The Vs. Studio Blog

“I’ll go first. If I’m at checking out at the store I’ll say hello first, if I’m coming across someone making eye-contact I’ll smile first. Not all times, but most times — it comes in your favor. The response is pretty amazing…You have to go first because now we’re being trained in this world to opt out. Nobody’s going first anymore.” — Gabrielle Reece

I love this advice from Gabrielle Reece–beach volleyball champion, first female spokeswoman for Nike, best selling author, entrepreneur, devoted to her family, and an absolute powerhouse–for several reasons.

First, it’s a specific, daily practice. The more you do it, the easier it gets. It becomes a habit.

Second, it’s a good thing to do for others. Who knows, your smile might be the thing that makes their day?

Third, when you’re making art, you have to go first. You must be wiling to do something that might not work. Just like smiling at someone in a grocery store, they might not smile back. Okay. No problem. You’re still alive. It didn’t cost you anything. Move on. Try it again with someone else.

Finally, now more than ever, the world needs you. We need your leadership, your ideas, your service, your smile, your generosity, your art.

Don’t wait.

Go first.

“When your mind is telling you you’re done, you’re only 40 percent done. You still have 60 percent left.” -David Goggins, Navy SEAL, “Toughest Man Alive”

In Living With A SEAL, Jesse Itzler describes his month long odyssey of living with David Goggins. It’s compelling as hell. Primarily because of what Itzler is tasked with and accomplishes.

He realizes what we all probably think and feel inside. Which is…

We have so much more power inside us than we think.

What would you do if you truly believed this? If you owned this statement.

What art would you create?

What change in the world would you try and make?

In my opinion, Van Morrison’s “I’ll Be Your Lover, Too” is one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. At the very end of the song, after absolutely crushing it, he asks the recording engineer, “How Was That?” (I love that he left this part in.)

I saw Ed Harris give a stunning performance in the play Wrecks at the Geffen Playhouse. Afterwards, while waiting in the lobby, I happened to overhear him ask the director, Neil LaBute (also the playwright), “How Was That?”

Two monstrous talents. Yet both humble enough to genuinely want to know how they did. What they could do better.

No matter how accomplished we are or think we are, we all need someone to keep us honest. Always. Someone who can provide specific, objective and actionable feedback. Who has our best interests at heart. And the art or change we’re trying to make.

I hope you have someone like that in your life. Someone you can trust. If not, find one (perhaps it’s a small group of folks). Cultivate that relationship.

And while you’re at it, why not be that person for someone else? It’s an amazing gift you can give.

We’re all walking around with a narrative in our head. Sonder is the awareness of this.

What story are you telling yourself?

Is it a good one? Does it empower you?

If not, tell yourself a different story.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is a habit, not an act.” -Aristotle

In his excellent book, Atomic Habits (I highly recommend), the author James Clear tells the story of Jerry Seinfeld giving advice to Brad Isaac, a young comic just starting out in the comedy club circuit…

“The way to be a better comic is to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes is to write every day…Get out a big wall calendar and hang it on a prominent wall in your house. Get out a big red marker. Every day you write a joke, make a big red X over that day. After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.”

We can apply this to anything we’re trying to do. Any habit we’re trying to form. The key is to make it simple and actionable.

Write one page.

Do 20 pushups.

Read one scene from a play.

Send one thank you note.

Whatever it is, just keep doing it. Day in. Day out.

Don’t judge your effort. Don’t worry if it’s “good”.

Just stay with it.

Just don’t break the chain.

(Warning: You might be shocked by your progress.)

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” -Jim Valvano

For those of you who don’t know Jim Valvano (AKA “Jimmy V”), he was the head basketball coach at North Carolina State. In 1983, they shocked the world and defeated Houston in the NCAA Championship game. Their Cinderella tournament run ranks right up there with the greatest upsets in all of sports. ESPN made a terrific 30 for 30 episode about it.

Valvano’s remarkable life was tragically cut short by cancer. In its vile clutches, he valiantly urged people to “Never Give Up.”

But it’s a speech he once gave about his father and belief that’s stayed with me. I urge you to watch this short segment HERE. It’s powerful, stirring, and from the heart. And it will inspire you to take action. Everything a great speech should do.

Sometimes it’s really hard to believe in ourselves.

That’s okay.

Believe in someone else. Champion their work. It’s the greatest gift you can give them.

P.S. – Thank you mom and dad, my wife Amy, and all my friends who believed in me. Especially when I didn’t believe in myself. Love you guys.

The mission of the Vs. Studio is to help people find and manifest the work they love. And to do so with excellence. For themselves, their fellow artists and the audience they seek to serve. Meaningful Work connected to Meaningful Community equals true Artistic Happiness.

So how does one find the work they love, their passion project? Because it’s often not always obvious.

Great question. Let’s get tactical for a beat.

Here’s an approach any actor can take, for example.

Step One. Get out a sheet of paper and write down all the plays you’ve loved seeing or reading. Go through them and notice any parts you’d still love to play. Don’t judge. Don’t worry about being too old or too young. Just notice the parts and your current feelings towards them.

Step Two. Track these plays down and read. Or re-read. Get your creative juices going.

Step Three. Do any of these plays/parts still resonate with you? If yes, awesome! Pick one. Call some friends up and arrange a reading at your place. (Spring for good pizza. No one turns down good, free pizza.)

Step Four. After the reading, ask yourself if it still resonates? If yes, email me and we’ll do a Tuesday Night Reading at Vs. We do these every week. Not for performance. Just a friendly group of actors and artists gathering together in our lobby (currently through Zoom). You can either cast it yourself or we’ll help cast it with you (often with whomever shows up.) Or some combination of both. This is a super friendly, low stakes environment for you to continue investigating your feelings on the play. It’s free. It’s fun. All are welcome.

Step Five. After the Tuesday Night Reading, that might be it. You got the play out of your system. Wonderful. You have closure. And you had a great experience.

Or…

You’re inspired to take it to the next level. To produce it.

So how do you produce a play? That’s unfortunately too long for a blog post.

But the good news is The Vs. Studio is all about this. We offer an eight week producing workshop as well as a path forward to get your passion project on stage. Either as a Vs. Studio production. Or anywhere else you choose.

For more info, email me at jclark@vstheatre.org. In the meantime, Happy Reading! And join us tonight on Zoom HERE.

P.S. – It’s Giving Tuesday today. If you’re able and feeling up to it, you can make a 100% tax deductible donation to Vs. Theatre HERE. Thank you in advance for your generosity. It truly means a lot. Especially right now.

What’s better?

This?

A blank page. It’s clean. But no effort is made. Nothing is risked.

Or this?

“It ain’t why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why. It ain’t why. It just is.” -Van Morrison “Summertime In England”

Don’t get stuck asking “why” something happened. It wastes time and energy. It paralyzes us from taking action.

See what “is.” Identify what’s actually happened. With clarity. No judgment. Just willing acceptance.

When we do that, then we can make the change we seek to make. We can make our art.

P.S. – In the spirit of this week’s “Tell Them About It” post, do not miss The Public Theater’s stream of Richard Nelson’s What Do We Need To Talk About. It’s the first great play of the Zoom era and it’s fantastic. You can get it HERE. Only until May 3rd. (Thank you Mattie and Paul for “telling me about it.”)

Reporter: “How many sit-ups do you do every day?”

Ali: “I don’t count the sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count. That’s what makes you a champion.”

Two takeaways…

One. Ali knew that his real growth wouldn’t come from the hundreds of easy sit-ups, but the few he could do in spite of the pain.

Same for us. Real growth comes from those days, those moments, those obstacles that really challenge us. If we stay disciplined, push through, make our art, then we’ll experience real growth. We’ll even learn to love those obstacles over time. Amor Fati.

Two. Ali didn’t care about outside numbers. He only cared about what he could do. Trusted his body and mind. That was enough.

Same for us. Don’t worry about what others are doing. Trust in your own desires. Your own goals. Your own standards of excellence.

One more Muhammad Ali quote about counting…

“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”