September Moon
Dunkirk NY – There is a perfection hanging over this early morning. There is no breeze to speak of, the moon is full, the air is pleasantly cool. It is quiet outside my window, at least for the moment. It’s a night made for sounding out the soul.
I am beginning that part of my career where I will come to realize what it will mean to grow old in the theatre. As the school year begins and the students start learning work, memorizing scenes, monologues and parts – a routine I’ve gone through for the better part of 35 years now - I’ve not been able to shake from my consciousness a vast weariness. A class in Shakespearean acting turns into a fiasco when students cannot even come in with one week’s warning and have 16 lines of Shakespeare fully memorized. A lecture in Introduction to the Performing Arts sounds hollow and a tad defensive. Young bloggers write of playwrights turning 40 and perhaps being washed up at that age rather than being at the height of their experience and ability (“we need something fresh, something new”). The same sorts of turf wars begin to rear their heads as planning for the new semester and the 2010-11 season begin. And the familiarity with which all these stimuli hit my senses can only mean one thing – I am getting old in the theatre. Continue Reading »
