Blog # 7 My Acting Debut By Ron Pasowicz
What
an adventure of traveling and performing in a foreign land!
While
we were stateside, I was amazed at how many rehearsals were required for the
play Prodigal! We performed this 2-Act play here in Oceanside, California,
before taking it to Ukraine in October of 2018.
At
first, I was “all nerves” and a bit apprehensive, as this was my first time
acting on stage in my life! Besides that, we were going to take it to Ukraine,
too! Wow! When we left the USA, I had all of the normal worries. Was I any
good? Would the play be accepted? Would anyone even show up? A lot of European
countries have many more performances and are much more sophisticated, or so I
had heard. You could say that I had my doubts about my undertaking!
When
we got there, we performed in 4 different locations and 3 different cities. One
of the theatres was very old. All of the other actors, the Director and the
support crew (make-up and running crew) were fantastic! I don’t think that even
professional plays could have had better support. We had our challenges, like
being in a foreign country with a different language, and performing in a
theatre that was almost 100 years old! However, the members of our technical
team did an unbelievable job.
Our
Ukrainian hosts did a great job in setting up and scheduling everything. They
spent many hours communicating and staying in touch with our American team
leaders, Don & Beverly. We have been asked to come back again, which is a
good sign. They would welcome us back with the same play or another one. The
end result of our tour was that over 700 people came out to see the play, and
everyone was very excited about it.
Many
university students enjoyed it and came to meet with us at a coffee shop
afterwards, to practice their English and to discuss the play.
All
of my worry and nervousness not only disappeared, but it gave me a desire to
return to Ukraine or another foreign country and maybe even perform again. I
believe that a professional theatrical performance can reach many people,
leaving them encouraged and uplifted. It is a great way to have a
cross-cultural experience and even make new friends around the world.
When
you travel and work with people in another country, besides the new friends,
the cultural differences give you the desire to learn more. Travel is an
education. You learn about the people and they learn about you, finally
realizing that they are not that different from you! I wish that everyone could
have the opportunity to travel to another country, not so much as a vacation,
but as more of a cultural exchange of ideas and friendship.
I
so look forward to my next performance in acting or in a support role, especially
doing it abroad with Hidden Treasure Productions!
It
was fun and exciting!
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