Out of the Rabbit Hole

   Crazy to believe it's been two weeks since my last blog post! I guess I owe you an explanation as to why I've been absent from the blog scene...and by you I mainly mean...grandma I owe you an explanation as to why I've been absent from the blog scene. 

   For the past three months I've been involved with a wonderful production of David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer prize winning play Rabbit Hole. It's an absolutely beautiful story following a family overcome with grief after a traumatic event occurs in their family, and no...I can't tell you what event, because that's a major spoiler. Over the course of the play we get to see each character grieve in a different way and all heal at their own certain paces. 

  Basically, I wanted to make sure that EVERYBODY saw it. The reason being that I had great pride in all of the work that the cast and crew had put into the show and I knew that we truly had something special. I couldn't stand the idea that nobody knew the play was taking place. This is where the marketing side of me came out. The entire week before opening I went out with posters, I put fliers on people's cars (yes, I was that guy), handed them out to people, gave little pitches in all of my general education classes, and went around with Sarina, Taylor and an abundance of chalk to promote the play on sidewalks all over campus. I was determined to get people to hear about this play!

  When we opened last week, we were sold out EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. I like to think that my advertising had something to do with that, but the biggest reason we were sold out was because I was right. We had something special.

   This production was unlike any other production I have ever been involved with. It tested me, pushed me and helped me grow. It is because of this show that I am proud to call myself an actor. Never once did I dread going to rehearsal and I never got sick of the show. Every day was an experience waiting for me to seize it. 

   I can't even begin to describe what it felt like to be out on stage. Typically, when I was in a show I was ALWAYS aware that there was an audience. With this awareness came the mindset of "let's play to the crowd and get them to like me!" This is one of the worst mindsets you can have, and I finally understand why. As an actor, my main job is to effectively and truthfully tell a story and to make it believable (easier than it sounds). When I stop to play to the audience, then it takes me out of the moment and pretty much screams to the crowd, "I don't believe in this moment, why should you!?" Rabbit Hole was the first play I've ever been apart of where instead of seeing the audiences around me, I only saw the person (or persons) I was talking to. It was the first time I have ever truly escaped and dove head first into a completely different world. A world that was not my own, but was still so believable and honest, it felt like I was honestly in it. The reason I was able to do this was because I finally got out of my head and listened to the people around me. Plus, I had a great cast of actors helping me along the way!

  Now, here we are less than three days after we closed, and it's still hard for me to believe that it's over. With a cast of only five, you get very close to one another. As a freshman in the program, I didn't know what to expect going into this play. I'm from a small school in the middle of the desert and the only acting training I had before college was from whatever books were on sale at Barnes and Noble. I had so many excuses to expect that I wouldn't live up to the expectations set by the director and worst of all, myself. I never used any of these excuses, though. Instead I turned them from excuses as to why I wouldn't succeed, into reasons to prove that I would. 

I can confidently say that I am proud of the work I did in portraying Jason Willette, and most importantly I enjoyed it, too. But now, it's the time to say good-bye to the character and the story as I look forward to next year and the opportunities I will strive to grasp! 

I want to say thank you to all of the cast and crew of Rabbit Hole. Thank you for looking at me as an equal and always being so open and supportive. I always felt comfortable to fail in front of you as I experimented with different choices, and was so happy that I got to share my successes with you, as well. Each and every one of you are spectacular human beings. I look up to and respect each and every one of you and cannot wait to see what the future has in store for us.