Acting career

[lovelightwhales]

Hey beautiful onlineclarity community, I’ve been a long-time lurker and this is my virgin post. I would so appreciate your insight if you care to share some wisdom.

Bit of context: of my own volition, I’ve been drawn to performance since I was 2 when I asked my parents if I could start dance classes. Trained as a dancer 3-18, started acting training age 5. I went through one of the top MFA programs in the world- I’m Australian and moved over to NYC for it. Since graduating close to a decade ago (woah) I’ve hustled my ass off and had very sporadic work but mostly a lot of struggle and rejection. The few times I’ve worked professionally it’s been in kind of stupidly successful stuff, winning awards and working on big shows.

I’m currently 3 months out from one of these massive shows and haven’t been able to get representation or more work. It feels bizarrely like what I just did was a dream. After stumbling upon another post, I was inspired to ask the same question of Yi: ‘is it possible for me to have a satisfactory acting career?” I got 33.4.6 changing to 39. I read it as a pretty overtly ‘hell no, run for the hills’ answer, but would appreciate any thoughts.

I had a ponder and my intuition was telling me that based on where I’m at, discombobulated, lacking in confidence, pained at being unable to express my soul with freedom and flow, I would need to make changes. So I did a secondary cast: ‘if I change my mindset and approach, is it possible for me to have a satisfactory acting career?’ I got 51 unchanging. I’m unsure how to interpret this.

I would absolutely love any feedback members of the community feel like sharing, as I’m feeling quite lost and want to find my way to a state of alignment and service. Acting is the greatest feeling I’ve ever had, it’s where I feel at home, alive, where everything makes sense and I feel divine order in action- hence the casts, and this post. It’s really important to me. But I can’t ignore the sporadic reality of my acting career, no matter the effort I put in.

Thank you so much for your time and energy

 

[Mylife]

Hi

If this would be my cast I would interpret the answer as per the book I use (the complete I Ching - Alfred Huan) as follow

is it possible for me to have a satisfactory acting career?
33 - retreat - stop - it is time for the wise to retreat and stop - retreat is not being defeated but in some situations I look at it as if you take one step backwards to jump further- preserve your energy for acting at the right time - when time is not right then retreat and stop.
33.4 - superior person is found of retreat but a little fellow cannot do that. It says that the superior person can succeed in preserving his purity by retreating but the little person doesn’t succeed. The little fellow insist on advancing even when is not right to do so.
33.6 - elegant retreat, nothing is unfavourable, no doubt at all. This line represents the end of the situation, there is no more space to advance. Hence an elegant and mature retreat can bring favourable situations. Don’t doubt that.
39- hardship - difficulties in walking or advancing. This hex is telling you that there is danger in advancing. Be wise and stay still.
There is no way to avoid hardship in one’s life but if one has the right attitude, no matter what kind of hardship they can be overcome. Being supported by people is advisable hence is advice to see a great person and that will bring good fortune. When time is not auspicious one should keep still.

In my opinion, if this would be my cast with 33 retreat and 39 hardship I would think that maybe acting career will not be as successful as I would like to.

I hope the above helps you to understand your position better. Good luck.

 

[rosada]

If you believe certain hexagrams mean yes and others mean no then I think these hexagrams are answering “no”.

 

[Serendiplomat]

Hey beautiful onlineclarity community, I’ve been a long-time lurker and this is my virgin post. I would so appreciate your insight if you care to share some wisdom.

Bit of context: of my own volition, I’ve been drawn to performance since I was 2 when I asked my parents if I could start dance classes. Trained as a dancer 3-18, started acting training age 5. I went through one of the top MFA programs in the world- I’m Australian and moved over to NYC for it. Since graduating close to a decade ago (woah) I’ve hustled my ass off and had very sporadic work but mostly a lot of struggle and rejection. The few times I’ve worked professionally it’s been in kind of stupidly successful stuff, winning awards and working on big shows.

I’m currently 3 months out from one of these massive shows and haven’t been able to get representation or more work. It feels bizarrely like what I just did was a dream. After stumbling upon another post, I was inspired to ask the same question of Yi: ‘is it possible for me to have a satisfactory acting career?” I got 33.4.6 changing to 39. I read it as a pretty overtly ‘hell no, run for the hills’ answer, but would appreciate any thoughts.

I had a ponder and my intuition was telling me that based on where I’m at, discombobulated, lacking in confidence, pained at being unable to express my soul with freedom and flow, I would need to make changes. So I did a secondary cast: ‘if I change my mindset and approach, is it possible for me to have a satisfactory acting career?’ I got 51 unchanging. I’m unsure how to interpret this.

I would absolutely love any feedback members of the community feel like sharing, as I’m feeling quite lost and want to find my way to a state of alignment and service. Acting is the greatest feeling I’ve ever had, it’s where I feel at home, alive, where everything makes sense and I feel divine order in action- hence the casts, and this post. It’s really important to me. But I can’t ignore the sporadic reality of my acting career, no matter the effort I put in.

Thank you so much for your time and energy

Your relating hexagram, 39, Limping, represents what this situation feels like for you, "discombobulated, lacking in confidence, pained at being unable to express my soul with freedom and flow." Indeed, for a young actor aching to epxress her soul, this casting and the intial take on it here would seem to confirm your worst fears.

Not so fast, pardner.

The oracle's specific answer to your first question feels bizarrely as if you were already massively successful. And that, lovelightwhales, is the nudge the I Ching is giving you. "Retreat" is an hexagram that can be tough to understand, since rather than grok it from the inside, we're prone to being stuck on that literal "retreat!" image as of a cavalry turning tail and ceding the ground before a superior enemy.

There's something you've been pining for, working for, reaching for, every since you were two. In your view, you've been utterly unsuccessful. And the I Ching answers you as if you had already achieved massive success. Note that you didn't ask if you could earn a comfortable living acting; you asked if you could have a "satisfatory" career. Where does that satisfaction come from? You might be inspired to climb your mountain (bottom trigram) because the climb invigorates you and makes you feel alive, but sooner or later, there comes a time when you you've reached the summit, and can go no further. You can't actually climb the mountain into the heavens (top trigram). "I've been to the mountaintop," Prince once said to an intimate. "There's nothing there." There was something about his massive success, commercially and artistically, that discombobuled him. (In response he fired his band, the Revolution, and started over by himself.) You've been working towards success, and feel frustrated it's not going anywhere. You don't have success, and you want it. The oracle is saying, it's time to turn around then, and transform yourself.

If you do so, it helps us all.

Here's Peggy Jones (from her book on the I Ching) on line 6: "Those who take on responsibilty--great or small--with a quiet determination to see things through to their conclusion contribute a great deal to the common good. In the end we are all responsible for the culture that we create around us, and whether or not we contribute something of lasting value is up to us."

What would that mean in physical reality? How can you contribute to the culture, independently of a casting agent's caprice?

Your two dynamic lines in the fourth and sixth position are too sublime to stay stuck in the "no, fool, you'll never make it as an actor, give up now if you're wise!" interpretative camp.

One rule of thumb I've found useful is that the oracle was designed to give the best possible advice for each person, that would help that person grow on their journey.

The fourth line is an invitation to ponder the two ways you can take this. At present, it seems you've chosen the Inferior Man's way. That's great: Jung says somewhere that only by being the "Inferior Man" in reality can we really learn and grow. You're already doing this, so maybe the time is ripe to shift your perspective, as painful as that may be it's the best way. Reading your words one can't help but feel a throbbing passion, a real talent for acting. So what are going to do? What should you do?

The top line is--that's the stamp of approval you're looking for. In my view, the top line is saying that you're in such a position, ripe for growth that you really can't go wrong. You can't even go wrong by taking your situation all wrong, like one of the options in line 4. You've already done that, and now you're here reading this. All the ache and the apparent temptation to give it all up and take up a 9 to 5 job permanently is someting to be treated with respect; it's part of you.

What can change, what should change? There are small clues in your post: the reference to "stupid" massive commercial success, the reference to a top school of the arts. Is there a wiff of snobbishness? Hey there's nothing quite like being in a smash hit. I remember reading an interview with a woman who was in Mamma Mia (the musical). "Look around," she told one of her fellow actors on stage with her during the standing ovation, "take it all in. It doesn't get better than this." Of course it doesn't! Man, that show was amazing. But I can say as an audience member that I've gotten just as much masssive theater-going enjoyment out of small plays as from massive globetrotting productions like Mamma Mia (whose ticket sales, by the way, exceed that of all Star Wars movies combined.) From my point of view, tiny productions in tiny theaters with tiny budgets are on an equal footing with, say, Brian Cranston in All the Way on Broadway. His acting talent was so huge that when I saw that play in New York I was amazed. I had never watched Breaking Bad so had no idea who he was, but his talent was just radiating. Local actors who struggle to earn a living, who wonder if it's all worth it, have given me as much value in my life, and have blown me away just as much.

So what do you do next? Every person who attains that level has to consider where to now. You've dipped your toes in massive success, why doesn't it come up and envelope you? Milana Vayntrub comes to mind. I read somewhere about how after some early triumphs in stage acting, her career hit a wall. In response she got together with some friends and created some comedy videos. Which got her noticed. And got her a lucrative gig acting in commercials. She didn't have to ask permission for that from anybody. She didn't need to be chosen, she chose herself. Can we see some videos you produced online?

I imagine that anyone with the fire in their belly and a passion for art would really feel crestfallen at times face to the world's coldness.

Line 4, and the hexagram as a whole, says to keep those inferior elements at a distance (not let them rule, not all the time!), but treat them, not with scorn, not trying to be the ideal perfect person and actor, but with respect, you're depressed, you're lost and discombobulated, and these are facts as hard and undeniable as the random falling of the coins or yarrow stalks. The inferior elements are part of you, and if you treat them with respect they might join with you and your mission and make it more attainable because they lend their energy to your purpose. Only because of self-acceptance.

One can imagine someone like yourself, tremulous, full of passion, tentatively reaching out for support, and getting the back of our collective hand! How did you feel after reading the initital interpretations? Like shit? Ultimately, even if the I Ching community as a whole came together and celebrated your acting genius, if top representation from NYC signed you, you'd have to realize that you can't keep climbing forever. "I've been to the mountaintop. There's nothing there." 39, complete and total outer obstruction, leads some prisoners towards profound inner transformation, which also affects, to some degree or another, their outer life (I've just discovered the podcasts of "Red Onion Randy," an inmate serving a life sentence who fits that description.)

Can you, by accepting all your painful unmet longings as part of you, turn yourself around, and do something, anything (line 6 gives you license to do so), that doesn't require pre-validation from anyone else?

I love the theater myself, and at a talk-back at a local community theater recently an excellent, massively talented actor told us in the audience of a conversation she'd had with her husband, about is it worth it? Is it worth scrambling from my 9 to 5 to rehearsals, to making barely any money? I don't know: from the point of view of someobody occupying a seat in a 99-seat theater, I feel just as thrilled and blessed and filled with awe and wonder (not at every play, but at most, at this particular theater, ICT in Long Beach) at the power and the talent strutting the stage for us to enjoy. If that particular actor had decided, "it's not worth it," that would have been our (theater-going community) loss, but maybe some other community's gain. Could you find satisfaction in smaller-scale successes like community theater, or ther arenas, like Corporate america? It's hard being cast in even in a tiny play, of course, because there are more actors than productions. But could you find satisfaction then in making your own vehicles for your acting? I'm curious. I want to see you act. Maybe "turning yourself around" is just that, finding your own way, another channel for your talent, since the "traditiional" (as if) route from NYC's top art school to blockbusting Broadway successs has come to its natural limit. I read recently on LinkedIn a whole thread about actors being much in demand in corporate america, something about how they know how to connect with audiences and inspire passion in others. This particular piece is not it, but it does convey a spark you may find useful (not that it would mean extinguishing your fire for acting!): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141120141212-18431032-acting-in-corporate-america/

All in all, this casting in no way represents a "No!" to your dreams of acting.

However, that you probably took it that way is great.

Embrace that part of you as an imprortant and worthy part of you, with respect; but not with kowtowing deference: your adult self is in charge. Your adult self knows there are other things it can do with your talent. Not the thing you've been aiming for (straight up massive success), but maybe straight up massive success that just looks utterly different than what you thought it would. (This is from the top line.) I tell you, I've been gobsmacked by the talent on stage in tiny community theaters, and on video in tiny shoe-string videos. It would be a tragedy for someone with that kind of talent that I've seen for real on stage here at a theater I could bicycle to, to give up because somebody in a position of power hasn't chosen them. You gotta earn a living. And you gotta act. You just gotta find another way to do both.