The Vs. Studio Blog

“I shall remember this moment: the silence, the twilight, the bowl of strawberries, the bowl of milk. Your faces in the evening light. Mikael asleep, Jof with his lyre. I shall try to remember our talk. I shall carry this memory carefully in my hands as if it were a brimful of fresh milk. It will be a sign to me, and a great sufficiency.” -Antonius Block in The Seventh Seal

I can watch this short scene from Bergman’s masterpiece all day long. Amidst intense suffering and anxiety from a deadly plague ravaging the land coupled with the ominous figure of Death following him, Antonius Block gets a brief reprieve. He delights in the calming presence of the young, married actors, Mia and Jof, and their baby, Mikael. He enjoys delicious strawberries and fresh milk with his companions. A beautiful dusk envelopes the pastoral land. The birds are chirping. Jof softly plays the lyre.

Perhaps it’s heaven on earth? For a moment, anyway.

Just like live theatre. Beautiful art. Shared. In good company. A break from our lives. Our problems.

And it’s ephemeral. The night won’t last.

So savor it that much more.

“If you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do, kid.” -Bill Cunningham

I love the documentary on the late, great fashion photographer. Bill Cunningham: New York. I highly, highly recommend it.

It’s a beautiful portrait of someone who was singularly devoted to their craft. Someone full of joy because he got to do what he loved. Every day, all hours of the day.

Bill regularly turned down payment for his work. He often left checks uncashed. He lived like a monk. His reasoning was that when you do it for money, you owe. You can’t make the art you want. You can’t do it on your terms.

We all need to make a living, of course. Bill did too. He worked for The New York Times as their fashion columnist for most of his life. But what happens if we separate money and success from our art? What are we freed up to pursue? To create? What’s something we might do every single day no matter what? What change would we seek to make in the world?

Don’t take the money.

Make your art.

Jake and Elwood were on a “Mission From God.” For them, failure was not an option. They were all in. Pot committed. They also had complete confidence that no matter how dire things looked, they would come through. Because they had to. That trust and commitment informed every one of their actions.

You don’t have to be on a “Mission From God” to do something important. To create something beautiful. To make radical change. But you do need to be one hundred percent committed and have absolute trust in yourself.

What’s your mission? What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

After a few weeks of participating in and hosting several Zoom meet ups, including play readings, here are some early observations:

-How wonderful this technology exists! Be grateful for it.

-Meaningful Community is needed and wanted. Now more than ever.

-A flawed Zoom meet up (crappy audio, poor lighting, people talking over each other, etc…) is still awesome.

-I can’t wait to see the incredible creativity unleashed by this platform.

-The rules still apply. If you want a reading or any kind of virtual gathering to go well, first care deeply about the play or subject. Come prepared. Make strong choices. And then, care deeply about your audience. Do a tech rehearsal with your fellow actors. Think about optimal settings. Maybe even invest in a simple lighting and audio package. Your passion for the material matters and will evidences itself in the small details, done well.

-We’re now gonna get so many more chances to experience art. Every day, all hours of the day, all over the world, people will be making art and gathering together virtually to experience that. Hooray!

-Fellow Theatre-makers. Don’t fear this technology. Yes, it’s harder and harder to get people to leave their house. And this easily could be just one more thing to convince people to stay home. But, let’s embrace this platform. Lean into it. At its best, it’s gonna get people even more excited to come to your venue and see the real thing. Because when theatre is done well, experienced live, and shared communally, there truly is nothing better. It’s why I dedicated my whole life to it. And will continue to do so.

Go. Make Zoom Art With Your Friends.

I love, LOVE this scene from Walk The Line, the Johnny Cash biopic. Joaquin Phoenix and Dallas Roberts absolutely crush it. Definitely give it a view.

Below is a modified transcript of the advice that Sam Phillips, the famous record producer (played by Dallas Roberts), gives to Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix).

“…Let’s bring it home. If you was hit by a truck and you were lying out in that gutter dying, and you had time to sing one song, one song, people would remember before your dirt, one song that would let God know what you felt about your time here on earth, one song that would sum you up, you telling me that’s the song you’d sing?…Or would you sing something different? Something real, something you felt? Because I’m telling you right now, that’s the kind of song people want to hear. That’s the kind of song that truly saves people. It ain’t got nothing to do with believing in God, Mr. Cash. It has to do with believing in yourself.”

We all have one song, one play, one book, one film, one painting, one…something, inside of us. Something unique to our feelings, our experiences, our tastes, our desires. Who we are at our core.

What’s yours?

Let it out! We want to hear it. We need to hear it. Right now. Go.

“My formula for human greatness is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not in the future, not in the past, not for all eternity. Not only to endure what is necessary…but to love it.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” -Marcus Aurelius

Two of the most powerful concepts found in Stoic wisdom are (1) Memento Mori (“Remember, you could leave life right now.”) and (2) Amor Fati (“Not merely to bear what is necessary, but learn to love it.”)

There are three levels of thinking when anything that happens to us.

First, SEE things as they are. No judgment. Neither good or bad. Just what is.

Second, decide right now, that no matter what happens, you WILL get through it.

Third, learn to LOVE what happens. You may not know it at the time, but trust that all challenges will make you stronger, more resilient. They’ll open up new ways of thinking and doing. You’ll find more gratitude. You’ll be more present. More patient. More generous.

Amor Fati. Love your fate.

P.S. – A great book on this concept is The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday. Highly recommend it.

Nobody wants to leave their house. That was true even before this global pandemic.

Besides the fact that people work hard all week, are tired, have family and other obligations, are on limited budgets, just wanna relax and have a drink, etc…let’s face it, television has gotten really, really good.

But as theatre and art makers, let us not be disheartened. Let us embrace the challenge. Lean into it.

How?

By figuring out what we’re passionate about and why. By producing that to the absolute best of our ability. By communicating our passion to the people we’re making it for. And letting them know how much their presence means to us.

Because here’s the good news…

People want to gather and have shared, communal experiences. They want to see and experience great art together. Look no further than the ancient Greek theatres. It’s in our DNA.

Nobody wants to leave their house.

But give them a reason to show up?…They’ll be glad they did. And, they’ll be back. Just as long as you keep producing with passion, excellence and integrity. And respect for their time.

Because nothing beats great art, live.

When you have that?

Everybody wants to leave their house.

Small my table, sits just two
Got so crowded, I can’t make room
Oh, where did they come from? 
Stormed my room
And you dare say it belongs to you, to you

This is not for you
This is not for you
This is not for you
-Pearl Jam “Not For You“

Once we decide who’s it for and put ourselves out there, we’re destined to face judgment from the others. Assuming we’ve executed on our vision, said what we wanted to say, the most empowering thing we can tell ourselves in the face of such criticism is…

This.

Is.

Not.

For.

You.

Happy April Fools Day.

Maybe you woke up today hoping these last few weeks were one big, terrible April Fools joke. Like waking up from a bad dream.

Sadly, that’s not the case.

But for some inspiration, watch Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech. Click HERE. It’s phenomenal.

If you’d rather read the transcript, you can do so HERE

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. We’ll get through this.

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” -Gustave Flaubert

No one wants to be around a person who’s crazy, out of control, consumed by passion, narcissistic, foul-mouthed, violent, quick-triggered, arrogant, single-minded,…well, you get the drift.

But man, we do love seeing those people on stage and screen. Or reading about them in novels. At least some of the time.

Put another way…get your sh*t together in life. Have your sh*t together as a producer. That way, you can be out of control in your art.