Covid-19 Shutdowns - as a Performer
“And because these daft and dewy-eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes, Impossible things are happening every day!”
No one could’ve predicted this year. But I’m not going to let it get me down.
Being a performer has it’s challenges without a pandemic. Add something like Covid-19 in the mix, and you are asking for a group of people who have become accustomed to waiting for their dreams to align with their reality, to suddenly question the validity of even having that dream in the first place.
Don’t stop pursuing theatre simply because the world has seemingly stopped. If this is something you are passionate about, and you want to live your life out on a stage, nothing like Covid-19 should stop you.
Pre Covid-19, early and throughout my career - I have gone months without booking a gig - thinking that I’ll never work again. Then lo’ and behold, I’m working again and all of that despair is long gone forgotten. The life of a performer is very much like what we are all experiencing right now during 2020. There will be times when your career takes a break without your permission. That shouldn’t keep you from performing though! Make your own opportunities. Perhaps there’s a group of like minded artists like yourself that you can reach out to. Perhaps you can form a weekly (virtual) meet up where you read plays, or perform songs or monologues, or perhaps you just talk about the biz and what your experiences have been. Maybe you can challenge yourself to learn a new song a week, or revamp your audition book. Have you been dying to learn the ukulele (I know I have)? Now’s your chance. The world has stopped and that means you get to dive a little deeper into yourself and transform. No one is stopping you.
I have found this year to be challenging to say the least. But I have also found it to be so aggressively enriching for me creatively. I have felt “freed up.” Without the demands of the stage and the next audition weighing on me daily, I have been able to explore new parts of myself that I never gave life to - that I didn’t have time to give life to. And in giving life to those parts of me that seemed dead, I have found that my auditions are improving. My self-tape auditions are getting better. More of me is coming through the lens. I’m getting callbacks, or pinned. I’m being asked to do masterclasses, and Q & A’s and sing in virtual concerts. I’m recording songs and creating music. The world is opening up more after I decided to dive into myself more. I think it can happen for you too.
What will you learn about yourself while the stages go dark?
Cheers,
Adrienne