On Feeling Boxed in By Age and Sex As a Creative Performer

Tales of an increasingly invisible actor

Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-in-gray-top-looking-lonely-7273319/

I have mentioned before that for the past few months I have been taking an acting class. It started as a “what the heck, why not” moment, to see if I could still have fun with something I pursued fairly seriously when I was younger.

There isn’t historically a lot going on in my city for local amateur dramatics, and as someone who went to acting school in New York I have felt a bit adrift/cut off from that part of my former life over the years.

I wanted to see if I could still enjoy it organically, without any real goal or hope of it leading anywhere. Plus, the class is exploring a technique I had never studied before, and I am in the phase of midlife where I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone.

I am not quite the oldest person in the class, and different people drop in and out, but in general I am in the minority as a person over thirty, never mind forty.

This is not hugely surprising but as the class isn’t affiliated with a school or group I had hope it might become a mixed age group so I wouldn’t always feel like the odd (old) woman out.

My teacher in my current class is in his twenties. He is a supportive and kind teacher, but also…