Passion at the Stardust Diner

It's a common cliché: out-of-work actors wait tables.  Taking food orders may be a financial necessity, yet what intrinsic benefit could there be for an aspiring star to deliver burgers and fries to people who have come from the very play they wish they were in?  No doubt this is equally true for those in other professions who are in way-station jobs, hoping for the break that will open a door still tantalizingly only ajar. 

The hope that drives the dreams of those who have yet to "make it" needs to be kept burning, for life without hope is a dismal existence.  For at least some thespian hopefuls, the kindling is supplied by a small but ebullient place, the Stardust Diner in the heart of Times Square's theater district.  On any given night, those on the cusp of their first big break, or between one gig and a hoped-for-better one, wait tables for tourists who have stood in a long line to get in.  But it's not the food that draws the customers; it's the singing the wait staff do between taking and delivering orders. 

The customers have a joyous time, judging from my recent experience.  You could see it on our faces as we looked up at a singer on the runway that winds between tables or craned our necks to find where in the diner the quartet of actors was standing to sing the opening bars of "One Day More" from Les Miserables.  As for the waiter/actors, you could see something in their faces too, watch it in their movements, and hear it in their voices. That something is passion.

They're performers, of course, so what looks like passion could be just good acting.  But they could earn the same wage - or more - doing something else. What they can't do somewhere else is sing Broadway tunes, perfect their craft, and put the souls at their heart's center into their work.  That's what a job at the Stardust Diner delivers.

Their passion ennobles them, as it does anyone whose work allows the merging of skill and joy.  It cannot be quantified by any monetary measure.  It's not that pay is irrelevant; it's that the rewards of passion exceed a paycheck.  Just ask anyone who earns a good living at work they can barely tolerate.

Their passion comes from being in what Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi terms the "flow state," where highly focused, complete absorption  in a task creates a feeling of joy.   If you have had the good fortune to experience this sense of concentration and timelessness, you know how it feels.  It is when that four-letter word "work" becomes another four-letter word called "play."

"Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you're passionate about something, then you're more willing to take risks," said the world-renowned cellist, Yo-Yo Ma
If you're an inspiring actor, you know a lot about taking risks, about being turned down time and again for parts you know you can perform.  But passion is a fuel that does not burn out, if you are fortunate enough to have and keep it.

When our daughter was five, she asked to learn the violin.  When she was in high school, she announced that she wanted to be a professional violinist and play on Broadway.  Aside from the outside chance that she could ever reach this goal was the equal realization that making a living in New York as a professional musician is to accept a second-class material existence for all but a very select few.  She is now an executive in a university.  Her violin rests in its case.  But in between then and now, she played in the pit for Beauty and the Beast not far from the Stardust Diner.  The passion that fed her dream has infused her whole life.  She knows what it is to love what you do, and she brings it to her present work and relationships. She  is so much richer for it, as are all those in the "audience" of her life.

We don't all get to realize our dreams, but with passion, we can be lifelong dreamers. The quiet desperation that Thoreau saw in so many is the consequence of a passionless existence in which too many have stopped dreaming.  Not every actor in the Stardust Diner will make it big, but they all have something big inside them. To lead a full life, each of us needs to find our own way to sing our hearts out.

Photo Credit: Ed Johnson