What is it to have a home? Well, a big house in The Hollywood Hills, some might say.
Or a little house somewhere quiet. And that’s fine, different strokes for different folks. But what is it to have a creative home? Does that matter too?
To me it does. And here’s why. As artists we always feel different, apart, and consequently alone. The only time we feel true kinship is when we’re part of a company of actors, either doing a play, a movie, or TV show. But when these projects come to an end, and they all do, all of the sudden we feel lost, without a home, essentially home-less.
But we don’t see it as such; we just shrug it off with a casual “That’s show business.” But what made us feel we belonged and gave us that familial feeling? Was it the work itself? Maybe. Or the fact that we were united in a common purpose with people who love what we love and feel the way we do about the world and our place in it? Ah, to be part of a family that sees us as collaborative artists and rewards our creative contributions.
I always missed these improvised families that always dispersed after the show/movie were done, and yes, that’s show business. Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back over the past 13 years, I realize what The Acting Corps has been all along – primarily a creative home to me, our faculty and staff, as well as literally thousands of actors. It has been a dysfunctional home at times (what else would it be?) but through thick and thin, we’ve done our thing. We’ve served the Primordial Goddess of Creation day in and day out, imparting creative principles to the world, hopefully making it a less crazy place. Not a bad way to spend one’s time on this planet. And sometimes when students return after years of absence and tell us this place will always be their home; I feel not only a sense of gratitude, but also one of responsibility.
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