Re-entry into Acting

It’s official. I’m acting again. Ever since I was five-years-old, I’ve been in love with the stage. All through elementary, middle and high school, I was a thespian. I tell people I gave it up because I made a decision to focus on athletics (at that point, I was huge into volleyball), but I’m not sure that’s true. I think I let go of the hobby I loved because I was slowly letting go of myself.

I don’t need to repeat my whole self-destructive history here. But, suffice it to say, self-hatred is incompatible with self-actualization so I sacrificed acting on the altar of self-loathing. It wasn’t the only victim but, until recently, it was the only thing I let go of that I never believed I could get back.

But I took the plunge. Not too long ago, I decided to resume acting and I’m in love. Being able to inhabit a roll is the most fun thing ever. I have no plans of giving up writing and I’m not looking to pursue acting as a sole career. Writing is who I am. But being on stage or on screen provides the opportunity to occupy other worlds. I get to live out other people’s stories! Awesome, right?

I just signed with an acting agency and went on my first audition this weekend. Fingers crossed! But whether or not anything comes of it, it’s exciting and weird and wonderful and I’m grateful that something I thought had been lost forever has become part of my life again.