Feel No Shame For What You Are

It really is a shame how difficult it is to be taken seriously as an actor. In this holiday season when most everyone is sure to be bombarded with family it is inevitable that someone will ask questions about what it is we want to do with our lives and when we’re going to find ourselves real work. And every time it happens to me, I’m sorry to say, I find myself too ashamed of my passion to admit it. I never stand up on the diner table and shout that “I want to be an actor!” because of the looks that I’m sure I’ll receive from my relatives. And I know I’m not alone in my feelings. I’m sure there are more of you who are secretly so proud of your aspirations, and publicly terrified of being looked down on by your friends and family. So for all of us that feel this shame, and even the ones that don’t, let’s all take a moment and remind ourselves of what a noble profession we are a part of.

We are actors. What the ancient Greeks called hypokrite, which literally translates to an “answerer.” Our profession came into existence in the sixth century B.C.E. when a writer named Thespis stepped out of a choral Dithyramb to speak the first words as an actor in a play. Imagine it, we are following a passion that is almost twenty-seven centuries old! To honor the god Dionysus there were theatrical festivals which lasted for days and were competitions for the latest plays from playwrights like Socrates, Euripides and Aeschylus. Centuries later came the stock characters of Roman theatre and the plays of Plautus and Seneca. Later in Europe came the cycle plays and the traveling players that the son of a Stratford glove maker must’ve been inspired by. Years later he would travel to the heart of London and become an actor and writer named William Shakespeare. Shakespeare would know the likes of Richard Burbarge, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson (whose play The Alchemist is the namesake for this site). From 16th century Italy came the rise of Commedia Dell’arte and stock characters that would pervade in comedy even to this day. 17th century France saw the rise of Moliere and Racine, and the establishment of the Comedie Francaise. Around the same time England experienced the Restoration of king and the Restoration of theatre. Today we are preceded by actors of the caliber of Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen. Writers like Sam Shepard, Eugene O’Neil and Tom Stoppard.

What a timeline! Look at what we are a part of. We are the current branch of a marvelous family tree! In this day and age the art has been removed from acting. It has become a dirty word that follows around celebrity scandals and there was that actor who shot Lincoln . . .

I’ll make you a deal, everyone who reads this. Let’s all be proud of our chosen passion! Let’s all stand on the dinner table and scream our pride to the heavens. Let’s all band together and make our profession noble again. Let’s all seek out the training to constantly make ourselves better, to never rest on improving our stagecraft. Remember this pact when you are ashamed to confess your profession. You are not alone. We are not alone. We are in wonderful company.