Why am I still an actor?

It is a question that has plagued me and my peers for ages now. Here I am, an intelligent and capable individual. I have the ability to go into an field I want and have an enormous amount of success. So why, on earth, would I continue to stay in a field where no matter how good you are, there are still no guarantees? Where no matter how talented you are, you still may only be seen in one very limited way? Where no matter how successful you become, you will always be wondering about and questioned on what you're going to do next?



Now, while I've promised myself that I would try and make my blogs a little bit shorter, it's not looking good if the following phrase is any indicator: Let me take you back to the year 1994. I was a young, handsome, abdominally-ripped senior in college. I was about to embark on a career as a mechanical engineer. (Or at least attempt to embark. More on that later) I had it all planned out. A very smooth transition into a very safe and normal life.


But there was this one thing that was kinda nagging at me. A tiny little itch that I couldn't quite scratch. A little something that I had been craving to do for quite some time. You see, when I was in the 6th grade, I joined a drama club and had a lot of fun doing that. We never actually performed for anyone but we did act out some scenes with each other. After that, I hadn't done any acting since. Now, here I was, a senior in college, and I hadn't even dared to explore the possibility of taking advantage of the theatre (with an "re" bitches) that my school had to offer. So with one semester to go, I knew that time was running out. I immediately registered for the class, Acting Techniques, and also auditioned for the school plays.


The Acting Techniques class was actually a ton of fun. I was so glad that I took it. In fact, the class actually conflicted with one of my recitations for my mechanical engineering major. For those of you who may not know, a recitation is a class that is taught by teaching assistants that I NEVER attended, as opposed to regular classes that I SOMETIMES attending. It turned out that acting like a tragic Greek hero, or a dirty cop was a lot more interesting than finding out how to determine the temperature gradients in a mechanical design. (That one's for you WACM)

The auditions, on the other hand, were a completely different roller coaster ride in itself. How can I explain this to my, "civilian," friends? Picture being a kid and told that you had to go to the Principal's office. Then picture that you have to perform a little show for the Principal when you get there. Then picture that if the Principal doesn't like it, he's going to shoot you in the face. Finally, imagine that there are about 50 other kids waiting outside the Principal's office who were told the exact same thing. And that's an audition.

But it turns out that the stars were aligning and the fates were deeming that I was destined to be cast in a show. Among the plays that were being cast was a production of, "Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll," by Eric Bogosian. A very cool one-man show that consists of various characters speaking their rather unique monologues. But this particular production used about 10 different actors to perform each of the monologues. And it just so happened that one of the characters was clearly a, "black guy." It also happened that I was the only black guy in the history of the University of Rochester to ever show any interest in theatre. I'm going to let you guess which role they wanted me to play.

Now here I am, having never acted before, and already I'm dealing with the issue of type-casting and the perpetuation of stereotypes. I mean, did I really want to play a convict? Does the world really need one more black man to act like a criminal? How is acting like a thug going to be viewed as artistic and tasteful? But after much soul-searching, I realized that it's acting. It's just acting. It's supposed to be fun. I'm supposed to pretend that I'm someone I'm not. And if people have a problem with my character, that's their problem. Besides, Eric Bogosian is the shiz-nit. Ya'mean.

Here's the part where I have to come clean. I am about to break several promises to you, my loyal reader. (Who doesn't exist according to my first blog) As you've already gleaned, this is not going to be a short entry. That's one. Here's the second. Remember when I said I hated cliffhangers? Well I still do. But clearly this is going to take a lot longer than I had originally anticipated.

Hence, tune in next time when you will learn what happened during my first performance ever, how I made the life changing decision to move to New York City and become an actor, and, most importantly, why I'm still doing it.

Exciting, ain't it?