“Get Thee to a Seminary”
If I have a regret in my professional life it’s that I didn’t get a degree in theatre. Countless people have done fine without it, of course, but I would have benefitted from it. I’ve studied, and have returned to doing so, but there’s something to enrolling in a program that teaches you everything from voice to fencing to working with text, and makes you sweat it out for a few years exclusively.
As a relative latecomer to the business, I rationalized that I didn’t have time to waste getting started professionally, but as the years pile on, it would have been fine. (Yes, youth is wasted on the young.) Even as it turns out that I’m doing better than most who do have degrees, it doesn’t change the basic idea here.
Well, the past is gone, and there’s little I can do. But we should all always be studying. The classroom has reawakened my instrument. Whether any of this has transformed my skills is not for me to say, but I can attest to a booming confidence, and an eagerness to keep learning that had gone missing. It has also left me a bit burnt out from trying to do too much, but one step at a time… I’ll find the balance.
The industry in New York and Los Angeles offers no shortage of places to study. A little research will reveal some good places to get back to the ABC’s of the craft. Do it.
Trust me on this one.
For the Mineralava Musings, this is Edoardo Ballerini.
Fencing! Yeah. Definitely take fencing.
I studied fencing in college. (So did my dad.) I also took dance; there’s some crossover there skill-wise. I think both those things are good for actors to study. It gives you an awareness of your body that can be very helpful in your acting. Go for it.