Nine months out of the year, Bob Ahlersmeyer is an English teacher at Carroll High School in Fort Wayne. But he’s a showman at heart, and once class is dismissed, you can often find him in community theater productions and even local commercials.
This summer though, he decided to try his hand at stardom. For six weeks, anyway.
Ahlersmeyer received a Lilly Grant to travel to Hollywood to blog about his experiences auditioning for movies and commercials. He plans on using his blog to educate students on online journalism and blog-writing.
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Despite the limited time frame, he found success in auditions and even landed a few small roles. The going was sometimes tough, but he was living a dream.
Ahlersmeyer knows not everyone meets success so quickly though, and many of the other young actors he met struggled.
“I met a lot of people out there who were just starting, and a lot of people who were out there a year or two,” he said. “Some of the people out there a year or two, they just looked exhausted.”
He even had lunch with a former Fort Wayne student who he says had been pursuing acting for a few years, but was having a hard time getting acting work.
“She wants to make it, but how long can you keep going on your dream?”
Ahlersmeyer says he enjoyed his time (and his success) in Los Angeles, but heading back for a more permanent run at stardom may not be in the cards because of obligations at home.
Still, he's hopeful that acting opportunities in the Midwest will pop up.
You can read more about Bob's experiences on his blog.