As great as it would be to wake up one day with enough money from theater (or film ... or television, for that matter) to not have to worry about a life-raft job, it is a long shot in this business.

It comes down to skill, talent, luck and, most important, someone else's choices. You can control the skill, you can exercise the talent, you can make your own luck, but the largest chunk of the equation is someone else's choices and you can't do a damn thing about that.

Or can you?

Risa Bramon Garcia, a coach and casting director, thinks so.

Here's a link to her aritcle, "How To Get Casting Directors To Find You," in Backstage Experts. Read it and find ways to live it, because basically, she's talking about the core of being an independent theater (or film/television) artist.

My favorite part of the article is ...

"... you must be doing your best work in a production, in class, and in a workshop because you love to act and you’re compelled to be in the work all the time—not because your goal is to book a guest star on a show. You have to wake up and fall asleep craving the artistry of it. You have to love it for its own reward."

Believe it.

I like simple statements, like four steps to getting things done. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as a statement, but they can make what you finally figure out a little easier to remember.

For example:

More than 40 years ago, my grandfather told me a parable about a turtle on its back on a fence post.

There are a lot of versions of this story, and thanks to the power of the Internet, you can look them up if you want too. 

My grandfather's was different and it went like this:

Boy, if you see a turtle on his back on a fence post, think "What the hell? How'd that happen?", then take a second to imagine what the turtle is thinking.

He added. "And help the poor bastard down," but he was talking about the art of logical empathy. I'm not (although it is a good thing to learn).

I'm talking about a one-sentence acting class.

Your character is a turtle on its back on a fence post. As confusing as the situation is to you, the actor, your job is to imagine what the turtle is going through and act that.

Sometimes, things are just this simple. Here's how to get things done  ... in four steps.

1) Decide what you'd like to do.
2) Decide it is something you might be able to do.
3) Know that you can do it.
4) Do it.

It is that easy, but you can get derailed at every step so watch yourself.

1) You have to pick one thing at a time and you have to stick with it all the way through ... at least the first three steps.

2) You must have the confidence and commitment to whatever it is you think you'd like to do. This is an act of soul searching and, finally, faith.

I'd like to be a stuntman, for example, but I'm not willing to spend the time and energy learning to throw myself safely off a building. (Oh, and I don't have the confidence either), I know this about myself, and as a result, I've resigned myself to a stuntman-free life.

3) This is where the commitment of time and energy comes in. You won't know you can do something until you've train yourself in the skills necessary. If you think you'd like to be an actor and are pretty sure it is something you might be able to do, then you need to prepare yourself to do it. And, you'd better prepare yourself well, because there are 100,000 people after the same thing.

Step 3 isn't about being perfect, but it requires that you know you can compete. Don't just believe you can do it. Know you can do it ... through training and confidence. This doesn't mean you have to be perfect

4) Don't wait for someone to let you do something. In theater, this is a dangerous trap. We keep going to auditions or submitting plays and we hope someone lets us play. The odds are not in your favor, so stop waiting.

Make opportunities for yourself.

Take your own risks.

Put yourself out there.