Tales from a Time of Covid 19 – Sixth in a series

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

B., a wonderful actress of my acquaintance, writes eloquently about her life right now:

As an actress, it’s been virtually impossible to find work. There’s NO theater. There have been a few movie and commercial auditions in the last month, which I filmed here at home and sent in, but I have not booked anything.

I took early social security last year … thank God, as over the summer my teaching job stopped. I also had a roommate.

I teach movement for actors. That has saved me.. in many ways. But I have to teach online, so everything’s changed… How I teach…What I teach… it’s frustrating AND creative.

I don’t know what I’m going to do when all this clears up. I’d love to work onstage again, but there will probably be even less opportunities, as so many theatres will be shut down by then. And at my age, there are fewer roles available.

I’d love to do something on my own, I just don’t know what!

But that would be the thing to do, and I’ve been a little obsessed with the idea.

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”