I have sheathed my quill. . .well, mostly.
On May 30, 2024, after 11 years, 10 seasons, and 270 reviews, I penned my final full-time local review with OCP’s production of Hello, Dolly! Now I’m a local actor (again) and a regional reviewer (still).
In looking back at the road I’ve traveled, I can say one thing for certain: writing saved the actor.
To be specific, a theatre community and audience who appreciated and enjoyed my little scribblings saved the actor because it allowed me to keep my hand in the game and rest and recuperate from the burnout that had engulfed me back in 2013. A burnout that I didn’t even know I had until I started looking back on where I was so long ago.
If you’re new to my blog, I got my start as an actor waaaay back in 1995. If you’re interested in reading about those times, I have a whole slew of stories logged under the theatre tales section of this site.
Like all actors, I’ve experienced some big ups and downs in this business, but I had two really big down periods which were my first 4 years when I struggled to land any kind of role and again from about 2010-2013 (see series labeled “Drought” under theatre tales) when I, again, could not get cast in spite of my best efforts.
I finally managed to snap the drought when I was cast in Leaving Iowa back in 2013 with the most satisfying role I have undertaken. Dubbing it “The Miracle Show”, it completely restored my confidence in myself as an actor, but what it didn’t do is restore my drive and confidence in my ability to get cast.
Instead of auditioning more, I actually started auditioning less. Consciously, I told myself, truthfully, that I could be a little more selective about the projects I pursued, but, on a deeper level, I think I was still weary from the long period of rejection I had fought through to get to Leaving Iowa.
Without knowing it, I needed a real break.
The idea for writing kind of came out of nowhere. I’d always had a knack for wordplay and I thought the theatre community might be able to use a writer who had a background in theatre and so I started it purely as a lark and an experiment.
Little did I know that it would catch on and catch on in the way that it did. So much so that acting began to take a back seat more and more to my writing which gave me that precious break from the stage that I so badly needed.
That first season, everything came out of my pocket. But at the end of that first season, I was placed on the media list at the Omaha Community Playhouse where I was able to watch shows for free in exchange for reviews.
This opened up a whole new path for me as I began working with other theatres in the community to review shows in exchange for tickets which allowed me to expand the work of the Corner and make it a viable source of theatre news and reviews.
In 2016, I was able to expand things even further when Todd Davison and the good people at Maples Repertory Theatre granted me press tickets to review the first two shows of MRT’s 2016 season and I became a regional reviewer. Since that notable day, I’ve gone on to review shows at nearly two dozen different theatres located in 9 different states.
It has been a real joy to shine a light on so many great talents over the past decade. I’ve had a real sense of satisfaction by giving publicity to theatres and their talents, some of which had little or no coverage from the regular press. Even more moving was learning that some of my reviews have been used by theatres to obtain grants to help fund them which has been an extra cherry on the sundae of writing.
And through it all, the actor slept and rested.
During the pandemic, he began to reawaken as I realized I might still have something in the tank as a storyteller after seriously considering retiring from the stage for good.
In October of 2022, I made my first return to the stage in a very long time when I served as a storyteller for BlueBarn’s Musings series. That experience made me realize that I truly had missed being on stage.
In July of 2023, my acting juices reignited with the announcement that OCP would be producing The Play That Goes Wrong and I had my first real audition in over 5 years. An audition that netted me a callback and that was a victory in and of itself.
An even bigger victory/change was a greatly altered outlook on auditions where I could now enjoy the experience of performing for just a few moments and letting the chips fall where they may afterwards.
So now, I find myself looking for that next big project. I’ve even started engaging in practice auditions. By that I mean I’m reading for shows that I’m likely not going to be cast in due to no seemingly fitting roles. But I am, at least, getting my face back in front of directors and getting back into the swing of performing. And, who knows, maybe one of these practice rounds may end up resulting in really getting to do a show.
As for my quill. . .
I’m still writing on a regional level. I’ll even do a local review from time to time.
But will I ever return to local writing on a regular basis?
Yes.
On the day I decide to retire from the boards, I’ll likely return to reviewing on a regular basis in whatever locale I find myself.
But, until then, let’s see what stories I can tell.
Chris' Corner 