Here's to dreaming!

Let me paint a picture :

Six actresses and one director sit around a conference table coming together for the first time. Introducing themselves and telling of their past experience and accomplishments.
Actress One- Is a director herself but hasn't acted in a play in a few years. Also teaches drama.
Actress Two - Is beginning a drama department in the current school she teaches at. Has been the lead in two if not more plays.
Actress Three- Has been acting for probably forty years or more. Has been in a movie and numerous plays.
Actress Four- Also has been in a few movies,and plenty of plays.
Actress Five- Has taught drama for many years as well as community theatre, some commercials, and voice overs.
Actress Six- "Um...well...I've always wanted to be an actress"

I will say this, that it does feel incredible being surrounded by such talented women, but it's also a little intimidating! I am a baby compared to these women. I certainly look forward to all that I can learn and trust me on this that I have my pencil and paper handy to take plenty of notes!

It's true though, for as long as I can remember I have wanted to be an actress. It was a huge dream as a child, and I supposed somewhere along the way I stopped believing that I could get to Hollywood so I didn't try to do anything with it. High school was a difficult time for me and I did not really have the desire for theatre or much of anything else,though that would have been a perfect place to start. Well, it's a perfect place to start now.

I do believe in myself. I can feel myself being the character and visualize how it will look. I trust myself that I can get to a place of heartfelt emotions during the scenes when that will be called for. Then I skip ahead in my imagination and I can see myself being in a movie! The lifestyle alone would be fantastic! I could easily get use to being a star. I am somewhat of a celebrity in my own head anyway *_*. But then good old reality sneaks in and silences the dreams and bury's the remnants of the life that could be.
Its not any wonder. We are taught, better yet, conditioned to think that its unreasonable to believe that we could be what we dream. Its more realistic to believe that we can get the regular every day jobs rather than whats in our hearts. But its my understanding that what lies in our hearts is what we are meant to do, and how we could be the most successful. I'm a dreamer and always have been except for those few years during high school where I took a trip on acid, ecstasy and every other drug you can think of that basically helped void the life that lived inside of me. Sure glad that wasn't a permanent vacation.

I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to be able to test and try out new things. Of course having a desire to do so is the first and biggest step in my opinion. I am not afraid to try new things and look forward to what will inspire me next. I wonder if there is a word or phrase that describes the kind of person that lives by what they feel. If there is...its me. If I feel it, if it moves me, if it opens me up and in some ways pulls out of me what I have to give, then I know its what I should be doing.

I along with millions of other people, love movies! I am a visual person. I can get lost in the drama, the suspense, in the life that I see on the screen so much that I can feel it on a personal level and be moved tremendously by it. That's what I want to do for people watching. I want to inspire, move and make people feel and have a real effect. I am somewhat able to do this with the songs I write but I don't feel it as completely as I do when I am on stage. I mentioned that I don't really have any experience earlier, but I do. I have been practicing all my life! But really, last spring when I was in the Jekyll and Hyde Musical, I remember stepping onto that stage and of course being nervous but there was something else that overpowered that feeling and helped to put it in check and that was a feeling of being at home, empowered with courage and life and I had no choice but to live and be in that moment!

So I look forward to expressing that and so much more this October when I go back on stage to play the part of Shelby Latcherie in Steel Magnolias. With lots of practice and a commitment on my part in collaboration with these five other amazingly talented women, want to transform the audience and make them forget they are even in a theatre at all.