Book overview
What does it mean to actually build a life in American Theatre?
For more than 25 years, Rachel Burttram has lived that answer as a blue-collar actor, director, arts administrator, educator, and mentor choosing regional theatre not as a stepping stone, but as the destination itself. Diary of a Professional Actor is the book she wishes had existed when she was starting out.
Part memoir, part field guide, and entirely honest, this is a backstage pass to the world most audiences never see. Her perspective is from every seat in the house: performer. administrator, educator, mentor. Inside you'll find the traditions and rituals passed from generation to generation of theatre artists; the business and economics: and practical advice from someone who has been there. But underneath Burttram examines not only the human cost of committing your life to theatre but what it gives back in return.
Diary of a Professional Actor: A Career in Regional Theatre is for the theatre student weighing whether or not to take the leap. For the working artist who needs to know someone else has been there. For the educator who wants an honest, experienced voice in the room alongside their own. For the patron, board member, or parent trying to understand what this life actually looks like from the inside. For anyone who has ever sat in a darkened theatre and felt the power of story.
