BWW Blog: Tara Folio - Just a Cog in the Machine

Throughout my life of performing, I have always been told to "take care of myself" and "always work to make myself better". I feel like to the untrained eye, this industry seems extremely "I, I, I" and "me, me, me" focused. This idea might explain why in most movies the theater kids are portrayed as the uppity, self-centered narcissists (I mean come on, I know most of us can relate to Sharpay Evans on a personal level). An actor's job is built on introspection, on looking inside ourselves to find our motivation, but sometimes we become so focused on what's inside us, we forget that we are part of an ensemble.

In a business that appears to be driven by self-focus, people often forget that a production is a team effort. As cheesy as it sounds, High School Musical was right, "we're all in this together" (don't worry, I hate myself for making that reference too). Honestly though, just take a second and think of all the work that goes into a single performance: you have set, costume, and lighting designers, all of the crew members back stage, the director, choreographer, music director, orchestra...that's at least thirty people and I haven't even come close to naming every job. As an actor it is so easy to fall into the trap of believing "I am the show", when in reality an actor is just one cog in one sector of a highly sophisticated machine (in the words of Abby Lee Miller, "you are replaceable").

So, my fellow actors, next time you are in a rehearsal, look around and see all of the work that is happening, maybe offer a "thank you" to the people working beside you. Long story short, thank you, each and every member of the Assassins team, I can't wait to see what our collective murderous machine will accomplish together.

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