The Agony Of a Non-Theatre Major (Long-ass Rant)- Page 2
The Agony Of a Non-Theatre Major (Long-ass Rant)
re: The Agony Of a Non-Theatre Major (Long-ass Rant)#25
Posted: 9/26/06 at 9:48pm
Okay, little bio.
I knew I wanted to be in theatre when I was 12 and my aunt took me to see Mary Martin in yet another tour of HELLO DOLLY at the Dallas Summer Musicals. But this was Texas -- in fact, the Panhandle of Texas, which is almost all ranching territory. And you dont exactly go in and tell your grandfather, who's raising you to become a rancher, that you want to be a set designer. Just doesnt work.
So I went to college, frustrated by the fact that I wanted to major in theatre, but I couldnt because, as I was reminded almost daily, there's no real career there. You live hand to mouth in the hope that there'll be another job after the current one ends, and I just couldnt see myself living like that. So instead I majored in foreign languages and decided that when I got out of the Navy, I'd move to Paris and teach English. It was safe, slightly glamorous, and about as fulfilling as I figured I was worth.
But when I mustered out, I wound up in SF, working as a graphic designer. How, you ask? A college buddy looking for some help and willing to teach me what I needed to know. That turned into a 15-year career that I hated every single day of, because what I *wanted* to do was, in my mind, simply unattainable.
Then I turned 40, and something clicked. I'd done some community theatre along the way, nothing big, but enough to teach me the basics of how a flat is built and the basics of rigging. I did some prototype designs, designed a web site for myself, and sent an email out to some 2,000 theatre companies saying I was open for business. No formal training, but by now a good idea how things were supposed to look. I got my first job about a month later. Since then, I've designed over 200 productions on three continents, everything from grand opera to pocket drama to arena-scaled Roman tragedies.
Bottom line: forget what anyone says or what you perceive as the competition and its superior talent. Just freaking do it. If you fail, you fail, and you move on to something else. But at least give it a shot and see. Hey, you never know.
re: The Agony Of a Non-Theatre Major (Long-ass Rant)#26
Posted: 10/2/06 at 3:12pmSean: That's probably the most encouraging thing I've ever read. Thanks, yo.
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