Any actors? Techies? Directors? etc

Well, I studied theatre in college. In fact I have a B.A. in theatre from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. I must admit that the time I spent in the theatre was the best time of my life.

I primarily acted, though I do have some ability as a sound designer. I originally majored in mass communications. On a fateful day in my first semester in school, a friend suggested I try out for a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. I attended the auditions, and luckily was cast as Caliban.

The rest as they say is history. I got thouroghly hooked, and changed my major the next semester.

For me the enjoyment wasn't so much the thrill of acting as it was the community of the others students in the department. In high school I was a bit of a weirdo, and in the theatre department I felt a bond and kinship with people that accepted me for me for the first time. I didn't care what the production was, so long as I could hang out with my new friends.

For the record, I played Jack in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Volpone in the play of the same name (which I would recommend as torture for any hammy actor), Bottom in Midsummer Night's Dream, Banquo in Macbeth, Bernie in Sexual Perversity in Chicago, among other smaller roles in other shows I can't remember.

Over time, many of the older members of the department graduated, and we underwent a complete faculty change over the course of three years. A strange air came over the department, and the usual weird theatre politics got far more intense. Screwing faculty members became commonplace, so I slowly faded away to other pursuits, mainly working for the school newspaper where I became a film critic of some reknown.

I wouldn't trade my college years for anything, and for the short while that it lasted, I loved acting and making productions happen.

cajunchrist

uhm. well my girlfriend is in her 3rd year of Drama in university. she'll be in a play called 6 Characters in Search of an Author this coming February. she's very involved in local theatre actually......

and i took her to the opera for her birthday last month.

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am i cool by association? hehe. that's as close to being on stage as i can get i think. never been involved in anything myself.

Great play! Pirandello rocks

And there ain't nuthin' wrong with acting. It's very high up there on my "respectability" chart.

I held a singing part in 6th grade in Bye Bye Birdie. I can't sing at all anymore. I can't act at all either.

My friends and I (mainly my friend Charlie) made a film called The Buatrix last year, a weird and not-so-good spoof of The Matrix which takes place in my school. I played the part of Agent Smith (in our movie, Headmaster O'Brien) and I can't say I'm too proud of my acting.

Anyway, he and I are going to make a serious production effort this summer based on a short story Charlie wrote. When it's done, if it's any good, I'll send you guys a link to a place where you can download it.

I would say you should go to a college with many options. That's what college is for! Don't get yourself into something that you might not like later on. I'd love to be an actor, but seeing myself on the screen almost made me cringe, and so I know I'm not good enough. So now I'm trying to write/direct/edit -- we'll see how that comes out. Yet I'm still taking courses in all sorts of things. First I'd like to see what my major should be, then I'll decide on my career. Just leave your options open -- who knows, maybe you can be a banker who makes amateur films?

I'm an actor and after high school, it's just going to be community theatre on the side of a science job...

I think you should pursue acting if it's something you really love. Some of my friends tried quitting theatre and were just miserable without being on stage... do whatever will keep you alive.

Odin:

I'm terribly sorry if you misunderstood me. I didn't mean to discourage you from studying acting at all. I think it's a very valuable skill, and you learn lots of life lessons about how to deal with people (which is a far more important skill than any college course you can take). The situation I experienced I am sure was unique, and though acting types will always tend to make a dramatic production out of any situation, the benefits of working with a group of people dedicated toward the same goal is more rewarding than you can know.

Please, if you think you would like to, start in acting. If you don't like it, just change your major. It's your life, don't limit yourself to safe choices.

In the words of the Butthole Surfers:

It's always better to regret something you HAVE done, than to regret something you HAVEN'T done.

cajunchrist