Mothers & Imagination
Thursday, June 18, 2015 at 2:18PM The Film Experience is proud to turn the site over to Ann Dowd for the day. Enjoy...
- by Ann Dowd
As I’ve said I did not grow up in an environment where acting was a viable career choice. I remember once when I was a teenager seeing Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet and having to go to bed afterwards … from grief! Can you imagine? I had not read it and when I saw the tragedy happening I said “NO NO NO” I just knew that there was no way Romeo would not get the message that she wasn’t dead, that she was just sleeping. But when it went in that direction — I just was “THIS CANNOT BE TRUE”. I had to go to bed. My mother said “That’s it — No more movies! That’s the end of it.”
Later when I became an actor she was less than thrilled. I think deep down she saw it coming, mothers are smart that way, but I know she hoped the desire would fade and I'd stick with medicine. She felt that it was such an unstable life. But she’s wildly supportive now. She’s on board now. I love her to bits.
Of course it will be different for my children if they are interested since they grew up in the environment. My husband is also an actor and he's the chair of the acting department at CAP 21. It’s a musical theater school, a great school. I'm not teaching at the moment because I'm not able to commit to a schedule but one of my favorite things was to teach Chekhov and Tennessee Williams. I hope to do it again because it’s a lovely thing when you’ve been at acting for awhile and you can understand enough of what the students are going through and be of use to them.
My oldest boy doesn’t have an interest in acting. My girl, who is 17, does. My littlest one came into the world singing and dancing. Living in New York our children are exposed to a lot: Music, plays, books. We remind them that there are other ways to negotiate the world besides technology. Keeping your imagination alive and well is a big thing in our house.
Previously: Playing Patti on The Leftovers and Falling in Love with Acting
Next: A Few Key Roles
Reader Comments (4)
i love this idea of someone NOT knowing what would happen in a Shakespeare. I get so exhausted by the ubiquity of his plays that I forget that we all have our first times discovering them.Funny enough I saw West Side Story before I was aware of Romeo & Juliet so for me it was Oh, this is West Side Story without the music... when I realize it's the other way round.
I had a feeling from your first post that you were also an acting teacher and probably a great one. Having taught a beginning acting class for several years, I know what a hard job it can be, but so rewarding when even one student connects with her passion and talent and does great work, in class or in her career. (Just checking out CAP 21 now, as I somehow wasn't familiar with the program.)
As someone whose first many experiences with art and movies in particular were filtered through her mother, this touches me. It was Cuaron's A Little Princess, for me, that had my mother holding me and comforting me while I bawled. Thank you for sharing! It's nice to hear a story that cycles fully around, to observing and supporting your own children.
haha - i love that your punishment for being so moved by a film was to no longer see any more movies! (empty threats - no one can stay away from film!) zeffirelli's R & J is such a good version of that story as well - it's easy to see how it could affect one so deeply on first viewing.