I want to pretend I am someone else

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Excuse me, but sorry for the improper introduction. I am a graduate of high school with mild Asperger's and I am reading (self-learning) from Dr. Jed Baker's "Preparing for Life". I want to be an actor as my grand dream one day. I guess you can say that since I was little, I was always fascinated with actors from cartoons and stuff, well now it moved on to more "real" stuff. Writing song lyrics, although only as a hobby, sounds good to me also.

I am 20 years old and had no real play experience except for two plays in elementary school. Would Baker's book also help me a little bit to become less vulnerable as an Aspie when learning and practicing his skills training? What do I do to get some freakin' experience started already?

So many of my good traits I feel can apply to at least the business world of acting. I might just learn to be a talented one also.

Welkome to WP!

Mick

Go to a local college and find out when they do plays or if they need any help. They normally accept anyone for any kind of help I think. It's all volunteer work. That's where you start

And unfortunately for social anxiety, its tough, but a book isn't going to make you become supremely less vulnerable. The best way is to jump in with both feet over and over again in front of people. In plays everyone is doing that without the fear of being judged. You just need to do the same. Keep reading your book on the side. That book isn't going to do any good unless you have experience to help you reflect and correct your errors.

Soo get in front of people as much as possible do work on acting. Read book when you can't do that. Keep doing both! Be confident that you're doing what is best for you and that's all the matters.

my advice would be to ease your way into acting; like actually joining a group and performing. Don't jump in too fast because you may find the social anxiety and such to be stressful (though that might not be the case at all with you). If this is a passion its something you want to cherrish and help grow. In my opnion that means developing it at a sustainable rate, and giving huge credence to the small steps you take towards it. Also, if you can, be wary of the idea of becoming a 'really super good' type actor. If you already have that idea in mind when you haven't even had any experience what so ever, the pain of not performing well in some of your early tries could make you feel like it was a completely dellusional endeavour in the first place which is completely untrue. I don't know about you but for me as an aspie, part of the problem with taking on activities I like is getting attached to a certain image or degree of success. If I feel at all like I can't reach that ideal platform I get depressed, guilty and give up. So good luck and I hope you can find something positive out of the experience.

Most importantly, get started, cherrish the achievements and set it as a long term thing and don't get too ahead of yourself or too impatient.

good luck.

Not to go in the wrong direction, but I think acting can help with social anxiety. Yeah, you're out of your comfort zone, but it's about PRETENDING, and somehow, I find I'm able to do things in an acting class or workshop I'd be afraid to do in public.