Aug 21, 2018
What’s it like to be both a priest and a professional actor?
George Drance, S.J. is the artist in residence at Fordham
University, where he teaches acting, a resident artist in La Mama’s
Great Jones Repertory Company, and the artistic director of Magis
Theatre Company. We discuss his religious and artistic vocation,
how people in the theater world feel about working with a priest,
how to take custody of your career and choose your roles with
integrity, Catholic vs. worldly ideas of success, and more.
Links
George Drance, S.J. Fordham faculty page
https://www.fordham.edu/info/25064/theatre_full-time_faculty/10013/george_drance_sj/1
Magis Theatre Company http://www.magistheatre.org
Timestamps
George Drance, SJ
1:52 Being both a Jesuit priest and a working actor
6:50 How Fr. George seeks God in his work
8:11 Working in experimental theater with Great Jones Repertory
and La MaMa; the legacy of Ellen Stewart
14:25 Navigating the theater world socially as a priest; how
theater people respond to Fr. George’s priesthood
18:59 Dealing with the pressure to take compromising roles;
taking custody of your career as a young actor
29:44 The advantage of having a personal practice as an
actor
33:34 There’s no shame in having a day job; rejecting worldly
conceptions of success
35:51 The fascinating career of dramatist-priest Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681); his Life Is a Dream
42:27 Magis Theatre Company: actor training and reviving
forgotten classics
48:02 Adaptation of The Odyssey for high school
students
50:15 Magis’s upcoming show, Miracle in Rwandabased
on Left to Tell by Imaculée Ilibagiza
53:50 This week’s reading: Bl. John Henry Newman,
The Idea of a University