CHOOSING TO LIVE BY ACTING

Life does not come with a script.

It's true that we have daily routines we follow, but unless you are,
say, the President of the United States and have your day full written out for you, then everything that occurs in between is unknown.

And so we just have to improvise; make it up as we go along.

And those who can improvise well can excel in their lives and careers.

I am using improvisational acting as an educational tool in a new workforce training workshop I'm developing because I found acting so enlivening for me; I feel as though I'm doing something with my life not watching it go by on TV.

In fact, it sometimes makes me feel fearless.

I remember early in my acting career, I was performing in a young playwrights festival in Wilmington, DE; it was a lead role and it was the largest audience I had ever appeared before, about 500- 600.

During my opening monolgue, I said a line talking about how snowing in Wilmington was like hell freezing over. The theatre suddenly erupted in laughter, as though it was the funniest thing they had ever heard.

The waves of laughter washed over me; it was quite a rush to have the power to move people with just a few words.

Being able to take control of a situation or meeting, expecially an unexpected one, and turn it to your advantage is equally as powerful a feeling.