“People need trouble—a little frustration to sharpen the spirit on, toughen it” -William Faulkner
“What are you fighting for, and how are you working to get what you want?…An actor is looking for conflict…Conflict is what creates drama. [In life] we are taught to avoid trouble [so] actors don’t realize they must go looking for it. Plays are written about the extraordinary, the unusual, the climaxes. The more conflict actors find, the more interesting the performance.” -Michael Shurtleff, Audition
The frustration you’re feeling right now is a gift. Both in your acting and in life.
Don’t waste it.
Do something with it.
Channel that frustration and conflict and energy into action.
“Burn your bridges, start again. You should burn them every now and then. Or you’ll never grow!” -from the musical Merrily We Roll Along by Stephen Sondheim
For the actor…
Age, type, experience, marketability, look, etc…They all pale in comparison to “spirit.”
If you capture the spirit of the character, then you will capture us. And after about 5 minutes, we’ll roll with anything.
Our Vs. reading this past week and the fantastic high school production I saw tonight both reminded of the fact. Ages were wrong. But the spirits were oh so right.
P.S. – This is why you must produce your own work. Don’t rely on people to see you the way you see you.
Start close in, don’t take the second step or the third, start with the first thing close in, the step you don’t want to take. -from the poem “Start Close In” by David Whyte
Dear Reader,
I just wrote my 1,500th post. When I started this blog about 5 years ago (January 1, 2020), I could not imagine writing 1500 posts.
Wow.
It’s been a helluva ride.
But more meaningful to me is the fact that YOU have been here for 1,500 posts.
Thank you from the bottom of heart for reading, for sharing, for commenting and for encouraging.
I don’t take your time or attention for granted. It means the world to me. I vow to keep showing up every weekday and share something that is personal, actionable and hopefully inspiring to you on your artistic journey.
I took a mobile light, lookin’ for a moonbeam, whoa Yeah, ya stand in line, ya got lost in a jet stream
But everybody wants some I want some too, whoa yeah-ah Everybody wants some How about you Ohh yeah Ooh yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah -song “Everybody Wants Some” by Van Halen
I can’t stand this indecision Married with a lack of vision Everybody wants to rule the— Say that you’ll never, never, never, never need it One headline, why believe it? Everybody wants to rule the world All for freedom and for pleasure Nothing ever lasts forever Everybody wants to rule the world -song “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” by Tears For Fears
So if you’re tired of the same old story Oh baby, turn some pages I will be here when you are ready To roll with the changes, baby Roll with the changes Ah, you know you know you know you got to Oh yeah (Keep on rollin’) Ooh roll with the changes Keep on rollin’ (Keep on rollin’, keep on rollin’) Oh, now roll with the changes, oh, baby -song “Roll With The Changes” by REO Speedwagon
“The difference between people who make it and people who don’t isn’t talent or luck or connections. It’s that when the plot changes – and it always changes – they adjust the strategy but never change the want.
Most people give up when the first plot twist happens. They think that’s the end of the story. But successful people understand that plot twists are just part of the story, not the story.
The story is the want. Everything else is just figuring out the how.” -Jesse Itzler
Everybody wants something.
Few know exactly what that is.
Even fewer know why they want it.
Very, very few are willing to make all the necessary sacrifices and roll with all the changes to get it.
Two inspiring passages to help you when you just can’t seem to get started on a project: (They are both so good I’ll just let them speak for themselves.)
When she’s stuck or feeling overwhelmed by a big project, the writer Anne Lamott likes to think of a story “that over and over helps me get a grip.” When her brother was ten years old, he was stuck on a school project for which he had to write a report on birds. “He was at the kitchen table close to tears,” Lamott writes in Bird by Bird, “surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”
In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a young girl is assigned to write a five-hundred-word essay about any topic. She chose to write about the United States. Her teacher—the book’s protagonist, the wise Phaedrus—suggested she narrow it down to Bozeman, Montana. When the due date arrived, she didn’t have a single word written. “She just couldn’t think of anything to say,” the narrator says. “Not a spark of creativity in her anywhere.” Phaedrus gave her an extension. But this time, Phaedrus said, “Narrow it down to the main street of Bozeman.” Again, when the due date came, she had nothing. “Narrow it down,” Phaedrus said, “to the front of one building on the main street of Bozeman. The Opera House. Start with the upper left-hand brick.” She went to the hamburger stand across the street from the Opera House. She started writing about the upper left-hand brick and then the brick next to it and the one next to that. “It all started to come and I couldn’t stop,” she told Phaedrus the next day when she handed in a five-thousand-word essay on the front of the Opera House on the Main Street in Bozeman, Montana.
“Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves.” -William Davenant
“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt
The word “conviction” originates from the Latin convincere, meaning “to overcome” or “to conquer.”
The only way to know your convictions is when they’re put to the test. You actually have to overcome something. So be grateful for the hardships for they reveal a lot.
“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” –Pablo Picasso
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” –Edgar Degas
“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been concealed by the answers.” –James Baldwin
Let’s give ’em something to talk about (something to talk about) A little mystery to figure out (something to talk about) Let’s give ’em something to talk about How about love, love, love -song, “Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt
Whether you love it or hate it or somewhere in between, one giant reason to be thankful for art is it gives you something interesting to talk about.
“Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance. As powerful as is our soul’s call to realization, so potent are the forces of Resistance arrayed against it….Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance…Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.” -Steven Pressfield, The War Of Art
When I wake up people take up mostly all of my time I’m not singin’, phone keep ringin’ cos I make up a rhyme I’m not braggin’, people naggin’ cos they think I’m a star Always tearin’ what I’m wearin’, I think they’re goin’ too far A girl named Carol follows Daryll every gig we play Then D dissed her and dismissed her, now she’s jockin’ Jay I ain’t lyin’, girls be cryin’ cos I’m on TV They even bother my poor father cos he’s down with me
It’s Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time It’s Tricky…(How is it?) Tricky (Tricky) Tricky (Tricky) It’s Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time It’s Tricky… Tr-tr-tr-tr-tr-tricky (Tr-Tr-Tr-Tricky) Tr-tr-tr…-song “It’s Tricky” by Run-D.M.C.
The Resistance, as author Steven Pressfield so aptly names it in his terrific book The War Of Art, is insidious and takes on many forms.
It might be actual, tangible obstacles thrown in your way. Or just imagined ones in your head.
It’s psychic vampires who suck up your energy and passion. Or supposed “friends” and colleagues who won’t tell you the truth.
It’s shiny new objects that suddenly emerge or “what about if I did this?” opportunities that derail your focus.
It’s chasing accolades over process and losing touch with your why,
“I never understood the idea that you’re supposed to mellow as you get older. Slowing down isn’t something I relate to at all. The goal is to continue in good and bad, all of it. To continue to express myself, particularly. To feel the world. To explore. To be with people. To take things far. To risk. To love. I just want to know more and see more.” -Diane Keaton
We just had a fantastic “Bring Your Art” Night tonight as part of our Vs. Tuesday Night Readings. So many incredibly talented artists shared pieces that were meaningful to them. My good friend Gareth shared the below piece he discovered about Diane Keaton and I thought to share it with all of you…
During the filming of Hampstead (2017), Diane Keaton had a moment that perfectly blurred the line between acting and life. There was a quiet scene where her character, Emily, looks out over the heath — lost, aging, and unsure if she still matters. Between takes, Keaton stayed in character, staring into the distance long after the director called “cut.” When someone asked if she was all right, she smiled faintly and said, “I’m just thinking how strange it feels when the world stops needing you — and you have to start needing yourself.”
The crew went silent. It wasn’t in the script, but it summed up everything Hampstead was about —loneliness, courage, and the rediscovery of self- worth. Later, when Brendan Gleeson joined her for a scene, Keaton whispered before they started, “Let’s make them believe that two lost people can still find home.”
Off-camera, Keaton talked openly about how much she related to Emily’s vulnerability. “People think confidence is something you have forever,” she said during an interview. “It isn’t. You rebuild it, piece by piece, every time life breaks a part of you.”
Her honesty moved even the hardened crew members. One lighting technician recalled, “That day, she wasn’t just acting. She was showing us how to survive being human.”
By the time Hampstead wrapped, the film had become more than a gentle love story — it was Diane Keaton’s quiet manifesto: that it’s never too late to start over, never too late to be seen, and never too late to be brave.
R.I.P. Ms. Keaton. Your immense talent and beautiful spirit will be so greatly missed.
