I had a bit of an epiphany a few years ago when meeting with one of my alum that was coming back from college on a Christmas break to share all that went down with him. The thing that impressed me most about this college program was that they were NOT focusing the actors to think of themselves as actors first – but to think of themselves as ARTISTS first who predominantly practice acting as a way of satisfying this goal. I loved this. I immediately wanted to take a break from all the theatre work and include some work and exercises to nurture the artist inside. I wanted them to paint, color, carve, mold and journal. I wanted them to put theatre in the back burner and really get at the ARTIST within them before going back to acting. Being an artist is a demanding chore that requires much more than rehearsing the next set of lines. Trust me, any effort you make to create artists out of theatre students will pay you back in spades.