I’ll never forget the moment. Twenty-five years ago Master-teacher Joanne Baron told our class, “The thing that brings you into acting is that which you must overcome to be able to act.” Silence filled the room. Something profound had been said. What did it mean? All of us began to ask ourselves the same question, “What brought us into acting?” Escape, entertainment, fame, attention? Or was there something more? As usual I suspected there was something more. The ancients had told us this for centuries. Behind every dark cloud is a smiling Providence. Underneath every trouble lies an invisible net. She was leading us to something deeper. What she had said was meant to trouble us. And it did. Continue reading ‘The Paradox of Overcoming by Tom Patton’
