Thu, May 15, 2008
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MARIANN’S MIDLIFE MAYHEM & MISCELLANY: This Just In...
(May 8, 2008)
*In television journalism, this has been what would be called “a slow news week” for me. Usually something happens during the week that triggers a desire to write about it, but this week, I just didn’t feel “the fire,” so I’ve been sitting in front of my computer and staring at a blank screen for a while now trying to figure out what to write about, and I keep coming up, well...blank.
Usually, I’d at least have completed a first draft of my column by now and I’d be putting a polish on it and doing some editing and checking for typos before e-mailing it in. But this has been a pretty mundane and uneventful week. Let’s see...
...I helped my sister pack some boxes for her move back to Chicago. I spent a lot of time on the phone with Iona and our entertainment attorney on a project we’re working on but can’t make an announcement about till all the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted on the contract. (Trying to build a little suspense here :-).
Hmmm...maybe I’m a little melancholy about the fact that I’ve got a birthday this week and that this will be the first Mother’s Day without my Mom? Could that be why I’ve been feeling a little sluggish?
Wait, a minute, I just thought of something to write about!
Last Friday night, my sister and I went to see WEBEIME,( http://www.myspace.com/blackgents ) a play which closed this weekend at NYC’s renowned Negro Ensemble Company and which starred two former soap opera luminaries: Donn Swaby, who played “Chad Harris” on Passions, and Lamann Rucker, who played “Garret Williams” on All My Children , “Marshall Travers” on As the World Turns, and most memorably co-starred in the Tyler Perry film, Why Did I Get Married?
Watching the powerful performances from all eight members of this phenomenally talented young (mid 20’s to mid 30’s) black male cast, I couldn’t help but think about the difficulties they would have to face in order to sustain acting careers which would allow them to continue developing their artistry, much less allow them to make a living.
With a birthday looming, and being a couple decades their senior, I also remember thinking how fortunate I was to have already weathered that storm and to still be as passionate as ever about continuing in my career as an actor.
How did I manage to do that in an industry renowned for hardship and difficulty in achieving even a modicum of success? That’s simple: commitment....like committing to not walking away from the computer until I got at least something down on paper.
Yep, it’s pretty simple, but it ain’t always easy. So that’s the lesson I want to share with you in this week’s column...and now I’m going to bed.
Hang in there! *
Mariann
www.mariannaalda.com
* As Rev. TD Jakes has said: “If you keep moving in the direction of your miracle, before you know it, your miracle will turn around and start chasing after you!
A veteran of the P&G soap opera, Edge of Night, (“DiDi Bannister,” 1981-84), Mariann Aalda’s 25-year body of work as a television, film and stage actress includes co-starring with Redd Foxx and Della Reese as their daughter, on the CBS sitcom, The Royal Family; three seasons opposite OJ Simpson, playing his wife on the HBO series, First & 10, and recurring on CBS’ Designing Women as the yuppie-from-hell, “Lita Ford,” opposite Meschach Taylor, with whom she also co-starred in the teen cult film, Class Act. Also a stand-up comedienne, she, along with Iona Morris, is co-creator/writer/producer of MOIST! – a “sexistential” musical comedy celebration of women in the throes of midlife (www.moistonstage.com) – utilizing her training as a hypnotherapist to bring new insight to the joys of being a “seasoned” woman. This column chronicles her own journey.
Usually, I’d at least have completed a first draft of my column by now and I’d be putting a polish on it and doing some editing and checking for typos before e-mailing it in. But this has been a pretty mundane and uneventful week. Let’s see...
...I helped my sister pack some boxes for her move back to Chicago. I spent a lot of time on the phone with Iona and our entertainment attorney on a project we’re working on but can’t make an announcement about till all the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted on the contract. (Trying to build a little suspense here :-).
Hmmm...maybe I’m a little melancholy about the fact that I’ve got a birthday this week and that this will be the first Mother’s Day without my Mom? Could that be why I’ve been feeling a little sluggish?
Wait, a minute, I just thought of something to write about!
Last Friday night, my sister and I went to see WEBEIME,( http://www.myspace.com/blackgents ) a play which closed this weekend at NYC’s renowned Negro Ensemble Company and which starred two former soap opera luminaries: Donn Swaby, who played “Chad Harris” on Passions, and Lamann Rucker, who played “Garret Williams” on All My Children , “Marshall Travers” on As the World Turns, and most memorably co-starred in the Tyler Perry film, Why Did I Get Married?
Watching the powerful performances from all eight members of this phenomenally talented young (mid 20’s to mid 30’s) black male cast, I couldn’t help but think about the difficulties they would have to face in order to sustain acting careers which would allow them to continue developing their artistry, much less allow them to make a living.
With a birthday looming, and being a couple decades their senior, I also remember thinking how fortunate I was to have already weathered that storm and to still be as passionate as ever about continuing in my career as an actor.
How did I manage to do that in an industry renowned for hardship and difficulty in achieving even a modicum of success? That’s simple: commitment....like committing to not walking away from the computer until I got at least something down on paper.
Yep, it’s pretty simple, but it ain’t always easy. So that’s the lesson I want to share with you in this week’s column...and now I’m going to bed.
Hang in there! *
Mariann
www.mariannaalda.com
* As Rev. TD Jakes has said: “If you keep moving in the direction of your miracle, before you know it, your miracle will turn around and start chasing after you!
A veteran of the P&G soap opera, Edge of Night, (“DiDi Bannister,” 1981-84), Mariann Aalda’s 25-year body of work as a television, film and stage actress includes co-starring with Redd Foxx and Della Reese as their daughter, on the CBS sitcom, The Royal Family; three seasons opposite OJ Simpson, playing his wife on the HBO series, First & 10, and recurring on CBS’ Designing Women as the yuppie-from-hell, “Lita Ford,” opposite Meschach Taylor, with whom she also co-starred in the teen cult film, Class Act. Also a stand-up comedienne, she, along with Iona Morris, is co-creator/writer/producer of MOIST! – a “sexistential” musical comedy celebration of women in the throes of midlife (www.moistonstage.com) – utilizing her training as a hypnotherapist to bring new insight to the joys of being a “seasoned” woman. This column chronicles her own journey.
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