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The Art Of Showing Up.
by Michael John Foster
There is a notion that people in the arts are flaky and overly sensitive. That is a correct notion.... at least in my perspective.
I ' ve spent almost twenty years as a performer turned producer and I ' m always amazed by the performers I meet who simply fail to show up for opportunity. Perhaps it ' s that sensitivity that leads one into the arts that also undermines their confidence. Or maybe it ' s the very active mind that yields to over-commitment. I ' m not certain of the reason, but I know that I ' ve seen many actors, singers and dancers relinquish great roles simply by being irresponsible.
As someone who wants to employ people and see a project succeed, as I think most producers do, it ' s almost painful to watch someone miss their chance. I once helped produce an international art festival that included submissions and performances from around the globe. It promised lots of publicity for all involved and so I tapped a young professional director to create a fifteen minute segment to be shown jointly with the main artistic installation. She was excited for the opportunity, but decided to pull out at the last moment. The reason she gave was that she she had committed to a few other small projects that were taking too much time. In some manner of speaking, you could say that she was mentally not in the game. She had neglected to organize her schedule and had to relinquish the paid opportunity that would have yielded a lot of new opportunities because of the esteemed people at the festival.
In another situation, there was a man playing the lead in a show I directed who almost had to bow out of the production because he didn ' t allow enough time to memorize his lines. His inability to prioritize led to problems with his cast mates since he couldn ' t adequately rehearse his dialogue, and it led to problems with me since I was the one who was responsible to get him up to speed. It required a lot of running lines with him late at night to coach him through. Again, mentally, he just wasn ' t in the game. In both cases, I say that there was a failure to " show up." Physically, these artists were present, but mentally, they were elsewhere. Consequently, they made my job much more difficult meaning that I will never use them again. That may sound harsh, but one has to understand that producing and directing a show requires a lot of up front risk in both the investment of money and time. And when you decide to work with a performer or collaborator, you hope that there will be a return on that investment. Performers that are in some ways irresponsible are less likely to create a return on investment.
A performer who is more steady in personality is often easier to cast. You know that they will get the job done. They show up not only physically, but mentally as well. Their consistency puts their collaborators at ease. If all performers knew this, they would understand that the biggest part of landing the gig is simply showing up. The more dependable that a performer seems, the easier it is to hand them greater and greater responsibility in the aspect of roles.
If you want to be cast, your first step to success is to keep showing up. Show up at auditions, at rehearsals, at meetings, at break-downs, at set-builds, at as much as you can. Your presence will send the message that you can be trusted. Those who can be trusted will reap the reward.
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“ If you get a chance to act in a room that somebody else has paid rent for, then you’ re given a free chance to practice your craft.”— actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman on auditioning
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