We recently connected with Sara Patterson and have shared our conversation below.

Sara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Being an artist comes with personal challenges regarding fulfillment largely because of the way one defines success in conjunction with the world around them. For me, performing and being around the arts, particularly theatre, has always brought me incredible happiness. Being in those environments feels comforting and knowing what to do and how to be comes naturally because it is in those spaces that I feel I am being most true to myself. Theatre for me is like church because it is both a physical place with a spiritual ritual. I feel so passionate about the growth and insight I have in my own life through art as well as the profound effect it can have on an audience as they quietly and personally take in the story and reflect.

The difficulty can come in the way art is valued. In our society there is a disconnect in that value system, plus an all-time high in cost of living, which means that most artists are unable to make a full-time living solely through art. I have found it necessary to have side jobs, usually multiple part time jobs, in order to make ends meet. There was a time when I was working an 8 to 5 on weekdays and then doing theatre at night and on weekends, and although having a salary and benefits made me feel very secure, it was an exhausting schedule and left little time for anything else.

I feel at some point as an artist everyone thinks to themselves, “Wow, I really wish I had a lifelong calling to be an accountant. That would be so much easier and stable.” I have often had that thought when times are tough but almost immediately remembered that my calling is to make art and doing anything else just wouldn’t lead me to the joyful existence I crave.

Sara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started performing on stage at the age of 3, starting with church and school plays and also doing dance in elementary school. There were signs right away that entertainment could be in the cards for me as a career, as I was always doing popsicle stick puppet shows on the banisters of the stairs at home or pretending that I could read minds in school talent shows.

I continued to foster my skills in the arts throughout middle school and high school, serving on a Teen Board for the Fine Arts Institute of Edmond (Oklahoma) where I organized concerts in the courtyard presenting young, local bands, judged photography contests, and summer camp counseled elementary school children learning improv, stage makeup and juggling. I was an Oklahoma state championship medalist in Competitive Speech & Drama and then served as Drama Club President after moving to South Pasadena, California before my junior year of high school.

I obtained my B.F.A. in Acting from AMDA College of the Performing Arts where I performed in MainStage plays, stand up comedy shows, and sketch shows. It was at AMDA where I met Jen Bloom, co-founder of Santa Monica Repertory Theatre, which quickly adopted me as a company member after graduation. I performed in several plays and staged readings with them, including “A Christmas Carol”, “The Revolutionists”, and “Rapture, Blister, Burn”.

Currently, I am getting the ball rolling again post-pandemic with theatre auditions and would love to be performing on stage regularly again. Theatre is really my true home and I love classical text (Restoration theatre junkie) and modern adaptations of historical moments and figures. I have also worked on several short-films, one that will be premiering this year called “Audrey”, from the dynamic duo Sean Kohnen and Julianna Robinson, which quirkiness and emotional vulnerability is sure to make one laugh, then cry.

I started stage managing as a means to make income and also stay within the field of theatre. It has been an incredible way to keep myself engaged in new works with young artists and keeps me close to the stage, even if it means I work behind it. I have been a stage manager at my alma mater, AMDA, for 4 years and have enjoyed working in educational theatre, as it allows me to pass along the knowledge I have to the next up and coming artists. I have stage managed titles such as “She Kills Monsters” and “Rent”, as well as various musical, comedy, dance, and acting performances, including a significant amount of original work from students, performing in all spaces and with production values ranging from cabaret style to blackbox to fully produced works on the main stage.

Whether it is acting or stage managing, my ability to problem solve, maintain hyper-organization, mastery of communication, and ability to empathize and anticipate have helped me to become the artist I am now. I am very self aware and constantly learning from those around me and from my own missteps in an effort to make myself a better person. Being able to observe and take from every experience has helped me mature as a person and adds complexity to my work as an artist.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Not so much a lesson to be unlearned, but something I have been trying to learn and actively work on putting into practice is boundaries.

I have always been highly opposed to “hustle” culture and how some people end up falling victim to the toxicity of pushing themselves to the limit over and over again in hopes of getting that much closer to prosperity. That’s not to say I don’t believe in a strong work ethic and taking advantage of opportunities within the industry but I think there has to be a balance between self and work and that’s where having boundaries comes into play.

As an artist, we are the product. When we only put the product first, which happens of course because ultimately it’s a business–show business, we lose sense of self and neglect the care that our minds and bodies need to be able to present the best possible product. I have seen so many artists become completely burnt out and exhausted, forgetting that there is more to one’s personality and character and existence than being a product. They say yes to EVERYTHING, even if it doesn’t align with their goals or their ethics, forcing themselves to make it work and be agreeable at all costs, thinking that saying no or communicating boundaries will halt their creative progress.

Maybe having boundaries makes me less successful, or certainly less busy, in the eyes of some, but I have found so much freedom in setting parameters for myself and my work as an artist. I am loyal and dedicated to a fault, and in times past I have found myself in situations where I was uncomfortable or I was neglecting myself or silencing my inner voice in order to finish the job and impress those around me. More recently, I have been more diligent about checking in with myself and deciding what is right for me and what makes me feel my best and speaking up when that’s not the case. It’s extremely difficult to do, but it absolutely gets easier the more I practice.

I’m finding that by setting my boundaries on everything, from how I delegate my time, to appropriate compensation, to my morals and values in the workplace and within my art, I am finding a much healthier balance in life.

My lesson is to set my boundaries, stick to them, communicate them and reevaluate periodically. There are people who will respect my choices and even share them and those are the people I want to work with. The best artist I can be is a balanced, healthy and steadfast one.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I remember going to see a production of “Title of Show” when I was in high school, shortly after a schoolmate had taken his own life. The production value is minimal–five performers, four chairs, and a keyboard, but the impact of the story is great. I sat in the audience and experienced a wide range of emotions watching this musical and for a few hours, I was transported away from grief. I was given the chance to come into the theatre, burdened by incredible sadness, sit quietly in the dark and experience someone else’s journey.

That’s what theatre is. That’s why it has survived for thousands of years and will always continue to be a part of society. It’s cathartic. It’s an opportunity to grow and to learn. It’s magic.

What is so moving about being an actor is that it quenches spiritual thirst for both the actor and the audience. As an actor, I get to take on a character and find all ways they are relatable to me. Then, I look at all the ways they are unlike me. Why are they like that and I am not? What brought this character to this point in their life? How often does this type of situation occur in reality? What is there to be learned from this fictional representation’s story?

We take a brief moment of this character’s story and illuminate it for the audience, a chance meeting of a specific group of people that will never be exactly the same, who have all agreed to communally absorb that light because they need it. As humans, we need to be shown examples of how to live. We need to see the ugly in the world. We need to know that there is hope. We need to know that we are not alone and that we can change.

Shakespeare wrote, “the purpose of playing is to hold, as ’twere the mirror up to nature”. As artists, we are called to serve ourselves and our community by providing that reflection. In my art, I effect change, I facilitate justice, I manipulate time. That is the most rewarding and beautiful thing about being an artist.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sara_on_stage/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sara.patterson.9/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/9rCTHiFzaQg?si=xfT0TG3rF1kgWVq_
• Other: Email – [email protected] IMdB – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10270141/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_8_q_sara%2520patterson