January 31, 2013 | 11:27 am

Finding Your Thing

Posted by Michelle Azar

Follow JewishJournal.com on

Whenever I do live theatre, I always wonder… Why in the world would I choose a job which asks me to shove new and oft complicated words into my already overworked brain, make them sound like mine, and then throw myself about physically and emotionally in front of lots of people, night after night. Odd. An odd, odd daily exercise.

It can’t be for the money. Let’s face facts. Most of us actors are broke. Certainly, this is a business of high risk, high reward, however, which was an answer given by one of my cast mates during the audience talk back at La Mirada Theatre last week. I have been blessed to work here again this last month, and loved the question one man courageously asked:  what would make people transfer that all that fun “pretend stuff” he sees his kids do into an actual career choice.

I wrote my Master’s thesis on this topic some years ago actually. I am proud to say that despite the hours of  research and writing, the only answer I find truly compelling is the most difficult to articulate. Sure, the theorists might have their finger around it: good old-fashioned narcissism, an insatiable need to be accepted. Not enough praise as a kid, blah blah. But the most simple answer? It is just something I need to do, as equal to my happiness as is my breath. And we all know how well we function when we hold our breath.

Thank you for reading, for watching, and for your continued practices.

In peace,

Michelle