Career

“I don’t want to be an actor!” is one reason why students may not want to take drama class. However, there are a whole host of careers in the theatre that aren’t acting. The following individual exercise gives students the opportunity to discover and explore different jobs in the theatrical world, including experience needed, responsibilities, and possible salaries. If you want your students to take a deeper dive into their learning, they will then investigate a real person with the role they’ve researched. Instructions1. Assign each student a different theatrical career to research that is not an actor/performer. Here are some suggestions: • Producer, executive director, company manager, box office administrator, marketing director, outreach officer, stage manager, assistant stage manager, production manager, technical director, artistic director, show director, choreographer, fight director, intimacy director, playwright, musical director, accompanist, pit orchestra musician, vocal director, set designer, sound designer, lighting designer, costume designer, props designer, audio technician, makeup artist, hair and wig specialist, dresser, theatrical carpenter, theatrical electrician, front of house staff. • If a student wishes to explore a theatrical role that is not on this list, have them check in with you first. 2. Answer the following questions: • What are the responsibilities of the position? • Who does this role report to? Who reports to them? • What training, experience, or skills do you need to have this job? • What is a typical salary for this role? • Be sure to include all sources referenced in your project. 3. If you wish, have students present their research to the rest of the class, or amass the projects into one big resource about different theatrical careers. 4. Students will complete a reflection, responding to the following questions (length: 1 page): • What is the most interesting thing about the job you researched? What do you think would be the most challenging part? • Would you be interested in doing this as a career? Why or why not? 5. Extension Exercise: If you wish for students to go more in-depth, have them research a real person with the job they studied. Have them search for interviews (written, podcast, YouTube), articles, or web/social media profiles for a suitable subject and answer as many of the following questions as they can: • What is this person’s specific job? Where are they located? • Are they a freelancer or do they work for a company? • How did they get to where they are (i.e. training, previous experience, etc.)? • Why did they choose that job? • What is a typical day like for them? • Have they received any awards or accolades? • Include photos or links to their work. • Again, include all sources referenced in your research. Note: Be sure that students are specifically referencing people who work in theatre. There is often crossover with film or television work — focus on theatre. 6. For bonus points, reach out to the individual via their website or social media and see if they respond! 7. Exit slip: What is one new thing you learned about this role after completing the extension exercise?

It’s gratifying when a student lets you know that they are interested in pursuing a career in the performing arts. You have clearly made an impact on them, and they’re looking for assistance in taking the next steps. Here are some tips for teachers to help support their students as they begin their journey toward a performing arts career. 1. What career areas are they interested in pursuing?Most students interested in a career in the performing arts will default to acting, writing, or directing. A few will pursue technical theatre or stage management. However, there are so many different, interesting venues to pursue in the performing arts world beyond just acting. Introduce your students to some different vocations within the performing arts that they may not know about, such as fight direction, historical consultation, intimacy coordination, special effects creation, arts administration, casting, arts law, drama therapy, and so on. If possible, arrange for someone in these careers to be a guest speaker. 2. How are they going to get there?There are many different directions a student can take after high school. If a student feels called towards a post-secondary education, they’ll need to consider which type of school they’ll attend. College? University? Theatre school? A specialized training course? Will they get a diploma or a degree, and if so, what kind of degree? (A Bachelor of Arts? A Bachelor of Fine Arts? A Bachelor of Education, if they want to teach? What is the difference between all those degrees?) Do they want to get a co-op placement or an apprenticeship? Would they rather go out and start auditioning and/or working right away? Are they interested in striking out on their own and creating their own theatrical company? If you have the space, start a resource area with brochures and information about various training programs. If space is an issue, create a shareable document with links to different websites for schools, placements, and performing arts companies to help students learn about what’s out there. 3. ABL — Always Be LearningNo matter where students venture to after high school, learning never stops. Encourage students to read books and articles to keep current on the new trends in theatre, to take classes to keep learning new concepts and broadening their artistic horizons, and to try out new theatrical experiences, especially those in different areas than they normally focus on, or that challenge them in some way. Those new experiences can be nerve-wracking, but they are often the ones students learn the most from. Along that line, challenge students to treat every theatrical experience as a learning opportunity. Whenever they complete a project, encourage them to reflect: • What did you learn from this experience? • How did you grow? (What skills did you learn/develop? What do you know now that you didn’t know before?) • What memorable moments will stick with you? These reflections will help students process their contributions to the final product, and encourage them to look at all their experiences objectively. Reflections work for both positive and negative experiences. Even if the show was the worst, most negative show experience ever, students will hopefully learn what NOT to do and how not to treat people in a similar situation in the future. 4. Heed this advice: always play nice!No matter how talented, connected, or experienced someone is, if they’re a jerk, people will not want to work with them. Nobody has time for divas. The golden rule applies in the theatrical world — treat others the way you wish to be treated. Remind students that they never know where their next job may come from, and that their reputation will precede them. Don’t let other people treat you badly, but lead by example and treat everyone with kindness and respect.

This fun improv game challenges students to work together and think quickly on their feet to create a scene that solves a problem, using skills possessed by characters with different occupations. This game can be played live, in person, or online via distance learning. 1. Have students form groups of three. 2. Give each student in the group a different occupation, preferably in different fields. For example, a lifeguard, a chef, and an engineer. You can use our resource, Tons of Occupation Prompts, for occupation ideas. 3. Give each group a problem to solve as a group. Perhaps they’re on a sinking boat, or they’re trying to change a diaper, or a bear is chasing them. If necessary, brainstorm some scenarios with your students beforehand, or get suggestions from the class. 4. Students will need to use the unique skills of their character’s occupation to solve the problem. For example, if the scenario is that a bear is chasing the group, the lifeguard could use their whistle to distract the bear, the engineer could design and build a trap, and the chef could cook some food to lure the bear into the trap. Students can create a silly or serious scene while improvising, but they can’t just say something like, “I’m a doctor and I’m running away!” If students aren’t sure what their occupation’s skills are, make them up! 5. The scene is complete when all three students have contributed to solving the problem and figured out a way to exit the scene as a group. 6. At the end of class, each student will complete an individual exit slip.

Some improv games call for an action to start the scene, but many improv scenes require a character with a specific job or occupation to get the scene going. Here are fifty gender-neutral occupation prompts that you can use to help your students create some fun characters. Try using them for games like Lines You’re Not Likely to Hear or World’s Worst, Family Portrait, or Job Interview. You can find fifty more prompts in the giveaway at the bottom of this page. Have fun! 1. Actor 2. Director 3. Writer 4. Editor 5. Dancer 6. Choreographer 7. Composer 8. Musician 9. Costume Designer 10. Set Designer 11. Lighting Designer 12. Stage Manager 13. Producer 14. Box Office Attendant 15. Usher 16. Teacher 17. Professor 18. Early Childhood Educator 19. Principal 20. Chef 21. Pastry Chef 22. Restaurant Server 23. Restaurant Host 24. Bartender 25. Dishwasher 26. Housekeeper 27. Childcare Provider / Babysitter 28. Personal Shopper 29. Retail Service Associate 30. Stocking Associate 31. Cashier 32. Lawyer 33. Judge 34. Librarian 35. Archivist 36. Biologist 37. Chemist 38. Physicist 39. Dentist 40. Dental Hygienist 41. Laboratory Assistant 42. Doctor 43. Nurse 44. Surgeon 45. Pediatrician 46. Anesthesiologist 47. Paramedic 48. Tailor 49. Mail Carrier 50. Lifeguard

Jennine Profeta, instructor of the Drama Teacher Academy course Yes… And How to Teach Improv always uses the game Job Interview in her classes. In this game, one student has more knowledge than the other, so they have to work together to reach a satisfying conclusion. Get your students into pairs. This is one of the few exercises where I do let students sit down in chairs. Standing keeps the energy up but this is a job interview scenario, so chairs are more appropriate. Some of your students might not have experience doing job interviews. You might have to give them a little bit of coaching about what happens in a job interview situation. Usually, we walk in and politely shake the other person’s hand, we hand over a resume and so on. Get the pairs to assign themselves as A and B. A is applying for a job but they don’t know what job they’re applying for. B is the employer and they do know what job A is applying for. They’re going to help A figure out the job. Once they’ve assigned their positions, huddle with B so you can give them a suggestion for the job – for example, flight attendant. B returns to their chair and the scene begins. As the interviewee, remind A that they can’t ask the question: “What job am I applying for?” We want them to make statements as they try and figure out what’s going on –“Oh, I really enjoy working with children. As you can see from my resume, I have extensive experience doing that.” This gives the interviewer something to respond to. If the job is for a flight attendant position, B might say: “That’s great that you have some experience with children. You will encounter some of them but a majority of our clientele are actually adults.” This would give A a clue about the job and they can respond to the new information. Encourage students to use statements and avoid questions. Every now and then, it helps that the interviewee lets their interviewer know what they’re thinking about. They might say: “You know, it’s always been my dream to be a pilot,” to which the interviewee could reply: “That’s fantastic, but we really feel like we need to start you a little further back first before we let you advance to the front of the plane.” B is letting A know that they’re on the right track but that they’re not exactly there. When our interviewee does know what’s going on, they state the job: “Thank you so much! I’ve always wanted to be a flight attendant. I can’t wait to join your organization” and that is the end of the scene. The students have to really work together on this one. In order to continue the scene, each participant has to help the other. Every sentence should build on the next as A tries to figure out what job they’re applying for. And remember, B wants A to get the job. Remind B to help and guide A through the scene and not to block their way.

We have a guest post this week! Please welcome Mel Bondar of brokeGIRLrich Everything about the arts seems dramatic and romantic – especially to middle school and high school students (and let’s face it, do they really need more life drama?). Personally, I was in high school when Rent hit the boards in New York City and instantly fell in love with the idea of this crazy, bohemian lifestyle. From the get go, I remember everyone telling me how difficult a life in the arts is (and they were right) and how I was going to struggle endlessly and be poor (they were wrong). The idea that I would always be poor if I wanted to do what I loved for a living really colored how I looked at how I should be compensated after I finished school. Creating art is also a businessI really wish some teachers along the way had emphasized that creating art is also a business and we should view it that way. The kids who were great at math and steered towards engineering or accounting viewed it that way. Even in the humanities, the kids who were great at English and steered towards teaching or copywriting viewed it that way. Teaching the business side of performance starting at a young age is definitely an under-explored aspect of the arts. Kids are used to doing bake sales or car washes to raise money for plays or band trips, but they rarely, if ever, see how the money is applied. Furthermore, most of the time these activities come prepackaged – if you’re going to participate in the play, you will participate in the bake sale. It seems that a far better exercise would be to teach the class how to make a budget for their production and then have the group decide how they are going to raise that money. Artists need to make a living tooMoney becomes almost a dirty word in the arts, when really, the cost of creating performances should have a dollar sign on them. They should also be exposed to aspects like ticket sales to better understand that theater is a business. So many job offers for these kids who go on to work in the arts pay stipends that are so far below the living wage it’s a joke. It would be one thing to be offered that kind of money for a job that only requires a few hours a week of commitment, but many of these require a full 40+ work week, making it incredibly difficult to develop another source of income. The way to begin to break these common place stipend offers is to start rejecting them, and the only way that will happen is for the performers to realize that as much as what they are creating is art, they are also doing business. This doesn’t cheapen the art in any way; in fact, overall it will raise the caliber of productions. If we raise a generation that sees art as business, everyone will benefit. Most kids who are interested in theater while they are in school don’t go on to careers in the arts, but they *do* become life long supporters. If we teach them early on that the arts are a business, they’ll be supportive of the costs that go into producing performances, allowing the kids who do go on to work in the arts to earn a living wage. We created a worksheet your students can use to estimate the cost of a production. You can let them run wild with any show of their choosing or pick last year’s school play and compare the numbers they got with the actual costs of the show.

A guide to defining your strengths and weaknesses as a drama teacher. Picture yourself at a crossroads. Map in hand. Maybe a couple of tumbleweeds. A farmhouse in the distance, ragged scarecrow – use your imagination. You could go in any direction. The problem is you don’t know where you’re going. You don’t know the destination so how could you possibly choose? And there’s an even bigger problem: you don’t know how to read the map. Does the classroom ever feel like this for you? You struggle to get through each day without a plan. Or you’re overwhelmed with testing and assessments to even think about a plan. Or worse, you’ve been thrown into the drama classroom without any map reading skills with no time to learn them. How can you even think about creating a plan when you barely know the basics? And when you’re in the middle of that struggle, the only thing you can think about is how you want to do better. You want to know more. You want to be able to offer a well-rounded education to your students. They’re your kids. But every Professional Development opportunity in your area is irrelevant to drama or filled with assessment paperwork. In order to do the best for your kids, here are three important questions: • What do you know? • What do you need to know? • How do you get what you need to know? How do you answer these questions? You need a Professional Development Roadmap. Read on to learn more. As we go, there will be actions to take and a lot of questions to answer. We’ve put together a Professional Development Roadmap in PDF format that you can download at the end of the post. There are two types of people – those who will read this post and think about it, and those who will download the roadmap and do the work. I promise you that the ones who dig in and do the work will have far more success. What do you know?This question addresses your strengths. Do this in two stages: Brainstorm and List. Brainstorm: Give yourself two minutes and a clean sheet of paper. Your job is to automatic write every strength you have on the paper without judgement or censorship. Write everything down, big and small. Nothing is irrelevant. Don’t deny a strength because you don’t think it fits the classroom. Write them all down. And even further, don’t stop writing during your two minutes. The brain is a funny tool – sometimes it thinks best when it’s not forced to think. So just keep writing (even if you have to write I am stuck over and over) and you’ll be amazed at what your brain gives you. Do this exercise three times in a row so no strength is left out. Once you have your three brainstorm sessions in front of you, go through them with a highlighter. Highlight every strength you wrote. List: Once you have your highlighted brainstorm, you need something a little more tangible. Look through your pages and list ten strengths from most important to least important. ( Our Professional Development Roadmap has a fill-in Strengths List). And don’t say you don’t have 10 strengths! You are a teacher. You made it to the classroom. You have something to offer so acknowledge it and write it down. This is your known list. This is what you know. What do you need to know?Many drama teachers come into the drama classroom with one speciality. They did tech in school. They’re actors. They sing. But in order to teach students fully, the drama teacher has to know something about a lot of different subjects. It’s not just acting – there’s projection, and movement, and different styles of acting. Then there’s theatre history. Then playwriting. And don’t forget stage management! The list goes on and on. The best drama teachers aren’t specialists, they are generalists. They are the GP’s of the theatre world. So how do you become a generalist?First off make a list of all the different areas that encompass theatre. Don’t worry about whether you know anything or not just yet, just make a list: Theatre history, set design, improvisation, projection, directing, mask, mime, movement, playwriting and so on. (our PDF has this done for you!) Next, beside each item on your list rank your knowledge: • N = Not-confident. I don’t know enough to confidently teach it yet. • C = Confident. I know enough to teach a short unit on this topic. • E = Expert. I know enough to teach a multi-week unit on this topic. Don’t judge your knowledge. This has nothing to do with whether you’re a good teacher or not. You are simply gathering data. You’re gathering information that you can act on. Write down an N, C, or E beside each item. When you look at your completed list, it’s time to assess. Take two minutes and automatic write your reaction. Does it overwhelm you? Scare you? Does it inspire you? Does it seem impossible? Does it seem doable? Write for two minutes without stopping to get your reaction out of your brain and on paper. This is especially helpful if the list seems too big to take on. And then address your list. Don’t just leave it in a drawer. Address the areas where you marked down “N.” Write those out separately in their own list. If your “N” list is long, then start with ten. Choose the Top Ten items that you want to add to your toolkit as a drama teacher. Now that you know what you need to know, it’s time to figure out how to deal with it. How do you learn what you need to know?You now have a list of strengths and have identified areas to work on. Don’t let this list scare you. Be systematic in dealing with it. Take one item at a time and repeat the following process: Let’s say that one of the items on your list is mask. You know nothing about mask. You’ve heard other drama teachers talk about it, maybe you’ve seen it in a show. You know your students would benefit greatly if they could communicate physically instead of verbally, but you don’t know where to start. Take these steps to get what you need to know.1. Define what scares you: What stops you from learning to teach mask? What scares you and why? Get your reservations out of your brain and on to the page. 2. Identify why learning mask is important: What are your students going to learn through mask? How is mask an important skill? The more you identify the student outcomes, the easier it will be to specify what you need to learn to teach those outcomes. Instead of thinking Oh I need to teach them mask, focus on the fact that learning mask will enable students to determine how body language can communicate thoughts and ideas. Students will learn how to present a character non-verbally. Students will have a safe learning environment to express ideas visually. 3. Gather local information: What’s going on in your area? Are there any local workshops? Is there an opportunity for drama teacher Professional Development on mask? Don’t worry if there’s not. This is just one of the steps in this process. Do a little hunting. Let everyone in your network know that you’re looking for mask information. 4. List people who can help you locally: Brainstorm a list of people you could reach out to face-to-face. It could be another teacher in your district who might know something about mask. It could be a local community theatre. Call them up and offer to buy them lunch and pick their brains. You may be thinking I could never do that! I could never just call someone! This is about giving the best to your kids. If you have to do something out of your comfort zone to achieve that goal, you’re going to do it, right? The key to asking a stranger for help is to have an intro, an offer and a plan. • • The intro: When you reach out to someone, you have to put your best foot forward. Provide a context. Identify who you are and what you do. That way you’re not a stranger out of the blue. • The offer: If you’re asking someone for help, it’s important to give something back. Offer to buy them lunch or at the very least coffee. Do not expect information for free. By providing an offer, you’re showing that you respect this person’s time and knowledge. • The plan: You’ve got your meeting. You’re ready to learn. Never sit down and say tell me everything you know. That’s unfair. Thank this person for talking to you. Ask them how their year is going in their classroom, or in their rehearsals. And then come to your meeting with at least five specific questions about mask. Relate them to your student outcomes – I never know how to get my students to stop acting like themselves in their characters. Do you have any specific exercises? Or do you have any suggestions for where I can buy masks? 5. Look for a community: It may be that your local options are zero, nil, zilch. There’s no theatre in your area and you are the sole drama teacher in your district. If that’s the case you’re going to have to look farther afield. Thanks to the internet the world has become a much smaller place. There is no reason for you to struggle alone. Research drama teacher organizations. Is there something at the State or Provincial level? Is there a National organization? Is there a Facebook group? What you’re looking for is other like-minded people, a community. They may not be within driving distance, but they’re going to be a great help. For example, the Theatrefolk Facebook page has over 20,000 likes which means it’s filled with drama teachers who check in on a regular basis. When we post a question like: “I have large classes of middle-schoolers (27-32) and whenever we try to do monologues or scene work, I find I just can’t be in all places at once” the answers flow in. Find a community and start asking questions. 6. Look for online resources: The internet can be a gold mine. You don’t have to be limited to your local resources. You can reach out and make contact with a drama teacher across the country and you can gather resources from around the world. The internet can also be overwhelming. I typed “learning mask” into Google and it came back with 35 MILLION results. You don’t have time to sift through 35 million results! When you’re looking for resources you have to be specific. Identify keywords that link to your student outcomes and will narrow down your search. So instead of “learning mask” you really want mask exercises. And you don’t want posts on how to make masks. And you want the exercises to be specific to your grade level. When you look for online resources ask yourself these questions: Can I apply this resource to improving my knowledge of the topic? Do I understand how to teach this resource? Does this resource help with student outcomes? 7. Look for conferences and workshops: At this stage, don’t worry about logistics. Don’t put roadblocks in your way – I can’t pay for this, I don’t have time for this. We’ll get to those in a minute. You are simply gathering information. You need to learn about mask. Where can you learn about mask? What conferences are out there? That’s all you want to know at this stage. Where can you get Professional Development in this topic area? How do you use your PD Roadmap?Let’s talk about conferences. Conferences are a great place for Professional Development. If you have the opportunity to attend one you can learn from seasoned teachers or even professionals in a specific field. But conferences can also be a bit of a trap. I’ve been to many conferences where teachers seem to be at a loss for what workshops to take. They go to the ones their friends are going to so they won’t be alone, or they go because they know the instructor. And it’s clear these teachers aren’t getting the most out of their experience. That’s why you need a PD roadmap. You need to identify both your strengths and the areas that need work. Take this document to conferences and only sign up for workshops that are going to address your “needs work” areas. Better still, contact the workshop co-ordinator for a conference and request that they bring in somebody to offer workshops that will improve your knowledge base. You can also use a conference for networking. Sit down at a table of strangers at lunch and ask them what exercises they use in their classrooms. Make it known you’re looking for help with teaching mask. If someone makes a relevant comment in a workshop, pull them aside after a workshop and buy them a coffee. Step out of your comfort zone. It’s what’s best for your kids. RoadblocksBefore we wrap up, let’s talk about roadblocks. When you start addressing your “N” list a number of roadblocks instantly come to mind – cost, time and location being the biggest ones. These are not inconsequential. And thus it’s easy to dismiss doing the work: I don’t have time to go to that conference. Or My school board will never cover the cost of that workshop. Or Why should I learn how to run a lighting board? We don’t have one. Remember, you’re not trying to become a specialist in these areas. You want some knowledge that you can share. Because for every topic that you don’t pursue, you’ll have a student in your class who will benefit from it. So start brainstorming. Write down every idea – go big! Don’t self-censor or judge. Some things to consider: • If time is your issue, many colleges and universities offer / distance learning / summer programs. • If money is an issue, think about the long term benefits of investing in a workshop. What is the value of being able to give your students the education they need? • Consider online workshops. These can be done on your schedule, and you don’t have to take time away to get to the workshop. At Theatrefolk we offer the Drama Teacher Academy , a website that primarily offers online courses just for drama teachers. We know how busy you are! • Do some research on different sources of funding. There might not be anything specific to Drama PD. But what about technology funding? Or media funding? Or library funding? Any online course could be considered use of both technology and media. Does your district have technology funds? Media funds? Think outside the box. • Your administration expects you to partake in Professional Development. Will they pay for PD if the training is documented to align to standards and 21st Century skills? For anyone interested in our Drama Teacher Academy we have an Executive Summary just for school boards that outlines the courses, Common Core connections, and addresses both student and teacher outcomes. Contact us if you want a copy. You can become a well-rounded drama teacher.

It’s an easy thing to say. People say it all the time: I want to act, I’d love to be an actor, I’d die if I wasn’t acting. But what do these sentences really mean? • Do you want to be in movies? TV? • What kind of movies? What kind of TV? Sitcom? Drama? Disney? Would you shun one over another? • Would you do commercials? Voiceovers? • Do you want to be in theatre? Straight plays? Musicals? And there’s more to consider – what level of performing would make you happy? • Broadway? Regional? Touring? Community? • Do you want to be a star? • Do you want to be famous? • Do you want to act in your spare time? • Are you happy making a modest living? • Would you be happy as an extra? • Would you be happy doing commercials? Once you’ve defined what you want, and what would make you happy, what are you willing to do to get it? What’s your discomfort level? • Eat ramen noodles for a year? Five years? Ten? • Do seventeen odd jobs to pay the rent? • Sleep on a couch? • Do a horrible project just because you were cast? • Work with an abusive director in a wonderful project? • Do nudity? There are lots of possibilities to consider, many of which require discomfort. The sentence is no longer simple. When you’re thinking “I want to act” there’s no discomfort at all. It’s warm, fuzzy and pleasant. It’s a dream. When you say “I want to act” in your dream it happens instantly. You get the perfect role in the perfect project. Everything is warm, fuzzy and pleasant. But it doesn’t work that way for thousands and thousands of wannabe actors. Let’s say you’re the most talented person in your school and better still, you’re also the most beautiful. Let’s go even further and say you’ve done some local theatre, and maybe even a local commercial or two. You’re not unwise to how the business works. You’ve even made a specific choice to go to LA instead of New York because you want to be in movies and TV. You pack your life into your thirdhand used car and head to Hollywood. In your very first audition you walk into a room of actors who are not only talented, not only beautiful, but they all look exactly like you. You no longer stand out. What will you do?What will you do if you don’t book a gig that first week? That first month? That second month? Six months? What will you do if your dream doesn’t turn into reality? There is a vast difference between a dream and a vision. A dream is a wish for something to happen. A vision is a step-by-step action plan. Consider the notion of running a marathon. Many people say, “I wish I could run a marathon.” Imagine waking up one morning and running 26.2 miles without any training or preparation. Sounds crazy but every big marathon has hundreds of people like this. And most of them fail miserably. Running a marathon does not have to work like this. There are hundreds of step-by-step programs freely available to teach anyone how to run a marathon. None of these programs involve wishes – they all involve specific steps. They start out simply: you run X number of times a week designating one of those runs as the “long run.” Over a set number of weeks you slowly increase the length of the “long run.” Each week you add more and more miles until you reach the point where a marathon distance is within grasp. Anything is possible if you break it up into small steps, always moving forward. So when you’re thinking about pursuing a career as an actor, don’t be the guy who wants to be a marathon runner overnight. Don’t be the actor who says, “I’m going to Hollywood and land a film tomorrow!” You’ll hurt yourself. Instead, put together a strategy of small steps. The finish line will appear further away, but every step you take will be one step closer. And you won’t be sitting around without a plan, waiting to be discovered. Acting is a fickle business. Some actors do nothing and end up on top. Others craft a specific vision for themselves and get nowhere. Luck is involved. You can’t avoid that. But you can make yourself luckier by making choices. You can decide to go to school. You can decide what your main focus will be. You can decide to take classes. You can be fully prepared when that lucky break comes your way, and you can know what your next step will be if something falls apart. But wait, you say, I’m just in high school. What can I do? Start by defining your parameters. Here are ten questions to get you started if you’re thinking about becoming an actor. 1. Who are your favourite actors? Start defining who you like, why you like them, and what about their acting appeals to you. Find interviews where your favourite actor talks about being an actor. 2. What type of acting do you like best? Movies, TV, theatre? What about this type of acting appeals to you? 3. Depending on your preference list five movies/TV shows/plays that you love. Why do you love them? What interests you about this specific genre? 4. In your chosen five, identify your favourite scene or monologue. What do you connect with in this moment? What makes this moment come alive for you? 5. Identify five roles that would you be perfect for. Why? Start thinking about what kind of roles you’d excel in. 6. What audition piece would you choose to demonstrate why you’d be perfect for the part? Start thinking about how to use audition pieces to land parts. Do you have a variety of audition pieces at the ready? 7. What is your current level of expertise? Be honest. What do you know, what skills do you have? 8. How can you further your expertise? Make a list of activities you could do to further your skills as an actor. Do you have access to classes? What can you learn on the internet? Don’t self-censor. Put down everything and anything regardless of time or money. 9. What is standing in your way of becoming an actor? (e.g. You live in a place without access to movie auditions.) List every obstacle. 10. What can you do to overcome these obstacles? Brainstorm on tactics to deal with what’s in your way. Don’t worry about whether or not you can complete these actions, just write them down. And a bonus question: Where do you want to be in a year’s time?Some additional thoughts: If your first thought when you’re listing activities that will further your expertise is “I can’t!” (e.g. I can’t, that’s too expensive. I can’t, there are no classes in my area. I can’t, my parents won’t let me) then acting is probably not for you. You don’t need to have the solution to these problems right now or even this year. But your gut reaction will tell you if you’re truly driven to work toward an acting career. So what can you do if location is an obstacle? Research summer camps or classes that you could travel to. What if money is an obstacle? Get a part-time job or a summer job and work out how much money you’d have to save to pay for a class. Put your plan on paper so you can show your parents what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. How do I turn this list into an action plan?Take each item and list out the steps it would take to complete that item. Some will require more steps than others. Let’s say one of your items is: I need headshots The steps to acquire headshots would look like this: • Research what professional headshots look like. Get examples. • Research what it costs to get headshots done. • Figure out how I’m going to pay for them. • Research photographers. • Choose one. • Make an appointment. • Go to the photo shoot. • Receive contact sheet. • Choose headshot. • Get prints made. Don’t worry about doing all these steps at once. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Divide the list of steps into the following lists: • Items to do this week. • Items to do this month. • Items to do this year. Choose a specific day each week to check in with your list. Are you on track? There are so many people who have the dream of becoming an actor. So many people say those words: “I want to be an actor.” How will you be different? What steps will you take to turn those words into a reality?