Cojones

You have to have balls in this business (this statement is both literal and figurative - literal in the sense that there are less men in this business and yet more roles created for them - and figurative in the sense of, well, read on...)
I realized this last night as I puzzled over reasons why certain people would get cast in shows and I hadn't even gotten an audition. Those people have balls. They are fearless, or at the very least, put up a good front of fearlessness. Those people are not afraid to walk up to a director and say point blank: "I want to work with you. I want to be in your show."

I realized I don't do this because I don't want to be a bother; I don't want to appear pushy or desperate; I want my talent to stand on its own merit. But you know what? I am pushy and desperate and, in the real world, talent is secondary to who you know. It's all about who you know.

So I have made a conscious decision to stand up for myself (grow a pair, if you will - Eric insert your own joke here) because the worst thing that could happen if I walked up to Peter Hinton today and told him I wanted to be in his next show is that he would say "No" (actually his next show is already cast, but you get the point)

I think I can handle that