Ouch.
We were making the requisite small talk as he was working. Talking about what I do..... That's always an interesting conversation. Just, what the heck is it that I do? I always take the easy way out and say actor. Even though I don't do much acting these days.
I direct, I teach, I write. I was telling him that a number of folks I have worked with over the years have gone on to have careers in the show biz.
Nothing like live theater, he says. ....... I never go. He wasn't being snarky, just honest. There is a diner in Sayville that when I was in high school and college and after was the place to go "after" whatever you did, on any given night, all roads led to the diner. 2,3,4 am, everyone would be there.
One of my favorite diner anecdotes- a bunch of us were there at 3am. In a booth in the far corner there was a guy, sleeping, face first on the table surrounded by the remains of his meal. We leave, he's still asleep. Now, we were heading upstate the net morning so we met at the diner for breakfast. 7:30am. Still groggy from a few short hours of sleep, we walk into the diner and there he is! Still asleep. To the credit of the staff, they did clean off the table.
A few months back the diner went out of business . I harrumphed , I grumbled, I rued the day. Of course, I hadn't been in the diner in years, but that didn't stop me from from cursing "progress"
The audience for live theater tends to be..... Mature......senior......Old.
So, I am proud that performers I have worked with go on and become professionals, I am just as proud of the fact that I help create audiences. People who appreciate live theater, live performance. People who buy tickets, people who vote for school budgets. Keepers of the flame.
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