THREE YEARS AGO, A.J. CLARK \u201916 COULDN\u2019T MISS.<\/p>\n
The standout football player and theater major turned in a stellar effort playing the Stage Manager in Our Town, <\/em>leading Wabash audiences through life in Grover\u2019s Corners.<\/p>\n He headed to Los Angeles to get an MFA in acting at the USC School of Dramatic Arts, one of the finest graduate programs in the country. One of 12 people admitted, Clark felt on top of the world.<\/p>\n Then, not so much.<\/p>\n The past two years have been a struggle.<\/p>\n \u201cI was really in a bad place,\u201d he says. \u201cI was depressed and had no faith in myself, no faith in this work I was doing. Before starting therapy, I was keeping a lot of stuff in.\u201d<\/p>\n For the guy who entered Wabash intending to major in physics, there was no equation, no reasoning to acting. He sought control. If he made a mistake, he\u2019d correct it. If things weren\u2019t perfect, he put in more work. Hours of work. His existence was black and white.<\/p>\n \u201cThe wall I run into happens because I think in right and wrong, good or bad,\u201d he says. \u201cOn a stage, it doesn\u2019t help to think in those terms. Our professors tell us all the time, \u2018Get out of your head.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Clark felt tormented that first year: stymied by inconsistent performances, stung by blunt critiques, and frustrated by others who showed up late for rehearsals or weren\u2019t putting in the same amount of work.<\/p>\n David Bridel\u2014one of his professors and the dean of his graduate program\u2014urged him to let go of judgment. He didn\u2019t have to be the one always going crazy. He couldn\u2019t control everything.<\/p>\n So Clark gave himself a break. He says he now sleeps comfortably for the first time in seven years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not about perfection,\u201d A.J. says between deep breaths. \u201cI\u2019m in a better place because I\u2019m not <\/em>trying to be a great actor. If I go up there and mess up, life will go on.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s broadened his focus by writing screenplays and producing his own content. More than acting, he wants to be a creative force. In February, A.J. will take part in a three-play theatrical program that includes 24 performances in 28 days before a showcase in the spring.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I\u2019m ready,\u201d he says. \u201cThe winds are changing. I have such a passion when I wake up in the morning. It\u2019s not about being a great actor, it\u2019s about the great moments.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014Richard Paige<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THREE YEARS AGO, A.J. CLARK \u201916 COULDN\u2019T MISS. The standout football player and theater major turned in a stellar effort playing the Stage Manager in Our Town, leading Wabash audiences through life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":4543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-class-notes"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/12\/aj-clark-1024x791.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4544,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4542\/revisions\/4544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}