So…I’m not on TV….bitch…yeah. I was last year, a game show on Nickelodeon called Bet the House in which I acquired the title of Darian the “Sound FX” Guy. But that’s neither here nor there. Alas those days are over which brings me to my thesis: DOWNTIME. What do you do with your downtime?
In college at NYU, during my sophomore year, one of my acting teachers suggested that I do more things then just act, like “direct or write”. What?!! Scoff, scoff, nose up. “How dare ye!” I thought. Did she think I didn’t have what it took to be an actor?! Or that I was incapable of making it solely as an actor? Blasphemy! In retrospect, she probably just saw foresaw that my passion and drive would need more outlets to appease my creative restlessness.
In any event, the following the year, I somehow in my young self righteousness mustered the courage to take what she said to heart. Or at least entertain the idea. So, I directed a play and took a playwriting class. Directing was cool but of course, I HAD to be in the show too, so by the end of the run I was exhausted. From the playwriting class I ended up writing what would be my first solo piece entitled Fallen Patriots, which was produced by the Tisch undergraduate drama department my final year at NYU. It later went on to have limited runs at the Access Theatre, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC Fringe, and is now on the roster for Young Audiences New York. Writing that piece opened the flood gates to a new creative path that got me in gear to establish myself as a solo performer, following the footsteps of other self-made artists like Whoopi Goldberg and Jon Leguizamo. Since Fallen Patriots I’ve penned 3 other solo pieces that have all been fortunate enough to get produced and receive full productions.
Then somewhere, sometime after the depressing 2004 election results, Bush inspired me to write political poems. More so for my own sanity more than anything, and the unyielding need to speak out about hypocrisy, I started hitting up the NYC poetry venues. In general throughout my career I must say, I’ve been very, very, very, very, lucky to have people genuinely interested in what I have to say and the stories that I like to share. This by no means is a given, and for that I’m humbled and grateful, as I certainly don’t take people’s willingness to listen for granted. And listen they did! In 2006 I was on the Slam Team for the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and in 2007 was crowned the Urbana Grand Slam Champion for the Bowery Poetry Club.
All the while, amidst my work on solo shows and performance poetry endeavors, I keep auditioning, and on good days I book a play or a land a TV spot. In a nut shell I keeps busy! This certainly isn’t how I imagined my career when I first arrived in the Big Apple, and I had always been a believer in the “jack of all traits, master of none” philosophy. But the nature of the acting industry is stop and go, wait and run. Success happens in waves, and often times your wading in a sea of uncertainty about where and when the next gig will come. The infamous down time. My advise to anyone reading this, that’s still on the acting grind, is to fill your downtime with creativity. Keep your artistic juices flowing by any means necessary. If you sing, play music, start a fucking band. If you’re funny, do stand up, improv, or sketch comedy. If you write, crank out a play, a novel, a screenplay, or a poem. But be sure if you can, to get your butt on stage somehow. I personally, write in order to perform and what I love most about performing poetry, is the basic fact that I can write something, and perform it that very same week in front of a crowd. It’s instant gratification baby, without waiting to be cast in something, or waiting for someone to produce my solo show. It keeps me connected with simply being on stage and vibing with the people. Which also really helped for auditions, because instead of being rusty from the last time you did a play, you’d go in feeling pretty confident about the fact that you rocked the house in front of a hundred people at the poetry spot the night before.
So…In conclusion…I’m a reluctant renaissance man. That’s right, I’m the new Sammy Davis Jr. At the end of the day I really just want to act for a living. But the reality of the situation is that I’ve been given a great opportunity to perform for a living, juggling these three mediums of acting, solo performance, and spoken word, which is actually pretty dope. Because when the downtime rears its ugly head, I never feel stagnant, I’m never twiddling my thumbs, waiting for my agent to call. Because there are a variety of other avenues for me to get my shine on, and make a name for myself. So get your shine on people! Believe it or not, I’ve actually booked a number of acting gigs from my work as a poet. Now if only I were a rapper!!!!!
Love Supreme,
