I have a hunch that
@The Late Night Gourmet may have thespian links!
Not sure what gave it away, but you're right. I had a Communications & Theater Arts minor in college, where I performed in some plays. I also wrote for the school newspaper, and I'd review plays (though not ones I was in...a bit of a conflict of interest there!) After graduation, I joined a community theater, where I acted, directed, stage managed, produced, and built sets for plays for about 20 years. At different points along the way, I also did shows for other community theaters. Inevitably, I was also the vice president and president of the group at different times. This is where you become intimately aware of the fact that you have hardly any money to afford to do anything. So, we had to keep things simple, and get donations for set pieces, costumes, and such.
I even wrote one-act plays, and a full-length production that our group performed. I had a full-time job at that point, so we did work on the plays in the evenings and on weekends. As a plus, being able to perform on stage translates to any job that requires you to do presentations in front of large groups.
You'd think I'd miss it since it was such a big part of my life for so long, but I don't. If I were just acting in a play, it was a 3-rehearsals-a-week commitment. If I were directing or producing, I was also spending time in between rehearsals with other things related to the show. In community theater, everyone had to pitch in to publicize the show, build and tear down the sets, and arrange for tickets to be printed. If you were the director and/or producer, you didn't have the luxury of missing a rehearsal or not being involved in the process.
It's a massive time commitment that started out as something fun, evolved into something I loved, and then became a bit of a burden when you had to be the one to step up when people would drop out of a show, or not come through with supplies we needed. The most memorable bit of that was once when someone announced that they were going to be out of town for one of the performances, 2 days before the show opened. I had a minor part in the show, so I actually had time to learn his part and perform it....and things actually came off very well.
I don't regret having been so involved in theater for a minute, but I can't imagine doing it again (or even imagining that I could possibly find 3 days a week to add something to my already busy schedule).
It's funny, but as I reread my post, it sounds a bit like I'm talking about the disconnect between the Dream and the Reality of owning a restaurant. Fortunately, in the case of theater, I could walk away from it without any consequences other than some upset people in the group (who had to figure out how to fill in the gap that I left them by leaving).