At one point Whittaker had 3 companions traveling with her, and just as your kids said, they were just there for the ride, and the writers could have gave them more to do. The Doctor has traveled with the same number of companions at various times in the past, but they were allowed to grow and become their own characters.
While there are many reasons why the show went bad, I think the main reason is because they rewrote the back story of The Doctor, and in the process, decimated decades of established continuity, so the fans turned against the show.
Is your daughter actively pursuing that career path?
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TheHeadlessHorseman
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Murfreesboro
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Re: 50 YEARS AGO
Depends on what you call active. She majored in theater and minored in ancient Greek, so, no obvious career path for her. Straight out of college she was working with the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, but that was the summer of 2019, and then the lockdowns happened. She's spent the last several years writing plays and revising a novel she started in high school, but her dad is about to pull the plug on subsidizing her. At first, of course, it was impossible to look for work, but we are past that time now.
It's hard because of how things changed over covid. When she auditioned again for Nashville Shakes, she couldn't do it in person. She was required to send in a digital audition. Well, every other actor in the country did that, too, because all the theaters had been shut down. They had a record number of applicants. She never got a call back, which she resented since she'd worked with them before. She also resented the method of auditioning, since she feels at a disadvantage on tape. And she lacked the more sophisticated equipment some people have.
This spring, just to get back on a stage, she auditioned for Murfreesboro Little Theater's production of Much Ado about Nothing. Of course that is an amateur group, but she was cast as Don John (the antagonist). They do the gender bending casting fairly often nowadays, and she's played men before, although to my eyes she always presents as a female. Whatever. She was good in the role, brought a lot of motivation to a part which is often just sort of there. One night a local college prof told her she was the best Don John he'd ever seen. Somewhat to our surprise, a couple of weeks ago she won one of the annual prizes they give out for local theater. Hers was designated the outstanding supporting performance of the season.
She had done theater in high school, but I was shocked when she chose that career path in college. I remember watching her in her first college production, in which she held the stage solo for about five minutes. And I watched her with terror, because I realized she was good at it. She comes from an academic family (I have a PhD, her father's father had a PhD, and her older brother has a PhD), and she herself was a brilliant student all the way through. She was class valedictorian, a National Merit Scholar, and earned an International Baccalaureate Diploma in high school with higher marks than anyone else in the history of her school. She also earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, supposedly their equivalent of Eagle Scout. Yet she was waitlisted at Vanderbilt, her first choice school and our family's traditional school. She was crushed, fell into an actual depression. She thought she'd failed. After that, I think she decided she was done playing other people's games. She decided to do whatever the hell she wanted to do, since playing by the book hadn't gotten her what she'd been led to believe it would. (She excelled in college, too, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.)
She's appeared in a couple of films made by college friends, the sort of thing that gets entered into competitions, and she's done a podcast with these same people, a sort of radio play, that I believe drops this weekend. But she's going to have to find a way to bring in money while she pursues her dream.
It's hard because of how things changed over covid. When she auditioned again for Nashville Shakes, she couldn't do it in person. She was required to send in a digital audition. Well, every other actor in the country did that, too, because all the theaters had been shut down. They had a record number of applicants. She never got a call back, which she resented since she'd worked with them before. She also resented the method of auditioning, since she feels at a disadvantage on tape. And she lacked the more sophisticated equipment some people have.
This spring, just to get back on a stage, she auditioned for Murfreesboro Little Theater's production of Much Ado about Nothing. Of course that is an amateur group, but she was cast as Don John (the antagonist). They do the gender bending casting fairly often nowadays, and she's played men before, although to my eyes she always presents as a female. Whatever. She was good in the role, brought a lot of motivation to a part which is often just sort of there. One night a local college prof told her she was the best Don John he'd ever seen. Somewhat to our surprise, a couple of weeks ago she won one of the annual prizes they give out for local theater. Hers was designated the outstanding supporting performance of the season.
She had done theater in high school, but I was shocked when she chose that career path in college. I remember watching her in her first college production, in which she held the stage solo for about five minutes. And I watched her with terror, because I realized she was good at it. She comes from an academic family (I have a PhD, her father's father had a PhD, and her older brother has a PhD), and she herself was a brilliant student all the way through. She was class valedictorian, a National Merit Scholar, and earned an International Baccalaureate Diploma in high school with higher marks than anyone else in the history of her school. She also earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, supposedly their equivalent of Eagle Scout. Yet she was waitlisted at Vanderbilt, her first choice school and our family's traditional school. She was crushed, fell into an actual depression. She thought she'd failed. After that, I think she decided she was done playing other people's games. She decided to do whatever the hell she wanted to do, since playing by the book hadn't gotten her what she'd been led to believe it would. (She excelled in college, too, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.)
She's appeared in a couple of films made by college friends, the sort of thing that gets entered into competitions, and she's done a podcast with these same people, a sort of radio play, that I believe drops this weekend. But she's going to have to find a way to bring in money while she pursues her dream.
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TheHeadlessHorseman
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Re: 50 YEARS AGO
It certainly sounds like she has the tools to have a good career, hopefully she can find a balance that works for her until the right opportunity comes her way.
I know that a lot of young people today struggle with finding decent employment, even people with the highest academic achievements are struggling and can't get a position in their chosen field, and they just get work where they can.
I know that a lot of young people today struggle with finding decent employment, even people with the highest academic achievements are struggling and can't get a position in their chosen field, and they just get work where they can.
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Murfreesboro
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Re: 50 YEARS AGO
I think her goal is a career in regional theater. She doesn't like big cities and has no interest in being famous. She just wants to do the work she loves and have a middle class life in a community that feels comfortable to her.
In this respect she might have been influenced by stories I've told her about my family. My paternal grandfather, who died long before I was born, was a singing actor who toured with the popular productions of his day. But my grandmother didn't appreciate being left at home with little kids, so he settled down to manage a theater in Greenville, Mississippi, where my father grew up from the age of three. Since his day, there have been a number of my cousins who have done similar things. One of them spent a career with the Dallas Opera. I mean, we hear about the mega stars, but there are a great many people carving out lives in the arts for themselves in much more modest ways.
In this respect she might have been influenced by stories I've told her about my family. My paternal grandfather, who died long before I was born, was a singing actor who toured with the popular productions of his day. But my grandmother didn't appreciate being left at home with little kids, so he settled down to manage a theater in Greenville, Mississippi, where my father grew up from the age of three. Since his day, there have been a number of my cousins who have done similar things. One of them spent a career with the Dallas Opera. I mean, we hear about the mega stars, but there are a great many people carving out lives in the arts for themselves in much more modest ways.
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MauEvig
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Re: 50 YEARS AGO
Well, I wish your daughter the best of luck in pursuing her career goals. It can be difficult to make a living in the arts (arts of any kind really) as it's hard to stand out and make a living for yourself.
And it might be that she'll have to just take up a gig on the side to make ends meet. But I think it's a reasonable goal to pursue acting in a theater that's local, as opposed to trying to make it to say, Broadway, or even Hollywood.
And it might be that she'll have to just take up a gig on the side to make ends meet. But I think it's a reasonable goal to pursue acting in a theater that's local, as opposed to trying to make it to say, Broadway, or even Hollywood.
Nocturnal Purr-Fection
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Murfreesboro
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Re: 50 YEARS AGO
Oh, she's definitely going to need a side gig. I think the bank of daddy is about to go under, lol.
She has some friends who've gone to NYC. One of them left during covid, and I'm not sure if she's gone back. Another, a young man 3 or 4 yrs older, worked for a while at Dollywood but has now made the jump to NYC. His mom tells me he has landed an off-Broadway play this fall. So he's at least making inroads. My daughter believes the future of entertainment is going to be more decentralized, so she is ok with staying regional. I don't really care which way she plays it, as long as she becomes self-supporting.
Although she loves to perform and is good at it, her dad and I think she should gravitate more toward writing and directing. She is serious about her writing and has a group of on line friends as critique buddies. I think the pool of those who can write and direct may be slightly smaller than the pool of those who can act.
She has some friends who've gone to NYC. One of them left during covid, and I'm not sure if she's gone back. Another, a young man 3 or 4 yrs older, worked for a while at Dollywood but has now made the jump to NYC. His mom tells me he has landed an off-Broadway play this fall. So he's at least making inroads. My daughter believes the future of entertainment is going to be more decentralized, so she is ok with staying regional. I don't really care which way she plays it, as long as she becomes self-supporting.
Although she loves to perform and is good at it, her dad and I think she should gravitate more toward writing and directing. She is serious about her writing and has a group of on line friends as critique buddies. I think the pool of those who can write and direct may be slightly smaller than the pool of those who can act.