When people hear those words, their first reaction is usually, "Yeah! Right!", but in my case, they really are true! Earlier this week the official word came out from the RTCC (Richmond Theater Critics Circle) of this years nominations for the "Artsies" as they've come to be called. The Artsies are the Richmond equivalent to Broadway's Tony Awards. Each October for the last 4 years, Richmond's theatre community shows up in their fanciest duds to celebrate the previous season with an awards ceremony. It is always a fun time, and as an actor I love getting dressed up and seeing all of my friends that I have worked with past and present. Best of all the money from ticket sales goes to the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund established to help those in the Richmond theatre community who fall on hard of times due to illness, injury, or extenuating circumstances. I'm always excited to see when the nominations come out, but this year I was particularly invested because I have spent the better part of 2012 involved with a wonderful show called "Always, Patsy Cline" produced by Barksdale and a re-mount under the Va-Rep banner. I play the character of "Louise Seger" a devoted fan of "Patsy Cline" played wonderfully by the fabulous Debra Wagoner. "Louise" is a character I could probably play for the rest of my life as long as I could walk. Every moment on stage has been pure joy for me! I am so proud of our little show and everyone involved! That feeling, and having the extreme luck to be working as an actor would be enough for me. I got my first paycheck as an actor at the age of 10. I have been doing this for almost 39 years. I'm not famous. I'm not a millionaire. I love it, and that's why I do it, and every once in a while something comes along, like this show, that makes all the running around and working a regular job all day and going to rehearsal for another 4 hours worth it. This show was one of those. So in that alone, I count myself extremely blessed! Then, this past Tuesday, I saw the link on Facebook to Dave Timberline's Theatre Blog announcing this year's nominees. As I read the list, I saw Debra's name first. So happy and proud! She works her ass off every night singing 27 songs in one show. Well deserved! then I get down to the Best Supporting Actress Category, and I see my name. I was floored and soooo happy. When you are proud of the work you put into a role, and the way a show comes together, it is so nice to see someone else say, "I like it too! Good job!" That's what the nomination says to me. There is a story about Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier when they were working on the film, Marathon Man. Hoffman asked Olivier, "Why do we do this?" (acting) Olivier replied, "Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!" That might not be every actor, but it's certainly this one. I enjoy being on stage in the spotlight. I like it when I deliver a line, and the audience laughs. I like taking a bow and hearing the applause. All of those things make it worth it for me, but just once in a while, it's nice to know that somebody "looked" at me and thought I did a good enough job to be recognized for it!
