When I set out to become a professional actor, my goal was fairly simple: get paid to act. Sure, I also fantasized about being “good at it,” whatever that means, but I hadn’t considered how I might, through my profession, be a force for the greater good. Involvement in the arts has always been a subversive way to effect social change and awareness, and acting is no different. Actors are plagued with insecurity. For good reason—we have little to no control over our opportunities, our schedules, and often our bank accounts. But we are so powerful when we connect our work with personal vision.
I am, and always have been, an advocate for women. I grew up under the guidance and tutelage of liberal, intellectual parents during the women’s lib era of the 1970s. Comedy was Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Burnett. I believed “You’ve come a long way, baby” before I’d even begun. I went to college, put my career first, and didn’t get married until I was 38. With my dear friend Martha Plimpton, I co-founded a nonprofit organization that fights for women’s reproductive rights called A Is For. I am a Hillary Clinton supporter.
I’ve also had the great good fortune to work on more than one project that passes the Bechdel Test—a test specifically for film, but a good barometer for all narrative arts—most recently “Women Without Men,” produced by the Mint Theater. A play written, directed, designed, and stage-managed by women, with an 11-member all-female cast! Playwright Hazel Ellis’ subversive, political work focuses on the cloistered lives of Irish schoolteachers in the late 1930s, and highlights how deprivation of agency and choice can stymie compassion, creativity, friendship, and living itself. How easy it is to become bitter, ugly, and cruel when you are excluded from society.
READ: “How to Become a (Successful) Playwright”
President Obama said, ”When women succeed, nations are more safe, more secure, and more prosperous.” This holds true for the arts, as well. Our movies, television shows, plays, and musicals will all be greatly improved by the inclusion of more women. We need more female directors, writers, producers, designers, and actors. We need women’s stories, women’s ideas, women’s perspectives, to learn from and understand the world we live in. We need women to participate in order for all of us to have a more complete experience of our own lives.
I have a vision of improving the lives of women, and that affects every choice I make, in both my work and my life. It excites me, keeps me focused, and protects me from mistaking my sisters for competitors. Instead, I see them for who they truly are: humans, artists, heroes, magicians, conjurers, teachers. I want to lift them up, and I feel compassionate, creative, connected, and alive. Now when I think about what it means to be a professional actor, I think about what an awesome privilege and responsibility it is. I think of my closest friends and hundreds of colleagues and strangers whose work awes and inspires me. I think of my power.
Overbey is a two-time Drama Desk Award nominee and co-founder of the not-for-profit organization A Is For.
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