Author Archives: thevsstudioblog

“The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” -Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience “He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.”Continue reading “Back To Fun”

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” -Bruce Lee “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” -Walt Disney “Find a task you have been putting off or dragging through and not completing and just get it done… The relief and sense ofContinue reading “Completion”

“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.” -Jim Collins, book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t “Spend less time trying to find motivation and more time making good habits the path of least resistance.” -James Clear “ForContinue reading “Good To Great”

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, then life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” -Langston Hughes “Without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here.” -Mark Twain Instead of giving up on your dreams, why not just create new ones? StartContinue reading “Dreams”

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, turn and face the strangeCh-ch-changes, don’t tell them to grow up and out of itCh-ch-ch-ch-changes, turn and face the strangeCh-ch-changes, where’s your shame?You’ve left us up to our necks in itTime may change me, but you can’t trace time -song “Changes” by David Bowie “Change is the only constant in life…No man ever stepsContinue reading “Embrace The Change”

“Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.” -G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy “Humor is an attitude, a survivor’s way of looking at life.” -Michael Shurtleff, Audition What often separates sublime writing or acting from the ordinary is a sense of humor. It’s also the key to a healthy marriage or really, any relationship. Hard toContinue reading “A Sense of Humor”

Speaking of theatre and fundraising and economics, another major reason why, just like Blanche Dubois, theatre will always rely on “the kindness of strangers” has to do with something called The Baumol Effect (also termed “Baumol’s Cost Disease”). In fact, it might be the single most important economic concept for understanding nonprofit theatre. Economists WilliamContinue reading “The Baumol Effect”

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” -Blanch Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams If you’re starting a theatre or just doing a one-off production, make no mistake, you will have to rely on the generosity of people to help make it happen. Consider this statistic (according to Theatre CommunicationsContinue reading “Donor Education”

“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.” -Franz Kafka Art is supposed to make you feel something. That doesn’t mean it’s supposed to make you feel good. A personal theatre story… Years ago, I played “Bobby” in John Kolvenbach’s incredible play, On An Average Day, at Victory Gardens Theatre inContinue reading “It’s Supposed To Make You Feel”

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”-Aristotle “Knowledge gives you the idea. Lived experience gives you the evidence. And lived experience changes us in a way information rarely can.” -Veronica Joce “We learn even as we teach.” -Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, Letter 7 “If youContinue reading “Knowing The Thing”