"Come rain, come shine, come snow, come sleet..."

Inevitably, a new acquaintance is going to ask, "What are you doing in Prague?" Initially, I told people I came to teach English. This is true. But when they press further and ask where I'm teaching, it requires a mangled explanation of how and why I'm not. Then there may be mention of editing, serving, bookstore-ing, etc.-- however much of the cacophony seems relevant. It's an overly complicated answer to a simple question. And then the other day, my roommate introduced me to a friend.

"This is my roommate," she said. "She's an actress."

Well, that was easy. And far more awesome. I do wonder at claiming the title when I'm not acting regularly, but then, when has that ever applied to such a profession?

The last couple weeks meant acting in student projects, which I really enjoyed. I played a mother twice, once of an 8-year-old. I get that it's feasible I could have one of those, but it was pretty weird, especially while talking with the kid's real mom. Motherhood is a mysterious world, but reading the script I could hear my mother's voice in that tone and knew exactly where to go with it.

The directors have been very hands off. At first I expected a lot more direction, but finally started running full force with whatever seemed right-- which led to that old familiar feeling of being able to conquer the world. Aha, so that's where that went.

On one shoot I was just starting to tap out, getting sick as I finally faced the consequences of trying to pack too much into a week, and had to hunch over or curl up between takes because it hurt to stand. In the back of my mind I heard the voice of my high school drama teacher pitching "the show must go on!" This was a woman who taught us it was possible to do lifts and jumps on a live stage with broken limbs, so a stomach ache wouldn't have impressed her at all. It probably worked to my advantage, since the script was about a really bad morning and I shouldn't have looked too chipper, anyway.


Don Lockwood: What's your lofty mission in life that lets you sneer at my humble profession?
Kathy Selden: I'm an actress...on the stage.
Don Lockwood: Oh, on the stage, well I'd like to see you act, what are you in right now? I could brush up on my English, or bring along an interpreter, that is if they'd let in a *movie* actor.