why I love acting

For starters, it's a guarantee of an interesting exchange that I get to be part of. Even if it's only pretend, it is always interesting. Even if I've done it dozens of times before, it is still a challenge to make it happen in real time. Acting is engaging. Talk about taking your mind off of yourself!

Today my friend David and I did a scene from Pinter's "The Birthday Party." What a blast. I mean, is Meg crazy or just stupid? I'm decked out in dangly earrings and a satin robe (okay, over my clothes), and I'm flirting outrageously with a man who is not my husband. After 20 years of marriage, that in and of itself would make it worthwhile. And it's all for fun. And it is fun. Never mind that his (David's) character is thoroughly disgusted by my advances. The truth is he's having a blast too, being disgusted.

I tell you, there's nothing in the world like acting. Unless of course you are a pathological liar who makes shit up all the time. But even that wouldn't be this much fun. Hell it would be too serious to be fun. For a pathological liar it's a damn survival mechanism. But for actors, there is really nothing at stake.

My friend and fellow actor, Allen calls it Kindergarten for grown-ups. Have you ever watched little kids pretend? Reminds me of a funny story. I was working on a role in which I needed to shed a few tears, and I mentioned to Richard (my husband) that I was worried I might not cry at the appropriate moment during performance of the scene. My five-year-old grandson, Tre happened to be with us at the time. "Just pretend to cry," he said. "I do it all the time." Then he climbed up on the arm of the couch and taught me how to do it, complete with demonstrations.

Kids pretend with gusto. They don't hold anything back. And when you see something like that, it's inspirational.

Putting Emily to Bed

We wrapped up our performance schedule last night. I've seen the DVDs of "Our Town" productions that were filmed, both the old and the new. And I have to say that our company, The Sage Players, put on a great show. Our characters were lively and well-developed, we got a lot of laughs, especially in the second act, and you could hear a pin drop during Act 3. As a group, we never stopped developing our characters and deepening our performances.

But one thing I have discovered about acting is that I have no life during a show. The show takes everything out of me. It is all I can do. I eat, I sleep and I act. Oh, well we did manage to make love in between naps over the weekend. And we managed to stop at the store and buy snacks for the green room, but that was pretty much it.

Goodnight Emily.

Goodnight George.