Progress and Positivity!

It's been a pretty great week in terms of progress. I found out the other day that I'll have the honor and privilege of working with one of my favorite companies, Barefoot Shakespeare, again this summer. (You can check out their website here.) I'll be playing Orlando in their June production of As You Like It. I'm very excited, as this is a role I've always wanted to play, and I'm pumped to get into the meat of this show!

In addition to that, I've finally started seriously writing again. I'm actually working on a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello which centers around an immigrant named Aurelio. It's taking the story of Othello and making it applicable to the current political climate. I'm pretty excited about it.

I've been wanting to write this post for a couple of days, but didn't know what exactly to say. I think I've been a little bit overwhelmed over the past week or two, because a lot of my actor friends have been in a much more negative state of mind than me. There's a lot of anger and sadness and disappointment floating around right now. I try to avoid it as much as I can. Positivity always seems to drive me a lot more than negativity does. Not getting a role or not achieving something can definitely spur me on to better things, but it's always a thought of "I CAN DO THIS BECAUSE OF ME" as opposed to "GRRRR, I'LL SHOW THEM! I'LL SHOW THEM ALL!" If that makes sense.

I hope these blog posts aren't just rambling and nonsense to you, viewer. Hopefully we all get something out of them.

Self-Improvement and Self-Producing

As an artist, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever found myself wondering when I'm finally going to feel like I'm succeeding. Occasionally we all probably think to ourselves, "Man, I wish I was getting paid [more] for this."

But I'm trying to convince myself this week that it's all about baby steps. And personal improvement. And just getting out there and doing good work, whatever it takes. That's why a lot of my energy this past week (since Cat On a Hot Tin Roof is now closed) has been focused on the mini-season I want to produce. Yes, Cameron Clarke, the professional goofball, is going to try his hand at producing! I've got a shortlist of plays that includes Gruesome Playground Injuries, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Zoo Story, True West, and a lot of other heavy hitters. I'm also actively reading more and more small-cast plays, trying to find a minimum of two and a maximum of three that I'd like to see done and done well.

Gruesome Playground Injuries is pretty assuredly going to happen. It's one of my favorite plays in the world, and I'll probably direct it myself. The second show I would probably perform in, and #3 would be the one where I'd sit back and keep my producer's hat snugly upon my head (okay, okay...if you're going to twist my arm, I might act in that one too).

I'm really excited about this. I've never produced my own season before. I'm going to do it under the banner of Company of Fools, a theatrical and media company that myself and some close friends of mine (we refer to ourselves collectively as The A-Team) have been starting to toy with on and off for a few years now. And through this period of self-production, self-promotion, and self-improvement, I hope to come out on the other end of it a much happier, more enriched, more creatively invigorated artist.

Wish me luck. It's kind of all up to me now. But you're more than welcome to help me out!

When Things Click

I've always been a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Whether it's relationships, work, or really anything else in your life, if something big happens, it probably means something.

I recently had a little bit of an internal crisis where I realized I wasn't progressing the way I wanted to be as an artist. That's why I started reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (which, by the way, I highly recommend for unclogging your creative self). And the book/course helped me out a lot! Just a few chapters in I already started feeling better about my creativity and my ability to re-develop my writing, invigorate my acting, and get some things off the ground. And this all came from finally reading a book that multiple people had told me to read.

My internal crisis didn't end though. I was still worried that I wasn't doing enough to further my career as an actor. And then I emailed my college acting professor. Just on a whim, asking if he knew any acting teachers in the New York area.

It turns out he did. And I've started taking an awesome acting class with an awesome teacher and actor in his own right, Arian Moayed. I'm so thrilled to get the ball rolling and keep improving my craft, developing my instrument, honing my skill... All of those phrases that mean "don't be fucking stagnant and always be doing the thing you love and want to do for the rest of your life." So I'm starting on some scene study with a very talented partner in the coming weeks.

That's all great. And I'm feeling much more successful and fulfilled in a lot of other ways too. I'm still progressing on my plans to produce a pilot season of three plays by the end of 2016. I'm reaching out to another former professor next week to talk about voiceover work. I'm going on more auditions so that I have something to do once Cat On a Hot Tin Roof closes.

And...I started writing again.

The smallest things can make such a big difference.

Working, and Getting Work

Having a full-time, 9-to-5 day job that I use to support my New York lifestyle is interesting. By day, I'm a mild-mannered salesman for a large IT company based in the New York City area. And by night I try to find auditions and get a paid acting job that will allow me to, ya know, just do that.

I enjoy my job quite a bit to a certain extent, and I get to travel occasionally, which is pretty nice! But it starts to get a little bit stressful and exhausting trying to find the time to balance everything. On a day like today, when I'm reporting to my office in the financial district in downtown Manhattan, I'm fighting not to get just a little bit overwhelmed. Tonight I'll go from downtown Manhattan up to Midtown in order to meet a friend for a quick dinner, in order to discuss a plan to produce three small-scale plays sometime this year. From there, I'll jump on the train to try to make it from Manhattan to Forest Hills in less than an hour (no easy feat).

But I know there's a part of it that keeps me chugging along. It's the fact that Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is going to open in a week and a half, and it'll all be worth it. That sometime this year I'll be directing a show, acting in one, and producing one of my original plays. And that I'm working on a really great webseries that will hopefully get some attention.

It's a lot. It's always a lot. But it's worth it. Keep pushing, guys!

New Stuff and Inspiration!

It's pretty crazy to think that it's 2016 already. I've got a lot to be thankful for. But, honestly, 2015 was kind of hit or miss in a lot of ways. I did get some great acting gigs. But 2016 looks to be the year that things really kick into high gear!

I just updated my website, for one! I've been disappointed in my website, and in my general actor web presence, for a while now. But the beginning of 2016, for me, has been one of those "get off your ass and do it" periods in my life. Where I've finally said to myself, "What the hell am I waiting for?" And more often than not, the answer has been "I have no idea," or "A sign," or something equally as vague and stupid.

In just the first month or so of 2016, I have:

• applied to multiple acting jobs
• started saving to develop a trial season of my theatre production company
• revamped my website
• begun writing again!
• booked a vacation to a tropical paradise (with a pretty girl)
• and started on a journey of re-discovering my creativity

Not only that, but I'm celebrating several months of clean living, which I'm pretty proud of. And I'm working on a dream role! Brick in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof! Things are off to a great start in 2016, and it's because of the hard work I've been doing on myself.

I'm not trying to brag. I guess what I'm saying is this: if you feel like something's holding you back, ask yourself why. Is the thing holding you back really a tangible, actual obstacle? Or is it just your "logical brain" telling you you're not good enough?