Confessions of Laziness

I confess to being a bit lazy, loyal blog readers. This manifests in my theatrical endeavors in two main ways.

The first is that I have not been reading play scripts. There are several reasons for this, not all of which are silly. Plays are sometimes harder to find in a library than novels. Newer plays generally have to be purchased, and I admit I am short on funds. And reading plays does not guarantee anybody is going to put them on, even if I like them. Plus I am a slow reader.

Yet those are not truly an excuse. An actor must be reading at least a few plays a year. I don't much care as much as others if they are older plays or more modern ones, but an actor on any level that is serious about it should be reading plays. I have not been.

Nor have I been reading monologues to memorize. These are far easier to find, and I even own my own book of same. Granted, most theatres around here do not require a prepared monologue. In fact I have only ever gone to two auditions ever that required a prepared monologue. But the fact that local theatres do not require them for their auditions is no reason for me to not be memorizing them. Doing so expands my range, keeps my brain in shape, and is just a good thing for an actor to do all the way around. But again I confess, I have not been doing as much of that as I should be.

I don't really know exactly why I have not been, outside of plain laziness. Do I suppose the question should be why I have been so lazy in regards to theatrical things. I have a few answers, none of which are excuses.

It could be because back in February I ended a long six month three consecutive play streak, and needed a break. Yet even before that I did not read as much as I should have. It could be because it is hard to for me to fall in love with a play when I know I will not likely be able to be in it in the near future. (Given the nature of theatres around here.) But that too is rather flimsy.

Maybe, and this is the only possibility to which I will give some credence, I have been immersed in my writing side more in the last year. More of my personal energies have gone towards the writing side of creative exploration than the acting side of same. I should be able to balance both, and I intend to in the future. Yet lately...

I may be more restless, physically than I used to be. I have thought about this, and I realized that sitting still long enough to absorb leisure reading is more difficult than it once was. And if true, perhaps I need to be working on that aspect of myself. Either way, restlessness is just as much the enemy as laziness. (And yes they can exist at the same time.)

All that being said, theatre is never far from my mind, even when I am working on something else. My hopes for starting my own theatre company in the next year or so are actually formulating more solid ideas in my head than previously. I may even be seeking a partner to start all of this up as soon as the summer. (Start, not be ready by summer.) And part of my writing lately, as I have mentioned here, involves a sort of one man show with some classic material as a skeletal basis. So the theatre gears are still turning.

But I would not be a true blogger of acting and theatre if I hid from my readers my weaknesses. So there are a few of them the last year or so. Laziness and restlessness. I don't know when exactly I will be back on track in regards to the actor duties I am shirking, but I do know it will happen, and than you will know of it if you keep checking the blog.

(Another theatre related effort about which I am not lazy. Has anyone noticed the new policy of at least one post a week? Not bad for my usually bone dry time between productions!)