Archive | May, 2010

Diverse Opinions on Diversity

27 May

As it was mentioned many times throughout the evening, I felt honored and proud to be a member of NOTE sitting in a circle of people all speaking intelligently, respectfully and passionately about diversity in the world of theatre.

Last night the Diversity Committee held an open discussion about diversity, what does it mean and why is it important to us at Theatre of Note. There was a slew of opinions about diversity, which covered ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, socio economic status, and religion. We talked about it, not only from the point of view of selecting diverse actors for our chosen plays, but of selecting diverse plays that serve the needs of our company. It was all very exciting to talk about and think about, as ultimately it is up to us to make the extra effort so that we are a diverse company that is well-represented by the plays we put up. The very fact that we made the effort to have this particular conversation is already a step in the right direction.

However, we can’t end there. There were a lot of great ideas that were brought up so I hope we further pursue them and not let the conversation end here. We can’t think that just because we have a committee called Diversity, or that we are making an effort to have more parts of women, etc that we have done our job. In fact, the job doesn’t end. We must continue to be aware and have these conversations so we can come up with more and more ways to be inclusive of our company, and thus of the world.

Not Another Dead Blog

17 May

You totally thought this was just another blog corpse rotting away on the world wide web, didn’t you? Well, my faithful readers (yeah, all 3 of you!) I’m here to assure you that it is not. I simply needed a break. Well, really, I didn’t have any time! Producing ShortLived has taken over my life. Usually, the busier I am, the more productive I am. But with ShortLived I have somehow lost the ability to multitask! Not good. As actors that is like the most valuable skill we can have! Forget acting ability or memorizing lines. No, multi-tasking is the best skill to master! Why? Because we are our own boss, our own employee and in many cases our own agent, manager, etc. Even if we do have those things no one cares more about your career than YOU! So, that means… you need to be able to produce your own work, but not lose sight of submitting your own auditions, and not forgetting to finish your own script, and not neglecting those networking events, and not letting your reel outdate itself and not letting your headshots and business cards gather dust. That’s right, there is work to do! ALWAYS.

And let’s not forget other aspects of your life. Afterall you cant miss out on friends and fun and relaaaaxation. Those three have kind’ve been missing (which isn’t to say I haven’t been having a blast doing ShortLived, cuz I have!) and I’m tired of my own excuse “been so busy!” I’m going to work hard on keeping more of a balance…