#actor's journal

[hannahlabri-blog]

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Mine's been simple. Just got home from visiting the family. Now I am sitting quietly in my apartment working on my huge pile of things to do. I just finished two directing proposals for some small companies around Kansas City for next year. Kinda testing the waters, seeing if anyone will bite. Never hurts to try. Besides, my resume is looking really nice these days for not even being completely finished with school.

I think the plan in going to Kansas City for a while is to completely immerse myself into the arts scene as much as possible. There is a lot of great non-professional theatres in the area that produce great quality work -those are the places I'm looking at for directing at the moment, then auditioning in the area, seeing if I can get a paid acting job. Might travel a little too, up to Chicago or other places for auditions, but a home base in KC I think is a good idea for just getting out of school. It's cheaper to live and closer to home. Plus it is such a great growing theatre town. I believe now, Kansas City is the 3rd greatest town for theaters per capita in the US. It's a great place to be right now!

Hooray for thinking about the future! 

[hannahlabri-blog]

Recently, I was asked to think critically about why I want to be in theatre. The answer to that question determines what choices you make to achieve your goal. Among the answers I heard from others were 'To be in front of an audience,' 'To satisfy the urge to perform', and even 'To be famous'. I had to stop and think about what my answer was, until it became obvious: The only shows I've done where I truly disappeared into my role have been ones with a powerful message. I was moved to join in theatre after watching a life-changing show at the KC Rep. I love the power of theatre to wake us up, remind us of our humanity and consciousness and change our world views. I want to be in theatre because of its strength to make us better, and since theatre can do that better than anything else, I love theatre.

A student response to "Why do you love theatre?"

in honor of Love Theatre Day.

[hannahlabri-blog]

Audition Time!

Landmark moment in my young career today! Scheduled the first of many auditions for work after graduation and my first professional Shakespeare audition for King Lear at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. Eeepp! Real life keeps getting closer.

[hannahlabri-blog]

Something that has come to my attention lately... I've noticed many actors or creative theatre artists have a favorite medium of theatre whether it be drama, classic, farce, shakespeare, musical theatre etc.. And that is so totally great; I have favorites too, some I understand better than others because I've had more exposure in one genre than others.

But what I don't understand is when a person claims superiority in something along those lines. For example, dark modern drama is more valuable than witty screwball musical theatre; or plays are boring and I only do musicals. What this does is separate us as theatre practitioners; not saying a person has to enjoy everything but I've seen people purposely segregate themselves from other genres because they do not believe it has value. That is where this becomes dangerous. All theatre has value and if we as people who practice theatre begin to claim otherwise, then the audiences we are trying to reach and bring back to the theater will not see value in this art and we will hurt the more for it.

Theatre is made to affect people. Whether that be provoking thought on a current issue or reminiscing the good old days or for pure enjoyable entertainment - Theatre is important no matter what the stylistic influence. Let us as theatre practitioners respect it, then maybe we can continue to build respect from our audiences.

[hannahlabri-blog]

Sorry, I know I haven't been too active lately. Blame it on semester stress and senioritis. It's been rough; I am so ready to go out and start my life and build my career but I am still stuck in school until May.

I closed my last show as an undergraduate actor last night, and you know what? I wasn't really that upset about it. You know you build a connection to your work and your legacy that you've built up at school, but I feel like my entire life has been in that theatre department for the past 3 1/2 years and it will continue to be my entire life until I graduate, but I am ready for that next move, I'm ready to go out and figure out how the real world works.

So, what's next? Moving on to directing!!

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark is coming on in full force and I am so excited to dig in!

[hannahlabri-blog]

I think that the best actors are the ones that have many interests and many different skills, are well-rounded, and think of acting simply as a wonderful hobby. If they make money, great. If not, they have other things that make them happy, other skills, other interests, other lives outside of acting. If nothing else, it takes the pressure off, and allows us to feel free and open to wherever this career takes us.

Backstage

[hannahlabri-blog]

   Finally got around to seeing Gone Girl last night. HOLY COW! That movie messed with me. But it was so great, so well written. I may need to read the book now. I feel ashamed that I haven't read the book before going in to see it, I usually do. 

    Anyway there are a lot of great movies coming out soon that I am really excited to see. I feel like I've been living under a rock with school and of course living in the woods all summer, but I'm going to be making a point of going to see movies more, I think. Especially movies on the Oscar radar; I want to follow it all. I always get inspired when I go to the movies. 

   Typical for an actor/director right? I've always wanted to make movies; just be involved in the process in any faction. Something I hope to try my hand at soon.

[hannahlabri-blog]

A Gentle Reminder

This morning I had the opportunity to enjoy a Q&A with Eric Stonestreet. As I've mentioned before he is an alumni of my school and comes to visit every couple years or so. 

So, I've heard him speak before and this morning wasn't much different. We had an opportunity to pick his brain about the business. He is always filled with great information and is very encouraging to listen to. It took him 12 years before he was given the part of Cameron on Modern Family, the role that would declare him a success, the role that gave him a full time job as an actor. Also, little known fact, he was turned down for the role twice, but they kept coming back to him throughout the casting process.

The moment that really struck me however, was when he was asked about his experience winning his first Emmy. Eric became emotional and started to tear up. I could see the passion bubbling in his body. After toughing it out for so long, coming up with a little work here and there for 12 years, finally the accumulation of those years and his ever burning desire to continue in this difficult business truly paid off. He loves performing and it was his life's calling. I almost started to cry myself. But what he was feeling, summed up for me everything that I've been feeling the past several weeks.

Sometimes, most of the time, this job is hard and you will want to quit. But there is always this little spark inside saying, "not yet, keep going". Eric did, he kept going. He is passionate and that moved in me my own spark inside telling me that I am also passionate, even though I get tired and worn down. Sometimes, I forget. But I was reminded today.

Even though it was not verbally said in so many words, seeing how it affected him still after 4 years was enough. I connected with him and I understood, sometimes you don't even need words.

Thank you Eric for that reminder and for sharing a part of yourself with us.