for the love of the game

The opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics were held recently. Theater and the Olympics both trace their roots to the ancient Greeks.

When I was growing up the Olympic athletes were amateurs, not professionals. I've used the words "amateur" and "professional"- and the Olympics- as conversation starters in teaching theater.

The definition of "amateur" is contrasted with "professional". The connotation- and even, these days, the definition- of amateur includes the idea of unskilled, lacking in competence, or a dilletante.

The definition of professional, on the other hand, includes the ideas of expertise, great skill, and learning.


Originally, the words were not antonyms of one another. At one time, professional meant that you were paid for your work (or that you were one of the "learned professions"- such as law).

And the word amateur comes from the Latin for love.

An amateur does what they do for the love of it; a professional does what they do as their occupation, to earn a living. As in the Olympics, the amateur is not necessarily unskilled; the amateur can be one of the best in the world.

And so it is with theater. Some of the greatest innovations and triumphs of theater have come from amateurs, or those who began as amateurs. I do not suggest for a moment that actors, directors, stage managers, designers, technicians or any of the myriad artists of the theater should not be paid. I would merely like to suggest that if some of us still have a "day job" that our work should not be ignored or assumed to be of poor quality.

Whether or not one holds an Equity card does not determine the excellence of the work. It is up to each artist to give passion, effort, intensity and creativity to the task at hand.

For the love of the game.