I’m Acting in a Play – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

As a part of my rehab from open heart surgery, I've decided to undertake a very absurd yet terrifying challenge: participating in community theater. Today we'll talk about what community theater is, and my experience so far. Special thanks to the Springfield Little Theatre for casting me in their show "Murder on the Orient Express". It is my sincere hope that you don't come to regret it.

[timwilson]

The video about your stroke was one month ago?? And now you’re doing community theater for the first time??? Austin, you’re such an inspiration and I’m so glad your recovery is going as well as it is. Break a leg!

[veraciously]

Literally impossible to guess what Austin is going to start doing next.

[xingcat]

It's kind of fitting that you wanted to try for Wizard of Oz, but first needed a "new" heart.

I have been doing community theater in the Boston area for 26 years, and it honestly has saved my life on numerous occasions.

[Nvenom.]

Man, even knowing that you had that stroke, I see absolutely no sign of it in you anymore. Amazing recovery, and thanks to a lot of hard work on your part, I'm sure!

[TheEternalGoth]

"I had open heart surgery and then a stroke - I'm getting over it, no worries." - Some Monty Python energy with that one.

Seriously though, as you point out, you are choosing what parts of your recovery we get to see but still, you seem to be doing a lot better. It's so great to see!

[Triss]

As the director of the community theatre I regularly work with always says "his job is to make you look good, and your job is to make each other look good"
It's a team effort! If you make a mistake, the others help to cover it up.
Also, even though you've gone through the scenes a million times and know exactly how it's supposed to be, the audience does not. I've got loads of stories about things that have gone wrong on stage, mostly noticed mainly by the actors, and even if the audience does notice, it's part of the charm of live theatre

[LiMe-cf]

So happy to see how far you've come with your recovery!

[jarlsparkley]

Hey Austin, just want to say that in my adult life you really have become one of my biggest inspirations to always want to challenge myself, always relishing in the trying regardless of the outcome. Break a leg, I know you’ll kill it.

[litera_cj]

I grew up acting in a lot of Shakespeare plays in a middle school/high school theater group, and one year I had the part of the page from the opening of "Taming of the Shrew". The play is kind of meta in that this particular role meant I got to sit in the audience the whole time and watch the play with everyone else. So I got a great view of when Petruchio threw himself on a bench and the bench broke. It remains one of my favorite memories because my fellow actors rocked the unexpected situation -- leaning into it as if it had been planned. I always admire when actors mess up or face unexpected challenges and recover in spite of it.

[mateushenriquepinheiro]

Would like a update on the Superzeroes universe to know how everything is going along

[kaktus.]

That's funny, we in Czech Republic don't say "Break a leg", we say "Zlom vaz" which means "Break a neck".

[GuanoLad]

The first show is always the hardest and most nerve-wracking. But I found that once you are in costume it's easy to stay in character; once you hear your cue lines you can spout your own dialogue easily; once you are in amongst the other actors on stage blocking comes naturally; and the lights will mean you cannot see your audience beyond the first couple of row, so they will not distract you. The absolute best part is when you do a comedy and you can really manipulate a joke with adjusting comic timing throughout the run. You will love this, trust me. It's a thrill like no other.

[kingfisher]

Good for you! I so admire this. Took some drama classes, myself, but turns out I can't memorize pages of lines (high functioning Autistic, my mind works great, but in "another way."). My teacher loved my work in class, but she was cutting us a lot of slack on the memorization. I might have been able to do film, with cuts and retakes, but I prefer being behind the camera (was a photo journalist in state and county newspapers - even won a few awards). Turns out I'm also good at interviewing and writing (have a wall full of awards for that). And, further unnecessary storytelling here: my son took two classes of improv (and was amazing) and then went out and got A PAYING GIG in a show on a riverboat. His first acting job. Paying. I'm his parent, I know, but I think that's objectively impressive. So I am also impressed with your adventure.

[angrymango]

Bought a ticket for the 18th. Looking forward to seeing you in real life for the first time! Will be my first time attending a proper play.

[wheelysteve]

My man, whatever else anyone says about your stage performance (break a leg), this one video is stupidly inspirational, and I thank you for that. Been watching you since you had subs in the 4 digit range, great to see you back at it!

[space_]

I can’t explain it but theater acting is so right for you, if you said you’ve been doing it your whole life I wouldn’t question it.

[blueturtle]

I do community theatre in my area, it's a ton of fun. And bizarrely helpful with stroke recovery for some reason. I'm sure there's some study somewhere, but something about it helps people regain language and mental clarity. My local community theatre has two members who have suffered strokes and something about learning lines and blocking was really helpful.

[westonkenyonmusic]

Saw you in the show last night (Oct 19). I live around an hour from Springfield and go there often. You did amazing!

[reaganharder]

Community theatre is fun. Granted, I've only done it once, and the local community theatre I acted at (which sadly closed during covid and never reopened) was basically run entirely by an old lady and her two sisters (lovely old lady, mind you. Very good at getting the best performances from her cast). There were no workshops or call-backs, just one audition where you read lines to the director and she gives you some advice and you read some more lines and she calls you a week later to tell you what (if any) part you got. In my opinion, the funnest parts of theatre is when stuff goes wrong and you're forced to figure out how to shoehorn the important cues and dialogue into there somehow.

[Kingsshole]

And I'm the latest episode of, "Austin Couldn't Help Himself."

I can't get over how energetic and fun he seems.