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Navied Mahdavian

Op-comic: Go ahead. Be a poor player. Strut and fret your hour upon the stage

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This year, at 39, I acted in my first play: Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
I'd always imagined I'd be great at it if only I tried. When I auditioned I quickly realized it is much harder than it looks.
There is something very humbling about being middle-aged and bad at something.
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Because I'm a cartoonist, art has always been something I do alone.
Working with others was new. The production was amateur theater. Everyone had a day job. They do this for the love of it.
Over three months I got better but never great. Mostly, I just listened to others who knew what they were doing.
This year, as I approach 40, I've tried a few new things, like cycling, watercolor, skateboarding and now acting.
As my creative life exists more and more online it felt liberating to do something in person For an audience not an algorithm
To create something with a community. You had to be there.
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Navied Mahdavian is a cartoonist and writer. He is a contributor to the New Yorker and author of the graphic memoir “This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America.”

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