Unsolicited Advice

The best advice usually comes completely unsolicited when forced to listen to a teacher, parent, friend, or co-worker. The best advice I ever received came when I wasn't even looking for it and didn't necessarily need it.

When I was working as the assistant stage manager on Romeo and Juliet in college a bunch of the cast and crew were stressing out as we went into our first tech rehearsal. I on the other hand was very much at ease, I had full faith in our stage manager and the other assistant stage manager. Patrick, the set designer and also a professor, came up to me and asked me why everyone was freaking out so much about this rehearsal. I told him I had absolutely no idea, because I was not worried at all. Then he told me something I would never forget:

People always forget that theatre is about having fun. If you're not having fun you're doing something wrong.

I brushed the statement off at first, it seemed like common sense, until I realized how often people forget to have fun. Not only in theatre but in life. We seem to get so wrapped up in being successful, wealthy, and popular that we forget what makes life fun.

Yes, sometimes we have to do things that aren't fun, and yes, sometimes even the things we love the most can be stressful and challenging. But that is all the more reason to remember to take a step back and ask ourselves if we are having fun!

Went to Octoberfest at the iO Theatre with this beautiful lady today!