I was an actor and this is my story (and it could be yours too…)
After a long day at the university, I went out for drinks with a few good friends. One of them, Yorgos (amusing guy!) started talking about one of his hobbies, theater. Instantly, I remembered of my uncle, a famous actor in the 70s. I always admired how confident he was on stage. “I take part in a very nice and cool amateur theater group”, Yorgos said. “So we’re in this team and we do theater performances every year. Everyone is really friendly and we’ve bonded a lot. It’s fun! Why don’t you join us?”. Being introverted and shy, the idea of socializing with strangers was a nightmare for me. “It’s all about practice and you’ll see, the feeling is amazing. You’ll learn a lot and meet many interesting people!”, he said. “Ok, I’ll give it a go!”, I replied.
The rehearsals of the play started and I was pretty anxious about it! It was “Romeo & Juliet”. They offered me the role of the priest. It was a small role, but it was my first role ever and I was so excited! Then, something magical happened. Right on the moment I got on stage for the first time all my stress, my shyness, my negative thoughts, transformed into energy & eagerness.
I could never imagine I would be an actor, but there I was, exactly 10 years after my first play.
We did more than 200 theater performances all over Greece with an amazing multicultural team.
Almost the same team as we started.
We stayed together, worked together, traveled together, laughed together, cried together. Theater and acting has become our favorite hobby and best friend!
I was so dedicated to my passion, I couldn’t wait to go to the rehearsals. Even when I was sick, I wanted to improve my role, interact with my co-actors and get inspired from our brilliant director, Mr. Yannis Degaitis.
I never guessed that I would get the chance to play Romeo, the biggest role, in the same play I had the smallest role 10 years before. This time in: “Romeo & Juliet”- Improv Parody Version, I was able to express myself almost completely naked to more than 200 people!
I never thought that acting would transform me so much as a person: From very introverted, I became open, social and extroverted, with more self-confidence & creativity.
When I moved to the Netherlands, I dreamed of creating a theater group, like the groups I joined in Greece. A multicultural theater community where everyone is welcome.
My aim is to help people use theater as at tool for personal development in a fun way, express themselves, be more creative and improvise more. Through acting, you can become more confident and active in your everyday life.
Also, theater will help you overcome the fears of public speaking, interact and communicate better. Basically, you become a better person! Yes, that’s the magic of Acting. That’s what I’ve learned and now I want to pass it on! Here you can see an interview I gave to my friend from Mikadventures.
I keep devoting my life to Theater.
Join me on this exciting journey!
George
Act Attack Theater founder
Dear Act Attack community,
As you know, all our face-to-face theatre courses and shows are postponed until the government allows again cultural activities. However, we keep planning new offline courses for 2021 and as always we keep our online classes, to keep you creative & motivated during these challenging times. Theater is and will always be in our hearts, but there is nothing more important than life, health and safety.
In this difficult period, take the opportunity to more deeply connect with yourselves and your loved ones. Realize how valuable it is to appreciate the little things & how important is to express your love to your family and friends without physically touching them, but by ”hugging” them with sweet words, smile and gratitude.
Now, we need each other more than ever. Let’s help our communities anyway we can, even with little things. Not in theory, but in practice. Now, let’s ACT. To make your staycation more pleasant, we carefully selected a series of links that you may find useful, practical or entertaining.
I carefully selected some links you might find useful:
Relaxing music from Act Attack’s Spotify:
If you want to listen to mixtapes and discover new music: Casetophono
Finally, we would like to give special thanks to the following artists who were so gracious as to let us use their photos via Unsplash.com: Andrew Neel, Ben White, Elli O, Remi Walle, Stephanie Leblanc, Louis Hansel, Vadim Fomenok and Will Francis.
Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section – sharing is caring! Let’s stay calm and better days will come!
With love,
George – Act Attack founder
