Saturday, July 16, 2016
Preserving Passion in the Face of Rejection
HowlRound: In the prologue of his book Audition, Michael Shurtleff posits: “for every actor who gets hired for a part, fifty or a hundred or two hundred do not.” He claims that “an actor is forever getting rejected” and concludes that it’s incredible that actors persevere in the face of such overwhelmingly negative odds. Indeed, actors, as well as playwrights, directors, and designers all face rejection throughout their careers. Coping with rejection and remaining resolute in your artistic goals can be challenging; however, by understanding rejection, we can begin to positively impact our craft and preserve our passion.
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I think that you can learn a lot about a person from how they handle rejection. In theater, we have to become comfortable with rejection. There are often simply too many people for a single job. We must also be able to learn from our mistakes. Whether it be interview skills, or just plain talent, we have to be able to grow from those failures. We have to understand that rejection does not equal self-worth. It is hard to understand the balance in rejection. On one hand, we have to be resilient and not take it personally. On the other hand, we have to examine what we could have done better. What skill should we start working on in order to get more jobs? What areas are we weak in? Unlike performance, there is often a right and wrong way in technical theater. Either the set is structurally sound or it is not. Either you are fulfilling your duties or you are not. There is less room for error in this world.
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