Dear Michael,

By focusing so totally on your particular gift for drama, I think you are limiting your understanding both of the gift itself and the meaning of a vocation.

It is probably not the only gift you have received (obviously you have received spiritual ones, since you are thinking of a vocation to religious life, but there are other human and spiritual qualities you have as well), so if you focus exclusively on it you are apt to miss other things God has done for you and given to you to bear fruit. And if you have this gift (which consists of a whole series of abilities, sensitivities and qualities that work together) it would also be a mistake to think that you can use it for God only if you actually engage in drama, as if there could be no other purpose for it or no other way to use it well. A case in point is Pope John Paul. He left the stage but did not bury his talent for drama, and God is using it abundantly. He continually uses the pieces of which the gift is made, the quality of his voice, his ability to mimic (accents, languages) and to communicate, his sense of timing and humor, memory, delivery, etc, and this enriches his real vocation which is not to the stage but to be Gods messenger.  

The same goes for any other talent, be it musical, intellectual, physical, etc. Some people are called to develop those talents directly, excelling in their particular field and it is worth keeping in mind that not everyone who thought they had the ability to excel did others, the great majority are called to use those talents in the more ordinary context of their real call (to be a priest, or parent, or teacher.).

Our reflections up to now have been more human and common-sense oriented. Now, add the spiritual dimension. If God created you with these abilities, and then on top of them seems to be giving you the call to religious life, you should give priority to the latter. You know that God knows what he is doing. Instead of focusing only on drama, look for an order that feels like family to you, where you will be able to grow spiritually in communion with the Church, and leave everything else in Gods hands. Dont focus exclusively on what is only one element of Gods action in your life. Seek first the Kingdom and everything else will fall into place. The essence of a vocation is to love and give yourself totally to Christ, in absolute trust. Giving yourself totally means putting everything you have, all the talents he has given you, at this service to use them as he wants in order to build his Kingdom.

God bless.