So this is acting?
“I guess this is what I’ve dreamed of my whole life..”
- Lucas Brickman, Laughter on the 23rd Floor
I finally got what I wanted, although from an unexpected source. I’ve said that I wanted be cast as a real character, and not a caricature. But as it turns out, I’m having the damndest time getting my mind around playing Lucas Brickman, my role in Laughter on the 23rd Floor at Little Theatre of Virginia Beach. We open in less than a month and Lucas feels as foreign to me as anyone I’ve ever met.
Lucas is human. Shy, awkward and in awe of the company he is now keeping as a new writer on “The Max Prince” show on NBC.
It should be simple! But for some reason, I continue to miss the marks. I’m not shy enough, I’m not awkward enough, I’m not in awe enough. When I am in awe, I’m not shy, etc.
I don’t know why I’m so frustrated by the character. I think a lot of it has to do with the mask of the character being so thin. Lucas isn’t a character. He’s real, and there’s too much of me that comes out in his vulnerabilities. I hate it.
I hate hearing my voice coming through while rehearsing. I curse, swear, mutter, etc., etc., under my breath after almost every interjection (which is what Lucas provides for the majority of the show). I don’t want it to be me out there on the stage; the very throught of it frightens me.
But, I have to grow and become Lucas Brickman; the shy, awkward and awestruck junior comedy writer. I have to become him, and I have to be believable.
Yes, it’s really much about nothing; but it often feels like the weight of the world is on me to create this character, a real person, from very little.
“if I’m going to prove myself, I’ve got to do it fast…”
No responses yet
