Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Richard Dent IV. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Richard, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

You don’t realize what a risk you take entering the arts. I find myself at a point in my life where I feel I can only choose to make choices that are risky.
Ultimately that “risk” has more to do with listening to my intuition. It feels risky because it is often not the safe choice; it is the rich choice. I made a choice to leave NYC where I had an apartment, a fine enough job, and an agent to go on auditions with. I knew however that it was no longer making me happy. I desires to travel and see more of the world. When an opportunity came to do this, completely unrelated to the arts, I took it. I left my apartment and entered a life of without a root in the hub of entertainment. All In had was my ability to trust that my instincts would guide me where I would need to land. I am still on that ride, currently teaching as a professor of theatre at Syracuse University.

Richard, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am not afraid to listen to my intuition. I was fortunate enough to grow up with parent who are performing artists themselves, so I always had an innate sense that life was meant to be shared and told through story. I was always in acting as a kid and had the opportunity to go to Juilliard at 18. Being educated in such an institution turned me upside down. I learned how to watch acting work, and when something moves me and how to talk about it. I also learned technique, which, until you build it, discover how it is not the “sexy”part of acting. I became overly conscious of my every behavior, like I had my own magnifying glass on myself. Ultimately I began to see the education less as preparation for being a great actor, but skills to make you a rich human.
I discovered my love for highly dramatized story telling told using character masks. This sent me, for a number of years, to Italy to learn how to make character masks in papier mache and leather, and how to play a variety of masks by understanding how to use your body with them. From this I started also to teach “clown work”. When I say this I refer to the clown that we all were at age four, before you were told “no” or only saw the world as terrifying or beautiful, or just silly. In the mix of all of this I began to grow curious of horses. My intuition showed me a path of learning to ride and even instruct people on horseback during the pandemic, when I based on a guest ranch in western Wyoming. All of this strung together I see that my work is simply about living a life of in pursuit of quality and tactile living. At the moment I teach at Syracuse University as an acting professor and my goal is for my students to choose to be infinitely present through out the course of class. I do this by layering exercises gained from my range of experience in mask, horse, and acting.
It’s a bit all over the place, but I am still following my thread of curiosity to define what it is that i do.
I’d say I’m most proud of how many places I’ve now lived and people I’ve experienced. Somehow when I travel, I love representing who I am as an artist and even an American. I feel I can empathize with a great deal of people because of my experience. I see how similar we all are and that are differences are only separated varied levels of resistance to what we know we could understand if we dared to try.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

We are ever striving to show our skill or be better, but when you no longer need to prove anything to yourself or others, you have moments of feeling profoundly present. It is the moment of letting your ability be enough that I find most rewarding. When those moments then begin to linger and you carry that presence, others start to treat you as the artist you know yourself to be. It has less to do with accolades and more to do with an interaction with an individual. You can say what you do and stand confident in it.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

My life is not based in one solid job, it is many things. That may look unstable or insecure to someone else, but there is something one can learn to respect of someone who constantly treads and swims in water, rather than standing on the shore. I feel I really learn the value of life living this way. I know when a moment is special between to people. I know when a moment of rest can be totally lived in. I also know that, though challenging to stay moving, it becomes a unique pleasure to be constantly taking in new experiences. Life becomes rich without any effort, because the effort becomes second nature.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @richard.dent4

Image Credits
Richard Dent