We recently connected with William Odell and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, William thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

As of recent, our theatre group (The Acting Out Players) just put on an incredible and award winning production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins. A powerful and controversial piece that can make people talk and hopefully listen to the needs of many working class and angry Americans who suffer under a system that is meant to uphold their rights. The most important award for our group was getting EXCELLENCE In performance for our cast by the Theatre Association of New York State (TANYS).

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve often cared more for creating something that would make people think and feel rather than something that reaps a reward in my favor. Having someone come up to you afterwards and saying “you effected me today” is the most beautiful compliment a person can ever give. Beyond fluff and saccharin exteriors, being bare is the true expression of human existence, and rather than put on a mask I long to reveal the face who hides underneath. That’s real theater – to me at least.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creator is having the people you work with be affected by your thoughts just as much as you are when you think them. Actors strive for something meaty, and my job is to give them something special to consume and then portray to an audience. If I did my job, the audience would think it’s all the actor.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I believe artists starve due to the fact that corporations found a way to leach on the idea of art and make extreme profits off of something that is so impossible to define through the concept of money. How can two movies be the same price of ticket when after watching both I hate one and am utterly moved by the other. Who decides the price of art. You can’t, therefore it can’t be something you profit from. But we try to, and that’s the funny thing about normalizing whatever “this” is – life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @williamodell & @actingoutplayers
• Youtube: William Theodore Odell & Acting Out Players
• Other: I listed both for the company and personal