Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The Three C's: Change, Challenges, Courage

As a write this, I am currently sitting in a Starbucks since I do not have internet or cable in my apartment.  What? Why? How could this be?....you might ask...Well I am moving and those two items have been cancelled due to the upcoming move.  While the start of this week has had some challenges due to the lack of internet and how our society is very dependent upon this, it has given me time to reflect and get new things accomplished.

The end of the year is always a time to reflect on what has happened and what one has accomplished this past year.  The new year brings much change for me personally and while change can be a scary thing, I am very optimistic that all of the new changes in my life will lead to great things. 

How do you view change? Do your routines which are a part of our daily life bring comfort? Does altering your routines bring about enourmous fears? Or does change invigorate your spirit?  I think change is for the most part a good part of natural progression.  So many times I find myself settling for what is comfortable and not genuinely being happy with where my life is at the current moment.  Change your mindset and change can be extremely beneficial.  A new year, a new start, a new apartment! Bring it on 2013! It is my year.

Challenges: I think as a nation we have faced many challenges.  The massive shootings as of recent have renewed my appreciate for my daily moments.  I am reminded how often I take getting a cup of coffee at Starbucks for granted.  Challenges can often create an extemely bumpy road for many of us.  My self included.  Many times, I find myself complaining and wallowing in self pity.  That needs to stop now.  Challenges help us to appreciate so many things and we need to see challenges as such. 

Courage: what does this word mean to you? Courage can take many forms on a daily basis.  Courage is the many men and women that depend our country.  Courage is taking a stand for what you truly believe in like human rights for all people even if you may not be in the norm.  Courage is going after your dreams even when it is not always successful both finanically and artistically but it is truly a huge part of who you are.  You will not stop chasing your dream because it takes courage when other people tell you no.  Courage. So many moments of courage have happened to me and all people this year.  Have the courage to keep your dreams alive  because in our modern society is not always easy to dream. Have the courage to dream and DREAM BIG!

2013 is almost here and it is good to look back and look forward.  However, I will use one of the C words to close.  CHALLENGE! I challenge you this Holiday season to just look at the now.  As an actor use it as an acting exercise.  How present can you be in this moment happening right now?  So many times I get frustrated and upset with my past actions, or what will happen.  I challenge you and myself to enjoy the moment to moment events of this Holiday season and truly be present.  You might get more than just sweaters and gift cards from it!

Live for today, Laugh often, and Love this Moment

McGee












Sunday, November 25, 2012

Being Present is the Real Present

Well the Holidays are upon us which means Cyber Monday deals, Black Friday brawls, loads of food, and festive parties.  With all of our gadgets, computers, and the internet, I find that we are constantly having to check our phones, or play with the iPad rather than really being engaged with what is around us.

How present are you in the day to day moments of your own life?

I have to admit that I may have an addiction....to my phone.  Especially in New York City, I find myself constantly checking my phone for email, text messages, looking up things on the internet. I do it sometimes when I am out with friends and then there is the panic attack when I cannot find my phone.  "Please call my phone....oh no it is on vibrate, quiet, everyone quiet...." the buzzing happens and then every migrates to the next room.  "O, sorry it was in my bag..."  It happens to me on a weekly basis.  This onslaught of panic over my phone.  Why do I have such strong feelings over this inanimate object?

I understand the value in technology, especially the iPhone that I panic over.  While the advancement of technology has made our lives easier, I feel in some ways it has disconnected us from one another.  Instead of playing Mario Brothers in the same room together, now you have the ability to play in separate states.  Instead of playing board games and talking, people play Words with friends on Facebook   Instead of calling someone on their birthday we write a message on their Facebook wall.    How many times will you check your phone while you are with family over the Holidays?  Do all these advancements really connect us as human beings?

As an actor, it is extremely important to be present in the moment.  I think it is something that I am constantly attempting to get better at.  However, today, at one of my auditions, I felt really present in the moment and in the end, if I get the job or not, it does not matter.  I felt like a better actor.  I pride myself in the honesty and truth in my work as an actor, and I felt like I left that in the audition room. So many times actors phone in their scene work or monologue, and I am guilty of it at times.  You just go on autopilot.  However, human beings react to the people and  the environment around them.  Therefore, it is an actor's job to be present and respond to the people and environment created.

This Holiday season are you going to be on autopilot or truly present in your daily moments? I feel if you take the time to enjoy that snowfall rather than complaining about it, or smile at the person who cuts you off in line at the register  rather than yelling some four letter words,  you will have a better present than you can find at Best Buy or Walmart.  I could be wrong though...you never know until you give it shot.

Enjoy the company of those who surround you this Holiday season, enjoy the food that people have prepared, and don't stress the small stuff because in the end, these are the things people, including yourself. will  remember for years to come.


Live for today, Laugh Often, Love this Moment

McGee


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Falling Off Your Bike

We have all fallen off the bike and gotten right back on.  I remember learning how to ride my bike and I would scrape my knees, but I was so determined to learn how to ride a bike.  But my question is....are we meant to fall off the bike in order to learn something?

Mistakes...are they really mistakes? Or are they more of a moment of discovery and learning? Maybe if we viewed our mistakes as less of a negative thing and more about a positive moment of self discovery and learning, we would be more productive and less critical of ourselves.

For example, yesterday, I had a commercial audition that was a very unconventional commercial.  I flubbed the lines, did not have a great rhythm , and did not feel great about the whole process.  It is good to learn what I liked and did not like. But maybe everything I hated about my audition, were the exact things that the producers loved?! In all reality, maybe those things were not "mistakes," but it is my own way of viewing them that defined them as "mistakes."

I know there have been many moments in my own life that I have felt like I have made a mistake, but maybe all of those things were meant to happen in order for me to learn and grow.  Yes, it is difficult to be less critical of myself and my accomplishments.  There have been many twists and turns, but I think that is part of the enjoyment of life.  The road of life can have many paths and sometimes you fall off that bike but  the main question  is.......will you get on the bike again and take the same route or is it time to take a new path?

I find sometimes when we encounter "mistakes" in life, it is often a time to reflect on how life is flowing and maybe do something new or take the path less traveled.  Often times people feel stuck and on autopilot due to the expectations of society, family, friends, coworkers, etc and continue like a hamster running on a wheel.  I know that I felt that many, many times.  However, sometimes you need to stop running in order to gain more momentum.

For myself, this past year has been a year of many ups and downs, and I had many moments of learning/discovery ("mistakes") and now am applying for MFA Acting programs.  It is a different path and alternative path and I would not have gotten here without my "mistakes."  But I couldn't be more content with this decision and maybe another path will ultimately present itself through this whole process.

We all fall off the bike from time to time.  It is o.k. to scrape your knees...it reminds us that we are human. When you get back on the bike, which path are you going to take the next time?

Ride your bike, scrape your knees, pop a wheelie, ride the bike with no hands...it is your journey...enjoy the ride.

McGee  

Friday, October 19, 2012

The F Word- Feel it and Fight the Frustration

We have all felt this way one time or another. No the word that I am talking about is not that dirty word but it may make you say a few swear words every once in a while or many times depending on the day.  The word I am talking about is frustration.

We have all been frustrated with our lives, a certain situation, or a significant other.  Sometimes it is even frustrating being frustrated and it is a perpetual cycle.  You just cannot escape this feeling and this feeling consumes you.  

What is the most frustrating thing in your life holding you back from being more positive?

Yes, frustration holds us back.  We sometimes get consumed by what is going wrong, or this specific event and cannot let it go.  As an actor, I have to say at this moment, I am completely frustrated.  I feel stagnant as an artists and want to feel like I am making more progress  (both financially and artistically) and am not at this  place that I projected for myself years ago.  But where does this frustration come from? Some of it is societies expectations yes. But mostly it comes from ME. Yes, I just admitted it.  It comes from me.  Lately, I have been more introspective which is a great thing.  However, it forces me to dig deeper as a person which I hope will in the future shape my work as an actor.  

Once I admitted that I am frustrated and that this frustration lies within me.  I realized I must deal with it rather than have simmer inside like a pot ready to boil over.  Everyone has certain way of dealing with frustration.  How do you deal with this frustration?

One idea is find something that you enjoy.  I love to run because it clears my head and I feel like I am phyiscaly clearing my body.

Find a new activity.... I recently joined a new acting classes and every Wednesday I feel like I am engaging as an artist.  This helps me feel like I am making progress.

Third....reevaluate your goals and maybe make new ones.  It is ok to reexamine your goals.  Never in a million years would I think of doing film.  However, now it is a major focus and I have developed a decent reel and feel confident in my tv/film auditioning skills.  

You are allowed to be frustrated.  It is only human. But deal with your frustration and don't let it fester in you! Yell the f-word a million times if you have to.... !

 F***k, F8887,F$$$K!!!!

As always,

Live for today, love this moment, and laugh always!

McGee

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The dreaded R Word

Relationships...This can be a scary word to some people, but we have relationships with people every day.  The person who gives you a coffee, your parents, your boyfriend, your wife, your child. Some are more meaningful than others, but they are relationships that impact your daily life. Most can be positive and uplifting, but some can be toxic and dangerous.

My question for today: Why do we hold onto certain relationships? What keeps us from letting go?

I think the answer is comfort.  We find some sort of comfort and soothing feeling in familiarity.  When those people and relationships are great, it creates a positive and more energetic world for us.  However, there are those relationships that sometimes tear us apart and make us become more toxic ourselves.

As an actor, I think it is important to have a good core of people who you surround yourself with.  These are the people who support you through it all.  They make you laugh when you need to, listen to you vent when you had a bad day or audition, and make you a better person.  As the years progress, I have slowly realized this group is very important to me, and I hold these people to high standards.  Sometimes they don't match those standards and that is alright, but there are very few people who enter this circle. The few, the proud.   But once you are in the circle, you are good people in my book.Sometimes this circle changes and that is alright too. These were people were part of my journey for that moment in time.  I needed them for that moment.

As an actor, you are constantly fostering and building relationships with many different people.  Managers, agents, producers, casting directors, directors, and fellow actors.  It is important to be true to who you are, and these relationships will definitely prosper. When people do not stay to true to who they are as artist, they enter into toxic relationships that can sometimes lead to a spiraling downfall.

As I grow as a person and an artist, I had my fair share of both blissful and toxic relationships.  I have learned from all of them and they have helped me grow. Growth is always a good thing.

What relationship do you want to see expand and help you grow? For when you grow like a tree toward the sky you are closer to reaching your dreams.

Dream Big, and Laugh Hard and Don't be Afraid of Building a New Relationship!

Patrick

Monday, August 13, 2012

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Fear is something that stops us as human beings on a daily basis.  We are afraid of speaking up for a friend who is being verbally attacked, because we are afraid of what other people might think of us.  We are afraid of telling the person we have fallen in love with that we truly do love them for fear of them not feeling the same exact way.  We are afraid of leaving a job that we hate and gain no personal enjoyment out of, because we are afraid of leaving the comfort zone of stability that we have created.  Or we are afraid of the dark and the monsters that lie there!

 What are the monsters that you are afraid of in your life?

I cannot help but return renewed and inspired after working with a truly dedicated and focused group of young adult actors.  The source that sparked my inspiration was watching these actors be fearless and taking major risks in the work they were doing as teenagers.  Yes, teenagers! I was so self conscious as a teenager so to see them leap and take a risk in a safe environment was so inspiring.  I was reminded  and struck by the quote, "Fear is only as deep as the mind allows."  We are only afraid and do not take risks, because we think about these fears. So stop thinking about them and take that leap that you need. I know, I know easier said than done. 

As an actor, I am constantly concerned with what other people think about me as a person and a performer, and it has taken me twenty some odd years to start to not care about others and focus on me.  When I attempted to do that, I freed myself and became a better actor and took major risks in my auditions and my performances. But I am still working on it.

I find myself and watch other performers consumed by this fear of letting other people's opinions or ideas shape them and their careers. When you are concerned with, "oh they think I am too short, oh I cannot sing as well as that guy, oh this shirt makes me look......(fill in the blank)" your work suffers.  Those fears creep up all time for me especially at auditions when I am nervous.  Why am I nervous? Because I am more concerned about other people than myself and my work.  I am not nervous when I rock out to Billy Joel in the shower so why should I be nervous in an audition room.

   I am not saying that all people's opinions or ideas should not be taken into account.  Finding a good network of people whom make you a better person, which in turn will make your work fuller and more effective, is important.  Positive constructive feedback from a casting director, acting coach, or vocal coach can be extremely helpful.  However, as I have discovered, there is no right way in this business and you will get many conflicting opinions on everything from how to read sides to what not to wear.  My advice is to find what works best for you, because when you are confident in your own skin nothing else matters.

Also, keep a light on so that those monsters do not creep out of that dark place. How you say? Dream. Always Dream to keep your hopes high, because hope is that parachute that helps you when you take that first leap to something new.  Take that leap in your life, in your work, and in whatever you feel most passionate about.


As Always


Live for Today, Laugh Hard, Love this Moment!

McGee

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Silence of the Actor

si·lence (slns)
n.
1. The condition or quality of being or keeping still and silent.
2. The absence of sound; stillness.
3. A period of time without speech or noise.
4. Refusal or failure to speak out.


There is so much beauty in silence, and I often forget that.  I am constantly surrounded by noise in New York City whether it be from the city streets or from inside my apartment with the television or music.  There is hardly a moment of silence.  However, I am out of the city teaching in Rochester this week, and I am reminded of the beauty and power of silence.  It is so quiet here and  I love just sitting in the back yard looking up at the stars at night with very little noise. But how does silence affect our day to day living? 

As a nation we sometimes will take a moment of silence to honor a person, or sometimes when I am really angry I will not speak.  Silence can honor someone or tear someone apart.  Silence is so powerful that it can be a positive energy (+) or a negative  energy (-) depending on how it is utitlized.  Not saying anything can say so much especially to an audience, and as an actor, I often forget this. I just want to get to the lines, but this week I am reminded of the power in silence.

As I said, I am teaching an acting intensive this week for high school students, (who are rocking it this week) but I was struck by this idea of silence.  All too often actors want to talk whether it be about themselves when you are out at a bar or in the scene work(aka their lines). However, as I am coaching and working on monologues with these actors this week, I find myself saying "rememeber the power of silence" several times. 

Silence can be a powerful tool for an actor.  How an actor moves, what they are thinking can convey so much to an audience that sometimes words cannot express.  I think it would be helpful as I do my homework on the script like objectives, superobjectives, character relationships, to look for the moments in a script where silience/stillness may be effective. Maybe circle them or highlight them in order to be aware of them when rehearsing.

As always an actor needs to be fully aware of himself in life in order to bring that to his work, and I think silence can be a good tool for that as well.  Silence forces me to slow down, breathe, and stop. When I stop and breathe, I am more patient, happier, and able to reflect more on who I am as a person and what I want my life to be at that moment in time.

Silence helps remind me to Live for Today and Love this Moment and when I do that I am sure there is a moment where I will laugh hard as well. 

Live for Today, Laugh Hard, and Love This Moment and take a moment of silence for yourself! You deserve it!

Patrick

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Train Like a Warrior

An actor has to be on set for 12 hours, or do 8 shows a week, and the show always goes on. You have to have the stamina and the training to do what is expected of yourself as an actor, and an actor's training is never complete.

As an artist, I am constantly growing and evolving and that involves training.  An actor prepares is a famous book but the title has so much truth. An actor has to constantly be prepared and ready to go, so that when the opportunity arises you are ready to do the work.  This means taking acting classes, coachings, and voice lessons and so many other things.  From these lessons, you learn more about your craft and essentially more about yourself.

This week I had the privilege of meeting with a new acting coach, Caroline Thomas.  She has coached several famous people and has agreed to work with me.  I am excited to study acting once again and remember why I fell in love with this business.  We talked a great deal about shows we liked, different schools of acting, and actors whom we admired.  In the end, we reached the conclusion that Neil LaBute would be a good playwright for me since he has a contemporary voice that lends itself to both stage and film.  I am excited to be coaching with her and revisiting The Shape of Things by Mr. LaBute. I think in my upcoming weeks, I will have to explore and delve into myself which in turn will help my acting.  I know this training will help both me as a person and me as an actor.

I think training is good in all aspects of life.  I am currently doing the Insanity workout and yes it really is insane.  As much as it is good physical training, it is great mental training as well.  I am constantly pushing myself to go beyond my limits and tell myself that I can do this.  As an actor, I face rejection on a daily basis, but I have to constantly push myself and tell myself to keep on going and always believe in myself and my talent.  So thank you insanity for pushing me so that I can push myself in my career.

Your training as an actor is never finished, never complete.  One of my favorite things as an actor is to watch other actors work when I am on set or in a show. I learn so much by observation. So in turn, always remember to observe the world around you. You can learn so much from the people and things  right in front your face.   There will be many moments of doubt, but when those moments happen you go back to your training.  Train like a warrior with your whole body, heart and soul, and your success will follow.

Live for today, laugh hard, and love this moment!

Patrick


Friday, July 13, 2012

Live, Laugh, Love, and Always Dream!

Live for Today, Laugh Hard, Love This Moment has been my motto for a while now. I have to constantly remind myself of this each and every day or sometimes the universe has a way of doing it in its own way.  As an actor/teaching artist/customer service personnel, I interact with people on so many different levels.  Even in the worst circumstances of my day to day existence, if I go back to Live, Laugh, Love, I am reminded that everything will be ok.

Acting is hard and rewarding and I think both of those adjectives feed each other.  The work is rewarding because it hard and difficult, and when the work is hard and difficult it is rewarding.  I became an actor because I was a quiet, shy, observer who enjoyed watching people interact.  I think many of the people that I graduated high school with would be shocked to find out that I am actor since I was so quiet and reserved. However, I think that acting allows me to connect with humanity in a different way and allows me to come out of my reserved shell.

Live for Today: As for today, I had the awesome opportunity to meet with my manager, Jenn Lederer with The Dream Management.  In this acting business, there are two types of representation for actors: managers and agents.  I am lucky to be working with both.  A manager is a hopefully a little more hands on and helps to develop a person's career.  An agent's job is soley to seek out auditions and jobs for an actor.  I really like working with Jenn because she is a great motivator and a good person/human being.  I also love what the name of the management company means and stands for.  Yes for Dreaming and believing in your dreams!

Laugh Always: I think laughter feeds the soul and can give you a six pack in the process.  I think on many occasions I am funny and try to make people laugh and there are those people that can constantly make me laugh.  This week I had the opportuniy to see Once the musical on Broadway.  The play had so many funny, cute moments that I found myself laughing out loud (LOL).  This show was amazing and was storytelling at its finest and is the type of theater that I want to be involved in.  As an actor I think it is important to see other actors in action to see what you like, what you don't like, and to learn.  It is also important to see where the industry currently is and where it is heading. So thank you Once, thank you.

Love This Moment: In this moment, I am sitting in my New York City Aparment in Astoria.  I love the fact that I have a stable apartment in New York and that it is in Queens.  It is so family orientated around my apartment and it is not as busy as Manhattan.  I feel like I can relax a little rather than being constantly reminded that there are people around.  Plus the rent is cheaper in Queens.   As an actor you may have to work 50 million jobs to make rent but it allows me to create and work as an artist here in the city.  I am listening to music which feeds my soul and am drinking a nice cold beer which reminds me of how lucky I am.  As an actor I have the habit of always looking to the next thing rather than enjoying the exact moment in front of me.  It is something I am working on and will hopefully will get better at over time. Hopefully you can too.


Finally as an actor, I am always dreaming and looking for the next project which can be a good thing as well! I must be constantly challenging myself as an artist and my next endeavour will be a webseries called Unwasted Youth.   I will be playing a hall monitor! So pumped!! More news to follow!

As always remember to live, laugh, love, and dream!

Patrick G. McGee