Clowning around

So here it is, about a week after we were cast and hand out the scripts to “Black Comedy” and we’re about to jump into tech rehearsals.  And like I thought would happen, I have started to enjoy rehearsals after memorization was finished.  Today I played. Played the play.  Welcome to the world of theater folks: where actors don’t work-they play.

Shall I say it?

I love my job.

I’ll bring back Anna Devere Smith and her book ‘letters to a young artist’ that I often look to for wisdom of this work that I call play:

“As an artist, I see myself as one of the clowns, one of the fools, one of those who see the world upside down and inside out.  I am a fool in the classic sense.  But I take my foolishness very seriously.” (pg 185)

Not only does this excerpt highlight the importance of sensible silliness, but it also shows the responsibility of the clown.  Or rather the need for responsibility of the foolishness.  My foolishness is my work.  What happens when we don’t take what we do seriously?  Whether it is washing windows on the Sears Tower, or teaching preschool; not taking your work seriously could be fatal.

So here I am: taking the ‘play’ serious.  And finding what my responsibility is as a clown.