石榴直播

KENNESAW, Ga. | Dec 3, 2019

After retiring twice, Murray Sarkin takes acting class

When it comes to stage experience, first-year acting student Murray Sarkin has a leg up on all of his Kennesaw State classmates. The east Cobb resident has landed parts in dozens of amateur and professional theatrical productions, TV commercials and even an independent film in a successful sideline career that he has pursued for more than 40 years, first in southern California and now in metro Atlanta.

Sarkin, who turns 82 this month, holds a bachelor鈥檚 in psychology and a master鈥檚 in vocational counseling degrees. He is long retired from his first career in California state government and, after trying retirement, a second career with the Social Security Administration.

Along the way, the married grandfather decided to try acting as an avocation.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 feel acting was a very stable job,鈥� he says.

Now, for a couple days a week, he finds himself sitting in a classroom in the College of the Arts鈥� Theatre and Performance Studies (TPS) 2202 course: Introduction to Acting. Sarkin says the time was right.

鈥淚 have never been enrolled in a college-level class in performing arts,鈥� says Sarkin. 鈥淎lthough I have years [of experience] performing in theatre, I wanted to experience the formal training required to complete courses in theatre arts.鈥�

Forty years ago, after he met and married his wife, Sally, he says he came into acting as a side gig 鈥渁ccidentally.鈥� He started out in a musical called 鈥淭erritory Folks鈥� (based on the famous production 鈥淥klahoma鈥�) at a temple in California in an ensemble role.

This 鈥渁ccident鈥� snowballed from there: from 1976 to 1992, Sarkin performed in many plays and musicals while in California, including 鈥淔iddler on the Roof,鈥� 鈥淥liver,鈥� 鈥淎rsenic and Old Lace,鈥� and 鈥淵ou Can鈥檛 Take It With You.鈥�

He鈥檚 had a little help from Sally over the years. She routinely runs lines with him for his shows and ends up knowing all of his lines too. 鈥淪he gives me a lot of acting advice,鈥� says Sarkin, 鈥渆specially when I go to auditions. She tells me, 鈥楯ust don鈥檛 act.鈥欌��

Over 20 years ago, the Sarkins moved from sunny California to Marietta, and Murray definitely didn鈥檛 let his acting go by the wayside due to the new locale. He has participated in shows for the Georgia Ensemble Theater in Roswell, Marietta Theater in the Square, and Marietta Center Stage North, where he volunteers for three to four plays every year since he first moved to Cobb County.

He also sings in a mixed choir called 鈥淭he Guys and Dolls,鈥� a group that visits senior citizen centers around Cobb County and performs for them. He鈥檚 been featured in commercials for Mohawk Carpet, the Georgia Lottery, Aaron Brothers, and the Connecticut Lottery. The spot for the Connecticut Lottery has been running for eight years, and he still gets residual checks when it airs.

Now, he has decided to go back to the basics with this acting course at 石榴直播. When asked why 石榴直播, he says, 鈥淲hen we moved to Atlanta over 20 years ago, 石榴直播 was a 2-year commuter school. I鈥檝e heard it had grown, but never expected to such an extent鈥�I had gone to plays and concerts at 石榴直播, which now has a football team too. I wanted to be on campus and experience that. Plus, some of my friends are pursuing acting.鈥�

Although Sarkin has been retired for over 15 years now, he does not seem to be slowing down. He is a regular at his local gym, taking spin and step classes. He enjoys gardening, and spending time with his family. He regularly auditions for commercials and film projects and most recently auditioned for a comedy farce this past October.

And now, he also has this acting course at 石榴直播, and he鈥檚 doing great. His line coach of over 40 years still keeps him on toes, too: when Sarkin first mentioned his interest in taking an acting class at 石榴直播 to Sally, her immediate response was, 鈥淎re you going to live on campus?鈥�

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