An Actor’s Life for Me

 

Here’s the thing

I don’t like to be entertained

But informed, inspired, ennobled

These will do, and aren’t

They grand

(they are)

But simply to watch something and laugh

Or to be provoked for provocation’s sake

To be piqued

To be set on a train that has no destination

We go ‘round and round is all

(the frustration of my trainset)

Does this make me humorless

Sure

Maybe

I don’t know

 

I laugh often, because life is funny

But I don’t require life to

Entertain me

I didn’t buy a ticket

Not for that

And here’s the irony (one more?)

I don’t mind entertaining

 

I want others to feel satisfied

To enjoy a good story

Told well

Sing to a winsome song

Be moved for the occasion,

Nothing more

(it is a great deal)

 

A performer

Who doesn’t need performing

By performers

One side of the theatre that I’m good on

The other side, ennui

Give me somebody to dance for

Yeah, that’s it

Yeah!

That’s it!

Charlie Brown and panophobia

But I’m not scared

Bring on the audience

No stage fright here

 

I always knew my lines

And held the notes in place

‘Til just before

The song was over

 

C L Couch

 

 

By The Walt Disney Company – Original theatrical trailer, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30115135

“The Music and the Mirror” by Marvin Hamlisch in A Chorus Line