Student Blog: I Have Other Passions Besides Theatre - Lets Talk About It

Yup, you read that right! I have other passions other than theatre - let's talk about it! Personally, I think it’s so important to have things you enjoy other than theatre. Enjoying other things does not make someone a bad performer in any sense. It doesn’t make them any less passionate, sometimes it means they care so much that they want to keep their spark alive by taking breaks and doing other things. So, why does the world look down on other passions? We shouldn’t. Other passions are necessary to keeping our wellness as performers and people. They help us to prioritize ourselves when oftentimes we don’t. Additionally, they help us to become better and more well rounded people and performers. I am not quite sure who said this, but a quote I love is “Interesting people make interesting actors” and I believe that this is so important. If all someone does is perform - how can they leave room to experience a life that they can then portray in their characters? Spoiler alert - they can’t. 

I specifically remember a moment in my senior year of high school where I needed an extra class in my schedule so I decided to take ceramics. I was awful - the worst. I likely made some of the worst pieces of art that my teacher had ever seen, although I learned so much about myself in this class. I loved it. I loved creating sculptures and pots and bowls out of clay while listening to music or talking with my Best Friend. Despite them being utterly awful, I had so much fun doing it. It was something that I enjoyed doing that had nothing to do with performing and it was freeing. It taught me it’s okay to be bad at something and do it anyway and it’s okay to present something you are proud of even if it’s not what someone else would consider to be beautiful. I learned so much from that class and I am forever grateful. 

I didn’t really think I needed anything else besides theatre before that class. I thought I was set. I had everything I ever loved in one spot. Then, I took that class and realized there is so much to learn outside of theatre. I mean, people cannot expect to sit within the same four walls of a theatre their whole lives and see the world (even though I fully believed this was possible and it was, in fact, my plan). There is so much world to see outside of theatre, so I pose a question: do you have something you love outside of your greatest passion? If not, I challenge you to find something. Anything. Even if it’s coloring in a coloring book or taking walks once a week. Something for yourself that you just enjoy for the fun of it. It’s so unbelievably important, actor or not, to find something other than your job or the thing you spend the most time on. It creates a sense of wholeness, I’ve found, that I was missing before, and maybe it’ll do the same for you. Or, maybe not, but either way - I think it’s worth a try.