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, S.J.

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 Rwanda, based on Left to Tell by Imaculée Ilibagiza

53:50 This week’s reading: Bl. John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University