Passion

You knew it was coming. Passion! You hear it all the time in this business. When I was in the CTI 14-week program, it became a running joke because every week a new producer came in and almost always drifted toward the topic of “passion.” Well, guess what? They were right.

In this business, you can’t get rich quick. In fact, very few of us get rich in this business at all. We do it because we love it. If you don’t LOVE it, then you should save yourself a lot of time and energy and do something you do love. Yes, there are days when I wish I had a normal 9 to 5 job, but most days I am truly excited about coming to work and excited about what I do. When you are deciding what you really want to do (it could be which show you produce or what to study in school), follow your heart. If you really love it, then go for it, and don’t let anything or anyone hold you back. People told me I was not good enough to get into Webster and told me I shouldn’t move to D,C. Well, those have turned out to be two of the best decisions for my career.

Back in Missouri, there are several “mega churches” where I grew up. I always wondered how they became so successful. The answer is the leaders of those churches are passionate about what they do, and they get very passionate followers. They continue to grow and grow. Theatre, like religion, is full of very passionate people. Take the passion of the late Gilbert and Jaylee Mead.

“Gilbert and Jaylee are perhaps the single largest individual supporters of the performing arts in the greater D.C. region; privately and through their family foundation, they have given more than $50 million to theaters in the Washington region. The couple was awarded the ‘Patron of the Arts’ award from the Cultural Alliance, the Washington Post Award for distinguished community service in 1996, and the Mayor’s Arts Award for service to the arts in 1998. They were Washingtonians of the Year in 1999” (Source: Arena Stage website).