what gifts Time will offer us?
4/19/07, 11:34 AM
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