The Vs. Studio Blog

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.”

The War Of Art by Steven Pressfield is a phenomenal book.  Read it.

I especially love it because Pressfield names the sucky feeling we all have inside whenever we embark on a new project. That feeling of doubt.  Of not being up to the task. Of procrastinating. Of wanting to pivot and do something else. Anything but the project we set out to do.

He calls it “The Resistance.”

Guess what?

The resistance is real and it’s never going away.

Ever.

So what to do?

One, just be aware.  When you feel the resistance, know it’s your lizard brain at work.

Two, don’t get down on yourself because you’re feeling it. You’re supposed to. It’s what you do in spite of the resistance that counts.

Third, enlist whatever internal and external help you can find.  Friends, family members, colleagues, therapists, coaches, mantras, books, affirmations, etc…whatever works.  Do it.  As long as it’s in service of getting you to do the work.  To do what you set out to do. (Pressfield talks about his daily invocation to the artist gods to get his butt in the chair every day and write.  Great.  Do that.  Try it. What have you got to lose?)

The resistance is real.  It’s always there.  Always will be.

Ok.  Cool.  Now you know.

Proceed anyway.  That’s the real talent. That’s what will define you.

Tell her about it 
Tell her everything you feel 
Give her every reason 
To accept that you’re for real -Billy Joel from his hit song “Tell Her About It”

Before reading this post, click HERE to watch the music video. It’ll put you in a good mood. Beware, you might get up and start dancing. (And be sure to watch all the way to the end for a classic Rodney Dangerfield moment.)

Okay. Continue reading…

Word of Mouth is an incredibly powerful thing. In a world of infinite choice, and connection, we still trust and defer to those in our inner circle.

When one of my friends tells me I have to go see or read something, it moves way up on my list. A recent example of this is two of my friends separately urged me (multiple times) to watch the filmed play Cypress Avenue at the Royal Court. I have a gazillion things to read and watch, but I prioritized this at their urging. I’m so glad I did. It was fantastic! (Thank you Paul and Andy.)

You can watch it HERE.

One of the most simple and generous things you can do is that when you come across something you love, share it with others. Don’t keep it to yourself.

One, you’re supporting the artist(s). So many art forms entirely rely on word of mouth. I’m thinking of my own, intimate theatre, of course. But also independent film, indie music, poetry, books, painting, dance, etc…This also extends to our local businesses. Just ate at a great new restaurant? Shout it from the rooftops! Just made a cool purchase from a store that gave you excellent service? Tell people know how amazing it is.

Two, you’re being generous to those you tell. By spreading the word, you just gave your friend a great night out. Or a novel they’ll be hooked on. A record they can’t stop playing.

Third, by sharing what you love, you’re sharpening your taste. You’re getting specific. You’re standing behind what you believe in. You’re deliberately practicing all the skills necessary to be a great producer.

Tell Them About It. You’ll be glad you did.

Yes, it’s another basketball post. Sorry, I can’t help myself. Besides basketball being my first love, I’m watching “The Last Dance” right now. It’s incredible–definitely watch–and it’s bringing up all sorts of thoughts for me.

Here’s one…

Michael Jordan famously had a “Love Of The Game” clause in his contract with the Chicago Bulls. It allowed him to play basketball against anyone, anytime and anywhere. Outside of his regular NBA season.

Think about that for a second. The greatest player in the game loved basketball so much, that he had it put in his contract. No restrictions. If he wanted to play in some meaningless summer pick up game, then he would play. Injury be damned. Nothing would come between him and his love.

I’m sure the Bulls were terrified of this clause. But what could they do? They had no choice. MJ had the leverage.

How about we make a “For Love Of The Art” contract with ourselves and our audience? It says that we’re doing this project because we’re absolutely passionate about it. We love it so much that we had to produce it and share it with you. That means…

A planned short run.

No reviews.

No press.

No awards.

Not that there’s anything wrong with long runs and accolades. They’re wonderful.

But we’re playing a different game here.

We’re making our art because we have to. There’s no choice. We’re summoned. It’s a vocation.

“For Love Of The Art.”

That’s the mission of The Vs. Studio.

I hope you’ll join us.

“To hell with circumstances, I create opportunities.” -Bruce Lee

I couldn’t resist another post and quote from my man Bruce. This one’s been knocking around in my head for months.

Tried to expand on this idea, but everything I wrote paled in comparison to the power of his one sentence.

So let’s leave it at that.

“Things will never be the same. That’s just the way it is.” -Tupac Shakur

“Nothing will ever be the same.”

Been hearing this a lot lately? I sure have.

This doesn’t mean things will be worse. It just means they will de different.

And different can be a great thing.

Truth is, we needed to make some changes. Many changes.

And Covid-19 just accelerated the pace of those changes.

Like…

Being mindful of how we spend our time.  

Being grateful of everything we have. 

Being generous and looking out for others. 

Being open to new ideas, new perspectives, new solutions. 

Being willing to lead; to take a stand.

Being focused on making our art.

“Nothing will be ever be the same.” 

Bring it on.

“Named must your fear be, before banish it you can.” — Yoda

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” – Joseph Campbell

“We suffer more in imagination, than in reality.” – Seneca

I’ve never read the book “Feel The Fear…and Do It Anyway” but the title alone seems like great advice.

However, before the “do it anyway” part, consider the timeless exercise of fear setting. It’s getting down on paper the worst fears in your head. The Stoics termed it “Premeditatio Malorum” or “the premeditation of evils.” For more on this, check out Tim Ferris’ article and excellent TED Talk here.

Two observations from doing the exercise:

One…Our worst fears are unlikely to occur, and if they do, we’ll recover. Somehow. Someway. We’re resilient!

Two…Whatever we fear most is usually the exact path we should take.

I’ve never regretted not facing my fears. Only trying to avoid them.

P.S. – Give the exercise a try. And share with me your observations. I’d love to hear back!