[NEOPAL]Mike and Ike

[David Lewis]

I'd bet that Mike and Ike, whoever they are, (probably actors) if given the 
opportunity, would never turn down a great role in a Simon or Shakespeare 
production, whether it was being produced by "Great Lakes" or "Bang and 
Jitter"...whatever their name is.

And while we're at it , lets put on bane on Mozart, the Beatles and badly 
written comedy.  Lets burn all scripts that were written before 1992!  Come 
on, we are all in a tough racket, made even more difficult by very 
over-crowded conditions.  There are so many people in this small city of 
Cleveland who are involved in theatre and theatre companies.....and be 
honest....we all have good intentions but we all have egos;  we are all 
competitive.  We all want to be the next great actor, director, instructor, 
producer.  We all want to win that award or receive a great review.  Its 
like Walgreen's!  How many stores can a community support?  How many theatre 
camps do we need? Raise your hands...........how many improv, scene study 
and vocal instructors are out there?  Everybody in Cleveland wants a piece 
of the action.  "Quality suffers when its content collapses the 
form".....Robert Frost.

But folks, theatre is like every other "show-biz" industry.  Right now, just 
in the state of Ohio, do you know how many young people are practicing to be 
the next great baseball, basketball, football player?  How about the next 
opera star, Rap star, poet?

Do you know how many young men are in the gyms right now, preparing to be 
the next great light-weight or middle weight?  Thousands!! 1% of the top 1% 
make it in any of the above mentioned professions.  The cream rises to the 
top.  Where does everybody else go?  What do they do? (Probably come to 
Cleveland to start a theatre company).   In this country alone the college 
and university theatre departments graduate 5200-6000 theatre majors every 
spring, who flock to the big cities, hoping to become the next great star.  
And when they don't make it there. they move to cities such as Indianapolis, 
Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, etc....

So, what can we do?  Nothing.  Do your work as best as you can.  Work when 
you can.  Stop complaining.  Use the neopal list as it was intended to be 
used; news about auditions, shows and general theatre information (stop 
selling cars, furniture and fish tanks).

I'd suggest having a forum, face to face, where we can all meet and talk 
about our problems, fears and responsibilities, not about our next show or 
call-back. But that wouldn't work.  It would just turn into a bunch of 
arguments and fights.

Okay, I'm finished.  Anyone want to talk about the war or Global Warming or 
the Bush Administration?




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