Apps and Coffee

One of the great things about blogging is that you get to do it anywhere. For awhile I was using my iPhone to enter posts directly into the Blogger app, but I've found that it crashed too often for my comfort, so I'm taking a break from the app until they make some updates that address this issue. I'm tired of crying into my coffee while I try to remember all of the great things I had just written. (P.S. I've re-downloaded the Blogger app since they recently updated and it seems to be working just fine now! Thank you Blogger. June 2, 2013)

Now I'll just grab any old laptop, pop into a local Starbucks and write away for awhile between classes or on my way to an audition, casting session or meeting. I'm there right now and I wanted to do a post about one of my new favorite things - the Starbucks app on my iPhone.  It helps me LLC by allowing me to get my drinks quickly and get back to blogging, so I thought I'd share it here. (P.S. I also like peeing here, too, @LenaDunham @jtLOL and @MichelleMalkin. What's the BIG DEAL?)

I was resistant at first. I didn't get it. My Starbucks card is on my phone? Standing in line at a Starbucks one day, I saw someone else swipe their phone in front of the scanner and walk away, drink in hand. Meanwhile, I fumbled with my wallet, tried finding my credit card, dropped change on the floor, crumpled up my receipt and tried to put my card back in my wallet and my wallet back in my pocket as I tried to carry my hot coffee, spilling it on myself and the floor before I was able to get back to my seat. First world problems, right? But I'll tell you what, this app is pretty cool.

I downloaded the app to try it, then had trouble putting money on the card. After a few unsuccessful tries, it worked! The first time I used it, I was nervous. I felt like a little kid standing in the lunch line for the first time, not knowing how much change I had to pay the lunch lady and worried that she'd yell at me. But when I swiped my phone, ding, I was done and back to my laptop with no fumbling with my wallet, no dropping of change and no dripping of my coffee.

What I didn't know about the app is that you get lots of cool rewards for using it. Free apps, games, music downloads and refills. Once you reach the GREEN level, you get free refills on your coffee drinks. I won't go into all of the details about the policy here, but a great blog called Mo' Money explains it all very clearly. Mo' Money is great money saving blog and it seems like Liz is definitely LLC'ing! Please follow her on Twitter, too.

One of the coolest free apps I want to talk about this week is the 8mm Vintage Camera app. This app really makes your video looks like it was shot with an 8mm film camera. It was used in an Oscar-winning film by Malik Bendjelloul called Searching for Sugar Man. Here's a great article on Mashable about the film: http://mashable.com/2013/02/24/iphone-app-8mm/
The filters on this app are amazing. You can shoot video that looks like it is from the 20's, the 60's, the 70's, awesome washed out color looks like Peta, Sakura, XPro and an astonishing Black and White filter called Noir. You can even add in the sound of the movie projector or shoot silently like we used to.

My Dad had an 8mm camera back in the 70's and I still have some of the old film reels. We used to fire up the projector and show them to friends when they would come to visit. My favorite story about our 8mm films is when my younger brother threatened to show a film of me taking a bath to his friends when they came over. I sneaked into the film box and switched my reel with one of him using the potty for the first time. I wasn't there, but apparently he loaded up the film to show it and when it came on with him going to the bathroom, he screamed and ran out of the room! Funny memory. Here's a short 8mm film I made on my iPhone with this amazing app by Nexvio.

If you're looking to capture that nostalgic look and feel of 8mm film, I highly recommend this app. You can definitely LLC with this one! Send me some links to your videos and I'll share them in another post. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @WaynePyle.

Oh, and if you like to support Kickstarter projects, check out THE CABIN SISTERS with Zosia and Clara Mamet @CabinSisters. Zosia and I were in the film Rhymes with Banana and Zosia is also on @GirlsHBO with @LenaDunham.

Dumping Toxic Waste is Good

James Altucher recently posted a blog about the loveliness of his migraines and how they were a warning that his thoughts were toxic. (Full post here: LINK)

I recently had a similar experience and wanted to share how it changed my toxic thinking as well.

Just a few weeks ago, the negative mental energy was starting to build. I had recently applied for a full time position at a certain community college for an opening in their Theatre program there. I had been working there as an adjunct for the past three years, mostly in the Communications program, but my degree is in acting and I've been a professional theatre artist for more than 30 years now. I'm thankful for the break that the Communications program gave me to start my teaching career, but I'm really a theatre artist. It's where my strengths are. I'm not sure why the Chair of the Theatre program is uninterested in my work in theatre, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Where my toxic thinking started to affect me was when I decided to apply for that full time position. I wasn't remotely interested in working there full time because of the way the Chair of the Department treats people and (in my opinion) his terrible ideas, attitudes and educational methods. The reason I was applying for the job was because, well, I NEEDED THE MONEY.

As an adjunct teaching in today's higher education system, you get paid one fifth of what your colleagues who are full time get paid. You have to work at many different schools, work other jobs, continue to try to keep up your professional work and try to find some time to spend with your family and (rarely) friends and colleagues. We all have terminal degrees but are making just over poverty level wages. Many adjuncts I know are struggling, really struggling, to pay their bills while working as much as they can in higher education.

When the position opened up I was encouraged by one of my colleagues to apply for the position, but I resisted, knowing that the Chair was not interested in what I had to offer. I had applied for two other positions in the past, both times being turned down for ridiculous reasons. I am highly qualified to teach my subject and all of my student evaluations and the performance of my students in my classes reflect that.

This person, for whatever small and petty reasons he might come up with, does not want to work with me. I know this and I usually say, "Hey, I get it. I'll move on." But this supposed friend and colleague encouraged me to apply anyway. So, I screwed my courage to the sticking place and decided even if I didn't want the job, I'd do my best to get it and then decide later if I actually wanted to take on the position. So I prepared. I smiled. I put together the best interview presentation I could. My family needed me to get this job, so I'd give it my best shot and forget about all the rejections so far.

Day of my interview, my supposed friend shows up 10 minutes late to my interview and sits and frowns the whole time I'm doing my presentation, then refuses to participate in an acting exercise I've used in my classes that has always been very successful!

I was livid.

When I later asked why the person was behaving that way she replied, "I was trying to send you signals that it wasn't going very well." She then told me how terrible the presentation was and how I went over the ten minute time limit, ruining my chances at getting the job.

WHAT?!?!?

The presentation I did was based on a similar presentation at another college that was responsible for enrolling 10 more students into their theatre program. The exercise I did is often cited by students as one of the main reasons they felt comfortable in my classes. What she said makes no sense unless someone already comes in with an attitude that they are not going to like whatever it is that I do.  Besides, I thought she was there for SUPPORT and ENCOURAGEMENT. Boy, was I wrong.

Needless to say, they hired a PhD from outside the state for the job, instead of promoting someone in their community who knows and relates very well to the students. They also told my students that I didn't have the job before they told me. The Chair never contacted me at all and still hasn't.

Anyway...I didn't really want the job, but...I had let all of this negative energy build up (and I needed the money because of the terrible pay of adjuncts) and as I did, I started having these really weird symptoms of extreme pain in the right side of my face, extreme fatigue, shoulder pain, strange migraines with auras and horizontal lines going across my vision, I started to forget the names of things and people, very weird neurological symptoms. So I hit the Google search button with my symptoms and started to worry. Did I have MS? Cancer? Lyme disease? Insanity? Early Alzheimers?

I made an appointment at a neurologist. She did some tests, some bloodwork, I had an MRI. Nothing was wrong with me! Medically. But after reading James' post, I am starting to think that it's the TOXIC THINKING that started to bring me down. When I asked the neurologist what causes migraines. She said, "We don't know. Incorrect chemicals get turned on in the brain. We don't know why." I said, "That's very interesting." TOXIC THINKING TURNS INTO TOXIC CHEMICALS IN THE BRAIN!!!

Those negative thoughts about why so-and-so betrayed me and why such-and-such doesn't like me and why can't I get a full-time position and I-suck-at-everything kinds of thought were having an actual, physical and neurological effect on my body. Applying for a job that I didn't really want because I needed the money and then being upset because I didn't get it...was toxic thinking. Thinking that it mattered somehow in the grand scheme of things what my friend and those people thought about my presentation was toxic thinking and it was making me sick.

Needless to say, I dropped those thoughts. Until just now. And I have to tell you something amazing. As I was writing this, the migraine symptoms started to come back for a second. The top of the computer screen started turning gray and it wasn't the computer, it was an aura, and my head started aching really badly. TOXIC THOUGHTS!!!

As I got down to this section, no lie, it disappeared. And here's the good news. After dumping the toxic thinking and making the decision not to engage with negativity or those negative people any more, my symptoms completely cleared up.

Not only that, but I've been struggling with my blood pressure for hmmmm THREE YEARS (notice that is the same amount of time I've been working at said toxic community college?) and I've been on Bystolic, a beta blocker, for the past two years. My blood pressure was consistenly at 130 over 90 something for several years. Well, after dumping the toxic thinking, dumping the beta blocker and dumping the community college, I went out and bought my first pair of running shoes in 10 years.

Now, I'm not back in the full swing of running again, but I've been running for about two or three weeks off and on, and when I went for my follow-up neurology appointment, my blood pressure, WITHOUT the beta blocker was 120 over 72! No lie. Amazing what dumping toxic thoughts, people and attitudes will do.

And here's the REAL KICKER. Not long after doing all this toxic dumping, I get called into the office of a real friend and real colleague at a four year institution of higher learning that graduates many more professional theatre artists than the community college I've been working for.

I was worried, toxic thoughts started to creep into my brain pan, but I breathed and let them go.

"We've got a temporary, full-time position for you next year, " he said. "If it were up to me, I'd bring you on full time right away." Sure, it's only temporary, but I'll be taking on a lot more responsibility and filling in for some people who are leaving or retiring. It'll be full time and I'll be getting paid enough to not have to go back to the toxic energy of that other place. I can focus on working for one school and one group of students. Dumping the toxic thinking led to what I wanted in the first place, a job with people who are supportive and who are making great theatre and training the next generation of theatre makers.

I highly encourage all of you to see where you are storing your toxic thoughts and dump them right now! Welcome those migraines with their beautiful auras and horizontal gray shadings and lightning pains shooting up the sides of your faces. They are a message from your beautiful brain, "Stop this toxic thinking and dump whatever it is that is causing it or I will put you through hell until you do!"

Live Life Creatively, folks!
Until next time...

You, LLC

As you may have noticed, I'm changing the name (and focus) of this blog to YOU, LLC (You, Living Life Creatively).

After my last post about the importance of creativity as an opposing force to destruction, I realized that while, yes, I am an actor and those experiences are important to me, I'm also a human being who is interested in how to live a more creative, nurturing, uplifting and fulfilled life in all areas of my life. I'd also like to share that interest with others.

Instead of focusing on just one aspect of creativity that I'm involved with - being an actor - I'm going to explore many different aspects of the creative life: writing, art, film making, teaching, cooking, being a parent, husband, partner, friend; all of those areas of our lives that can be made better by applying creativity and creative solutions to them and then seeing what happens.

I like the idea of taking a legal term, LLC (Limited Liability Company) and turning into something of a mantra YOU, LLC (You, Living Life Creatively). I like the idea of a life lived creatively with boldness, freedom and expression as a priority. I like the idea that the members of this LLC will learn new ways to think about old problems, discover old ideas that can be applied to new problems and hopefully have a lot of fun doing it. Oh yeah, I also just like IDEAS.

Thanks for reading! I'm looking forward to our journey together.

Wayne Pyle, LLC

On Watching my Own Movies

Wayne Pyle in Peace, Love and Misunderstanding on SHOWTIME

Last night, I finally caught Peace, Love and Misunderstanding, a film I worked on a few years ago with Catherine Keener, Kyle MacLachlan, Jane Fonda and Elizabeth Olsen in one of her first film roles.

The funny thing about this film is the way I ended up getting bumped up in pay from "background" to supporting because of the encouragement of Catherine Keener. I was cast as a party guest for the opening scene of the film and we shot it up here in the Hudson Valley with a contemporary home in the woods standing in for a mid-town pied-a-terre.

Director Bruce Beresford and I had a great meeting when I came in to audition and we chatted for about 20 minutes about life and Australia and acting and at the end of the meeting I read a few lines and then he said he wanted me to be in the movie, he just wasn't sure what he wanted me to do.

I showed up on set and got dressed and by the time we got called to the set, I was starving. It was a dinner party scene and the food they were using was quite good. I had no lines, so I just started tucking in, thinking, my character is the guy who just eats food while everyone else is having brilliant and witty conversations.

As we started shooting, the discussion around the table was supposed to be about plays in New York and how Eugene O'Neill's plays were long, boring, and no longer relevant. All of the extras nodded in agreement and Catherine thought the scene sounded false so she said, "Oh, come on, someone should disagree." I piped up and said, "I've got something."
Catherine looked at me and nodded. The scene started Again and when everyone started complaining about Eugene's plays, I put down my fork and said, "Oh, come on, the guy has like eight Pulitzers or something." Kyle McLachlan stared and didn't know what to say because his next line didn't quite respond to that, so Bruce told me to wait until after Kyle said his line. We did several more takes and after being scolded by the props person for eating too much of the dinner, Catherine turned to me and said, "That's how you get ahead in this business." It was a pretty awesome moment in my filmmaking career and a part of LLC for me.

Another Shot

As the semester winds down, my thoughts turn to summer and the prospect of acting work.

As you know, last summer I played 40 roles in Becky Mode's one person show, FULLY COMMITTED, at Shadowland Theatre. I was terrified. But I faced the fear, jumped onstage and made it through the summer, relatively unscathed.

A few weeks ago I got a call from Brendan Burke, the artistic director or Shadowland, saying that there was a possibility of remounting the show in Binghamton, NY.

We went up there to meet the artistic director and I launched into a few of the lines, which surprisingly, I still remembered. But the the old fear crept in and I went up on my lines and stopped.

The director was interested and worked out a deal with Brendan so that we'll put the show up in June and July.

And now, I need to prepare for another battle. The show is a monster of memorization and I'm starting to work on each section now so that I am not gripped by such terror when I'm standing at the top of those stairs waiting to enter.

I want to be in a place where I have excitement and anticipation about how the audience is going to react rather than a heart-pounding, brain wrenching feeling that I may get completely lost at any moment.

I will probably still use my cheat sheets, but I'm hoping that they will be there just for emergencies. I work a little more each day, getting clearer, trying new character choices, deciding where beats need to land.

This is the work. This is the joy. This is the life...LLC!

Fully Committed

It has been too long since I've last blogged about my experience acting in Becky Mode's one person play Fully Committed, but the journey has been an intensely fascinating one and I am going to be publishing a lot more commentary about the experience soon.

I've learned a hell of a lot from this job and I'm eager to share a list of about 30 amazing things that I have learned or have been brought to my attention by doing this show.

I stopped blogging right about day five or six into the rehearsals not because I was too busy or didn't get "around to it" but because the time and energy it took to get this show up and running left no time at all for sitting and thinking about the experience while I was in the moment of experiencing it. 

I had imagined when I started the process that I would be able to recap each day's rehearsal after I got home, but I often found myself continuing to work on the show long hours after I left the theatre and just crashing after the work. Now that we are open and heading into our last two weekends, I want to look back on the journey and share my thoughts from the past with this, my now future, self.

Needless to say, I survived the rehearsal process, but there were times when I was not quite sure that would be the case. I'll share all of that with you as well, but for right now, let this short blog be a placeholder. Here is a link to a review of the show for now and I may have a few comments on that review at a later date, too.

A review:

A Fully Committed Evening of Entertainment at Shadowland Theatre

A slide show and some improv with the various characters of the show

In the meantime, if you've seen the show, please contact me and let me know what you thought. We still have two more weekends and we play on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville, NY. Thank you for your patience while I explored the play as deeply as I was able to. I look forward to sharing more of this all-engaging, sometimes-frustrating, ever-fascinating, often-humbling process with you soon. Keep Living Life Creatively and I'll see you on the boards!

WP

http://imdb.me/waynepyle

Day One: First Read Through

I can see through all of your motivations.

Usually on the first day of rehearsals for a play, you get to meet the rest of the cast and crew, exchange pleasantries, look at the sets and costume designs, fill out paperwork, have an election for an Equity deputy with the Actors Equity members in the cast and do a table of the read of the play. Today was unusual because the cast is just me! We still had the Equity Deputy election and I voted for myself unanimously to be the deputy for the production.

When I first came into the theater, Brendan, Brittney and Michael were onstage around the usual "table" and I sat with my back to the audience to do paperwork and say hi to everyone. We did the election, took a "5" and I realized that I was really uncomfortable with my back to the audience, so I asked Brendan if I could switch places with him. It just seemed more natural to be facing out to the house. Plus, I want to start getting the feeling that I'm telling the story to the audience as soon as possible. It's amazing to me, how much more relaxed I was just turning and facing the potential of those seats being filled with people. Brendan said the playwright may come see the show as well. That made me a little nervous and excited at the same time. I'm looking forward to doing it in front of an audience and have them help me create this world.

We read through the whole play, well I did anyway, and I found new things already as I was doing it for the first time and re-hearing it which is what rehearsal actually means, re-hear-sal. The pace was quick and we got through it in about an hour and six minutes, which seems to be about right. There wasn't a whole lot of laughter, but I know we'll get there. I also know I still have a lot of work to do, but Brendan was happy with the overall feel of the characters and where they are going. After the read through we went through the play character by character (there are 40) and I took notes on what to work on with each role. Mostly I want to make sure that the characters have strong wants and are "fully committed" to getting them. I want them to have a truth about them and not just have them be caricatures.

I came back to the actor housing after the rehearsal and started working on the lines again. The memorization still seems like such a bear, but I'm starting to feel like I'm getting a grasp on it. Because I was tired some of the lines I've known for weeks were a bit ragged but I know after I get a good night's sleep tonight and get some food in the morning, I should be good to go.

I did take a bit of a break in between eating dinner and working on my lines and stumbled on this very fascinating web series called, "KIDS react to" and "TEENS react to" by The Fine Brothers. The kids watch viral videos and the Fine Brothers show both the videos and the kids reacting to them at the same time. The multi-cultural kids are bright and funny and make great comments and the videos are well made with comments about the history of the videos as well. If you want to spend a few pleasant minutes watching internet memes and hearing the "darndest things" that kids say about entertainment on the internet, tune into "KIDS react to" or "TEENS react to." If you watch a bunch of them, you see the kids grow up, too, which adds an interesting poignancy to the series.

WP

http://imdb.me/waynepyle

10 Chances to Make Great Theatre

Half Moon Theatre's 10-minute Play Festival at the Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, NY was an exciting night of theater that really showcased our company and the playwrights who participated in the event.

The theme of this year's festival was anniversaries and it was the fifth anniversary of Half Moon Theatre being established. The first play was GUS AND GLORY by Darrah Cloud, the director of the newly formed Playwright's Collective. The play is a wonderful exploration of how we relate to each other (or not) in relationships by showing a couple who go to a drunk psychic and become possessed by the spirits of their dead mother and uncle.

AUNT PITTIPAT is a tour-de-force monologue written by David Simpatico about the first anniversary of 9/11 and remembering the loss of a loved one who was more than what the New York Times called, "A Planner of Family Fun." The writing is lyric, powerful and moving and the images will stay with you for awhile, much like the images from that event.

DEDICATED, by Suzanne Bradbeer, is another powerful piece about a mother who does not want her to son to go off to college because she can't seem to move on from her husband's death.

DAY ONE is about a young, newly married couple trying to get used to each other at a cabin in the woods. The husband is highly allergic to everything, and his agitation also seems to be symbolic of the anxiety he is having on day one of his new marriage.

MARY'S EDDY by Y York is a surreal piece about a woman who starts to make up an "imaginary" lover when her husband is out of the room. She swaggers around, trying to look sexy, changing voices for both herself and her lover. When her husband catches her, he says his name, trying to bring her back to reality.

DEAR CHINA by Rob Ackerman is about three window dressers in Brooklyn who take turns addressing the titular country about it's woes and wonders. I had the wonderful opportunity to play Duke in the production.

GOTCHADAY is a play by Rob Handel that shows us two parents who have adopted an Asian boy and they are semi-celebrating his "gotcha day" when they made the trip to Hanoi to claim him. They take turns telling their version of that day. The wife cajoles the husband into singing the lullaby that he has been singing to their son because it is the old Tin Pan Alley tune, "Rockabye your Baby to a Dixie Melody." The husband worries that his carefully edited but racist tune will somehow corrupt their adopted child in some way, but he sings it anyway, because it puts him to sleep. I had the privilege of directing this lovely piece and it was well received.

PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE is a play by Jude Albert that I didn't get to see because I was backstage tonight and one of the actors was ill during the rehearsal. From the audience response it was quite powerful.

I also had the great fortune to direct Chisa Hutchinson's BLUE LABEL. A milquetoast of a man comes into a tattoo parlor every year on the anniversary of his wife's death to get a hash mark placed above his heart. This is the tenth year and the tattoo artist has broken out a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue to celebrate. They battle verbally and are attracted to one another and eventually he takes a step forward and kind of asks the tattoo artist out at the end. A very sweet and moving exploration of how to move on from sadness and loss.

The final play is ANNIVERSARY SEASON by Jenny Lyn Bader and this one skips ahead throughout the years of a couple's life as they celebrate their wedding anniversary with threats of hurricanes and unwanted guests.

I enjoy being a part of this festival because I like that we can put together a moving, funny, thought-provoking evening of theater without too much fuss and worry. We hold the scripts in hand, use minimal props, costumes, lighting and sound and the effectiveness of good words spoken by good actors is hard to top. I recommend that everyone experience something similar at least once in their lives. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how moving and enjoyable an experience it can be. Keep LLC'ing!

*Update: We've already had another 10 Minute Play Festival this year (2013)!

Face the Fear

Wayne Pyle as Sam (and 40 others) in FULLY COMMITTED at Shadowland Theatre, Ellenville, NY.

This has been a particularly productive time in my actor's life. I played Franklin in Liza Johnson's film RETURN, starring Linda Cardellini and Michael Shannon, ended up in the trailer and it opened in some great theaters and had great reviews and lots of press across the country. I directed BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS at SUNY Dutchess. I just finished working on Eddie Mullins' new film, DOOMSDAYS, with Heidi. I'm prepping right now to perform in Becky Mode's one-person comedy FULLY COMMITTED at Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville, NY. I'm directing staged readings of two ten-minute plays for Half Moon Theatre Company in Poughkeepsie, acting in another, preparing two other readings for another Half Moon event, recording voiceover work for clients and working on my own scripts as well as finishing up one semester of teaching and trying to prepare for another at SUNY New Paltz.

Let's talk about the summer today. I've been working on Becky Mode's FULLY COMMITTED for a few weeks now, trying to get the 40 different characters I have to portray to play nice with each other and working on a few pages each day to get a vague idea of what each character wants, how they might sound, what physicality they might embody and what else I might have to do to fully commit to this whirlwind of a comedy. Each day brings new insights and new challenges and I'm looking forward to working with my director, Brendan Burke, to really get the play up on its feet and try to figure out to make this farce fly.

At almost 90 intermissionless minutes, the memorization task seems enormously daunting right now, but I know with steady work and concentration I'll soon have the whole story in my mind and be ready to explore these people and situations out there on the stage instead of in my cramped living room. This is the first time I'm taking on such a huge actor's task and looking at what I still have to accomplish, I would say that the emotion I'm mostly feeling is...SCARED.

I think it's healthy to be scared of certain things like heights, snakes, weird looking plants, some people, daunting acting challenges, because it's our body's way of telling us, “Proceed with caution. Harm could be done.” Even though it can be extremely painful at times, I do like to do things that scare me, that take me out of my normal comfort zone, because I know that in the past when I've “faced the fear” and done it anyway, I've always grown as a person and an actor. I've definitely gotten a few bumps and bruises and cuts and scrapes here and there, but what an adventure I've had in the process.

Usually when I feel that fear coming on, about memorization, auditioning, a role that I'm not sure I'm cut out for, I try to focus on the work process and see where it leads me, rather than focusing on the outcome that hasn't occurred yet. By focusing on what I'm doing now, how I'm doing it, and why it is being done, I become more present and that chattering voice that says things like, “You'll never get those lines memorized, you're not really very good at this, don't try THAT, that will never work,” starts to get quieter. If I don't do that, that little voice gets very, very LOUD.

By engaging in the struggle, feeling the feelings of unworthiness or inauthenticity or stupidity or whatever else might come up and acknowledging that those feelings are there, I find that they dissipate much more quickly than when I try to resist them and pretend they don't exist. By acknowledging the fear and focusing on the process, I'm often left tired, but with a great feeling of having done something worthwhile just because I did it despite being afraid that I might fail.

What are some things you've done that you've been afraid of but were later really glad you did them? I'd love to hear from you.

Gotta go memorize some lines, but I'll leave you with this video of my first tandem skydive at The Ranch, in Gardiner, NY. I recommend jumping out of a plane to get your mind in the present pretty darn quickly. Scared, yes, but an amazing day and an experience I won't forget.

WP

http://imdb.me/waynepyle

Welcome to An Actor's Life for Me!

Although I plan on covering many topics in this blog, the main focus will be on what an actor's life is like from day to day. There seem to be so many ideas about what being an actor means and I'd like to dispel some of the myths that so many young people seem to have when they enter this business and explore my own reasons for becoming and continuing to pursue an actor's life.

I have a lot of experience as an actor in films, television and onstage and yet I still struggle day to day with finding the joy in the work and finding the best way to express myself within my chosen art form. 

I like to do many things besides acting as well. I garden, write poetry and scripts, teach classes at various colleges, do voiceover work, make films, videos and art, use social media like Twitter and Facebook and I've dabbled in many different kinds of hobbies and pastimes. I love spending time with my children, my wife and my family. I love that an actor's life is a collaborative one, not just for projects, plays and films, but also in the everyday living of life.

I'm about to embark on a more detailed journey than I ever have before. I've been acting since I was very young when my parents first enrolled me on Romper Room, a children's television program from the seventies. I've been doing this for a long time, but this is the first time I've ever explored what and how I do what I do in any depth by writing out my process, thoughts, struggles and rewards.

I hope you'll join me in this journey inward and outward and that my words will inspire, educate and entertain you whether you are pursuing the actor's life yourself, or  just a curious onlooker. Thank you for allowing me to spend some time with you, I'm looking forward to seeing what we create together.

Since I live near Hyde Park, NY in the beautiful Hudson Valley, I'll leave you today with this quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose home and library is nearby. 

"Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples."

*Update: Renamed the blog YOU, LLC and I'm currently living in Tivoli, New York. Although I will continue to cover topics on acting, I'm also looking at how we can all live our lives more creatively. YOU, LLC.

WP 
http://imdb.me/waynepyle