So here's some background info about me:
My name is Cara.
I'm 29 years old and I live in Iowa City, IA with my husband of 4 years, Nick.
Nick and I met at the University of Iowa our senior year of college and it was love at first site. He graduated in business, I in theatre arts and international studies. After a stint of long distance while I lived in France for just under a year, Nick and I moved to Los Angeles for 4 years so that I may pursue my lifelong dream of being a professional actor.
Fast forward 4 years because I don't have much to show for it.
LA didn't do it for me. Granted, as I tend to always do, I let my focus go to less important aspirations such as making money through managing a salon chain or working as a personal assistant. Being a professional "foodie" and lover of fine wine and spirits, which as an actor in LA---this can be detrimental to your career. It's a tough reality but your body and personal appearance means so much.
At one point I decided that I was gonna start over, quit the business jobs, and become a waitress and work nights and weekends to free my day time for acting. But that was 3 years in.... I was already burnt out on spending all of my money on headshots and begging people I never saw to give me a chance to drink a cup of coffee in front of a camera for a 10 second shot in a commercial. Not to mention how crazy I got listening to my restaurant coworkers about their auditions, workshops, webseries BLAH BLAH BLAH. It is all around all the time. Does anybody talk about ANYTHING else????
This is NOT why I pursued the arts my whole life. This was just not working for me.
Things took a turn when one day in the spring of 2013, Nick told me about U of Iowa's recruiting efforts for their MBA. He did think about grad school for a while and took the required test for MBA school and sent the scores to Iowa. The faculty emailed him about scholarships and opportunities for alumni in the program and that they could expedite his application and waive the application fee. "So why not?" I told him. After all, I was clearly having an artistic dilemma and questioning my place in LA. I missed the stage. I missed the cast chemistry and daily rehearsals....Is film really for me? Perhaps it was time for my dear husband to pursue his dream, as that definitely did not include a 2 hour work commute everyday in the "Valley" in bumper to bumper traffic to a less than interesting business that didn't pay enough.
Low and behold a few weeks later I was putting in my notice at the restaurant and packing up my things for Iowa City.
So we embarked on a two year grad school journey: I worked crazy hours as a catering director for all size events and weddings and Nick studied crazy hours on top of his classes. And it was a tough two years. It's not to be confused with bad, but it was hard. Despite living together and being married, we actually didn't get to spend a lot of quality time together and my hours at work just didn't allow for much extra curricular activities. Needless to say, my acting career was on a definite two year hold.
There were many new positives in my life during the grad school journey: I was introduced to hot yoga and I'm completely addicted. I've made tons of new friends and connected with old friends. I experienced the non-student side of Iowa City and despite a while of denial, this actually can be a great place to be if you're not a student.
As Nick's grad school came to an end in the spring of this year, we went through a roller coaster of questions about where we would be come June, what city would be our next home? And after all of the job interviews, revised resumes, and stress of affording a costly move, it turns out the best starting career option for Nick is, well, right here in Iowa. There's a rude awakening. So, no Chicago? No New York? But how do I .....?
Well here's how.
I'm very fortunate to say that I was able to leave my full time job once Nick started work. I took the opportunity as a chance for me to make the best of my artistic career (which had me starving for creativity after 2 years of nothing) here in Iowa City. Day by day I'm learning of the growing theatre community here that has a wonderful group of people who are just aching to make Iowa City a destination theatre town. I am constantly introduced to new people who are passionate about creating and producing quality work. And as one who wants to be a positive and contributing member to this community, I've decided to keep myself accountable as an artist. I commit my days to studying, practicing, and being available to any and all performing opportunities that I can get. I've signed up for singing lessons, host weekly play readings, act in free staged readings, and work hard to maintain my body (which is proving to be a struggle, as usual). I've already signed contracts to act in a touring play for 10 days in November and then again for 2 months nationally in January! I'd say for a college town in Iowa, I'm doing pretty good.
But I know myself. I know how I can procrastinate and make excuses. I'm only human. I mean, what's just one more episode of Dr. Who? I mean, I really should clean the house instead of working out... oh and those lines... yeah I'll memorize those next week. 3 months out of the day job and I'm battling the with conscience that got me here in the first place.
So you can probably guess where this is going.... what else do you do when you start a new life shift? You start a blog. I've started blogs before, never truly committed to them. But this one has got to be different, this is a true test to myself about if I really can commit to an artistic career. I don't really know what my writing will be about or how often, but I suppose it's a way to check in with myself, reflect on how I'm doing, how I'm making this work. I am holding myself accountable.
Starting now.
My name is Cara.
I'm 29 years old and I live in Iowa City, IA with my husband of 4 years, Nick.
Nick and I met at the University of Iowa our senior year of college and it was love at first site. He graduated in business, I in theatre arts and international studies. After a stint of long distance while I lived in France for just under a year, Nick and I moved to Los Angeles for 4 years so that I may pursue my lifelong dream of being a professional actor.
Fast forward 4 years because I don't have much to show for it.
LA didn't do it for me. Granted, as I tend to always do, I let my focus go to less important aspirations such as making money through managing a salon chain or working as a personal assistant. Being a professional "foodie" and lover of fine wine and spirits, which as an actor in LA---this can be detrimental to your career. It's a tough reality but your body and personal appearance means so much.
At one point I decided that I was gonna start over, quit the business jobs, and become a waitress and work nights and weekends to free my day time for acting. But that was 3 years in.... I was already burnt out on spending all of my money on headshots and begging people I never saw to give me a chance to drink a cup of coffee in front of a camera for a 10 second shot in a commercial. Not to mention how crazy I got listening to my restaurant coworkers about their auditions, workshops, webseries BLAH BLAH BLAH. It is all around all the time. Does anybody talk about ANYTHING else????
This is NOT why I pursued the arts my whole life. This was just not working for me.
Things took a turn when one day in the spring of 2013, Nick told me about U of Iowa's recruiting efforts for their MBA. He did think about grad school for a while and took the required test for MBA school and sent the scores to Iowa. The faculty emailed him about scholarships and opportunities for alumni in the program and that they could expedite his application and waive the application fee. "So why not?" I told him. After all, I was clearly having an artistic dilemma and questioning my place in LA. I missed the stage. I missed the cast chemistry and daily rehearsals....Is film really for me? Perhaps it was time for my dear husband to pursue his dream, as that definitely did not include a 2 hour work commute everyday in the "Valley" in bumper to bumper traffic to a less than interesting business that didn't pay enough.
Low and behold a few weeks later I was putting in my notice at the restaurant and packing up my things for Iowa City.
So we embarked on a two year grad school journey: I worked crazy hours as a catering director for all size events and weddings and Nick studied crazy hours on top of his classes. And it was a tough two years. It's not to be confused with bad, but it was hard. Despite living together and being married, we actually didn't get to spend a lot of quality time together and my hours at work just didn't allow for much extra curricular activities. Needless to say, my acting career was on a definite two year hold.
There were many new positives in my life during the grad school journey: I was introduced to hot yoga and I'm completely addicted. I've made tons of new friends and connected with old friends. I experienced the non-student side of Iowa City and despite a while of denial, this actually can be a great place to be if you're not a student.
As Nick's grad school came to an end in the spring of this year, we went through a roller coaster of questions about where we would be come June, what city would be our next home? And after all of the job interviews, revised resumes, and stress of affording a costly move, it turns out the best starting career option for Nick is, well, right here in Iowa. There's a rude awakening. So, no Chicago? No New York? But how do I .....?
Well here's how.
I'm very fortunate to say that I was able to leave my full time job once Nick started work. I took the opportunity as a chance for me to make the best of my artistic career (which had me starving for creativity after 2 years of nothing) here in Iowa City. Day by day I'm learning of the growing theatre community here that has a wonderful group of people who are just aching to make Iowa City a destination theatre town. I am constantly introduced to new people who are passionate about creating and producing quality work. And as one who wants to be a positive and contributing member to this community, I've decided to keep myself accountable as an artist. I commit my days to studying, practicing, and being available to any and all performing opportunities that I can get. I've signed up for singing lessons, host weekly play readings, act in free staged readings, and work hard to maintain my body (which is proving to be a struggle, as usual). I've already signed contracts to act in a touring play for 10 days in November and then again for 2 months nationally in January! I'd say for a college town in Iowa, I'm doing pretty good.
But I know myself. I know how I can procrastinate and make excuses. I'm only human. I mean, what's just one more episode of Dr. Who? I mean, I really should clean the house instead of working out... oh and those lines... yeah I'll memorize those next week. 3 months out of the day job and I'm battling the with conscience that got me here in the first place.
So you can probably guess where this is going.... what else do you do when you start a new life shift? You start a blog. I've started blogs before, never truly committed to them. But this one has got to be different, this is a true test to myself about if I really can commit to an artistic career. I don't really know what my writing will be about or how often, but I suppose it's a way to check in with myself, reflect on how I'm doing, how I'm making this work. I am holding myself accountable.
Starting now.
