The more you’re in …ing mode and not …ed mode, the better.
…ing implies possibilities, open-mindedness, a growth mindset, willingness to learn new skills, suppleness, flexibility, you’re still on the journey of life.
…ed is past tense. You’re done. Closed off. Finito. Hardened. Brittle. You know all there is to know. Where’s the fun in that?
Be…
Practicing. Not practiced.
Mastering. Not mastered.
Learning. Not learned.
Playing. Not played.
Trying. Not tried.
Process. Process. Process.
“When a patient commits to pursuing their potential, it triggers their Life Force, and it’s the Life Force that gives them the vitality to heal themselves. You can bury your symptoms with meds, you can avoid situations that trigger them, but if you want to change yourself in a lasting way, you need to put yourself in forward motion and pursue your potential.” -Phil Stutz
“Though the Life Force supplies us with its own purpose, it has no other brains to work with than those it has painfully and imperfectly evolved in our heads…This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” -George Bernard Shaw
“May the Force be with you. Always.” -Obi-Wan Kenobi
Struggling today? Feeling anxious or lost? Unmotivated to do anything?
First, go through the self care checklist. Did you get enough sleep? Water? Exercise? Etc.
And then, per renowned therapist and psychiatrist Phil Stutz, work on your life force.
He explains it in this excellent documentary, “Stutz”, directed by Jonah Hill. (Hat tip to my friend Melanie and her production company, Fishbowl Films, for producing. They’re also nominated for an Oscar this year for their documentary, “Navlany.” Go Mel!)
Every day, but especially those bad days, those “dark night of the soul” days, work on your life force.
Start with exercise. Get out. Get moving. Be in nature.
Next, call up a friend. Meet up for coffee. Have a good, deep conversation. (Bonus points if you go for a walk together.)
Last, get out a pen and paper and start journaling. Use the Julia Cameron technique from the Artist Way–write three pages without lifting your pen from the page. Don’t think. Just write.
You’ll immediately feel better. If not, rinse and repeat.
Do this today. Do it every day.
May the Force be with you.
P.S. – For more Stutz, this LAT article. And this New Yorker article.
P.P.S. – Yesterday, I forgot to attribute the quote about intention and obstacle. You may have guessed from the Jack Nicholson/”A Few Good Men” picture. It was writer Aaron Sorkin.
“I worship at the altar of intention and obstacle…When you’re talking about things like theme you have to be really careful because that’s not what’s going to make the car go. Okay? It’s what’s going to be what makes the car be good and give you a good ride. But that’s not what’s going to make the car go—at least not for me. You know, everybody writes different. But for me I have to stick—really closely, like it’s a life raft— to intention and obstacles. Just the basics of somebody wants something, something is standing in their way of getting it. Make sure you have that cemented in place. Themes will then become apparent to you and you can hang a lantern on the ones you like. Bring them into relief, you can get rid of the ones that aren’t doing you any good and you can paint the car and make it look really nice. But the car isn’t going to turn over unless you see to the basics of drama, and drama is intention and obstacles, somebody wants something, something is standing in their way of getting it.” -Aaron Sorkin, writer
For the writer writing the scene and the actor playing the scene (and come to think of it, anyone else’s who’s trying to do something great)…
What do you want? So much so that you’d die (literally and metaphorically) if you don’t get it.
What’s the obstacle? What’s standing in your way from getting what you want?
What are you gonna DO about it.
Now…Take action.
Bonus points actors, if you can conceal your want from everyone else. Say one thing, but inside, you desperately feel and want something else. (Just like we do in real life.)
P.S. – This scene.
“We cannot treat other people as if they’re final drafts while expecting people to look at us as if we’re rough drafts. Everybody’s a rough draft. We’re all writing ourselves in real time…All of our erasers are chewed up, we’re trying to figure it out, make ourselves and discover ourselves in real time. And that is an impossible thing to do. But that’s the thing that makes us human. -Lee Edward Colston, playwright (The First Deep Breath), writer, actor, artist
“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others.” -Confucius
Then she found a small clearing surrounded by firs,
And she stopped…and she heard what the trees said to her,
And she sat there for hours not wanting to leave,
For the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe. -excerpt from the poem “Breathe” by Becky Hensley
“Nana korobi, ya oki” which translates to “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” -Japanese proverb
In our interactions with people, can we assume positive intent? Can we think of them as rough drafts and not final drafts? Can we put ourselves in their shoes? Can we have more empathy and sonder and understanding?
And if something they say or do causes us anger or hurt, can we take one, giant, deep breath before responding?
Let’s give it a shot.
And if we or they come up short, let’s give ourselves and them a break.
Take another deep breath.
And try again.
P.S. – Awesome Vs. Theatre Club outing last night! Go see THE FIRST DEEP BREATH at the Geffen Playhouse before it closes. Support live theatre.
“The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.” —Tyler Durden in the film Fight Club
“Maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves.” —The Narrator in Fight Club
“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” -Groucho Marx
It’s not enough to love theatre and want to make theatre. Just as important is to go SEE theatre. It’s live. Ephemeral. Here today. Gone tomorrow. You gotta be there.
It’s also a community of artists. One that supports each other and the art they make.
Theatre has always struggled for audience. But now more than ever. According to this 2022 LAT article, “We’re driving straight up the cliff’: Theater is back, but recovery proves perilous”, audience levels are down 50% from 2019, pre-pandemic levels, ticket revenue is only one-third of where it was, and costs are way up.
So we’ve started Vs. Theatre Club.
What is Vs. Theatre Club you ask?
The first rule of Vs. Theatre Club is…
(Just kidding.)
Vs. Theatre Club is a new Vs. Studio initiative. We gather together. We see plays together. That’s it.
On average, it’ll be one play a month.
We had our first outing in January. Our second is tonight to see THE FIRST DEEP BREATH at the Geffen Playhouse.
If you want to be part of Vs. Theatre Club (all are welcome) and/or have suggestions on how to make it better, email me at jclark@vstheatre.org.
Regardless of your interest in joining a club, do me a favor and go see a play this month. And if you dig it, tell people about it.
“When I sit down to write in the morning, I literally have no expectations for myself or for the day’s work. My only goal is to put in three or four hours with my fingers punching the keys. I don’t judge myself on quality. I don’t hold myself accountable for quantity. The only questions I ask are, Did I show up? Did I try my best?” -Steven Pressfield, book Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be
Sometimes you just need a little prompt to sit your butt down in the chair and write. A good prompt can lead to an unexpected torrent of words and flow.
Paul Stein who fearlessly guides our Vs. Studio Writing & Solo Performance Workshop is a master of prompts. It’s awesome to see the smiles on everyone’s faces when they realize just how much writing they did on day one. Let alone the finished pieces that emerge on Week 5. (We just completed a Level One and a Tuesday Night Reading of in process work. It was awesome! If you want to learn more and/or be put on the wait list for the next workshop, email me at jclark@vstheatre.org. You will love it.)
And if you’re looking for a good prompt, think of 10, 20, 50…100 things you’ve ever loved in your life. (I got this one from Ted Hope which you can read Here).
“Filmmaking is not, or shouldn’t be, a strictly goal-oriented exercise. I’ve always preferred the process to the proof. This belief goes all the way back to grade school, when I realized that every time I took a test, I was no longer learning. It wasn’t about education but was about proving your stature. When artists experiment, when they work without a net, the work becomes more alive. Such a method can also allow the audience to engage with the art on another level, because there is the additional question of whether the author can ultimately pull it all off.” -Ted Hope (founder of Good Machine Films) from his book Hope For Film
It doesn’t matter how passionate you were.
It doesn’t matter that you had great intentions.
It doesn’t matter how hard you worked on it.
It doesn’t matter that you didn’t have enough time.
It doesn’t matter that you didn’t have enough money.
It doesn’t matter that you weren’t able to get the right people.
When it comes to your project, what matters is the end result. That’s what you’ll be judged on.
But also realize you have a choice in the matter. You can choose that their judgment doesn’t matter. That all you care about is the process. That the value lies in the attempt.
Just ensure you make a choice before getting started.
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but without you don’t stand a chance.” -Pat Riley
“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” -Thomas Jefferson
Hard work isn’t a badge of honor to be displayed for all to see.
It doesn’t guarantee success.
And it’s not an input/output function. Meaning the more you do, the more you get.
It’s pretty mundane. Ordinary. Just something you do when you love the thing you’re doing.
“People look for retreats for themselves in the country, by the coast, or in the hills. There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in their own mind…So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“People enjoy their food, take pleasure being with their families, spend weekends working in their gardens, delight in the doings of the neighborhood. And even though the next country is so close that people can hear its roosters crowing and its dogs barking, they are content to die of old age without ever having gone to see it.” -Excerpt from Verse 80 of the Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)
“Wherever you go, there you are.” -Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Don’t you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you’re not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you’ve lived nearly half the time you have to live already?”
“Yes, every once in a while.”
“Do you know that in abou thirty- five more years we’ll be dead?”
“What the hell, Robert,” I said. “What the hell.”
“I’m serious.”
“It’s one thing I don’t worry about,” I said.
“You ought to.”
“I’ve had plenty to worry about one time or other. I’m through worrying.”
“Well, I want to go to South America.”
“Listen, Robert, going to another country doesn’t make any difference. I’ve tried all that. You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There’s nothing to that.” -Robert and Jake conversation in The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
When you’re lit up by something, when you’re on fire with passion and purpose, when you’re truly living out your vocation, you may not need or ever want to take a vacation.
P.S. – “I’m on vacation!”
The sooner you figure out who you love and want to spend your life with, the more time you get to spend with the person you love.
The same holds true for your work and art.
The sooner you figure out what you love to do, the more time you get to do the thing you love.
The Vs. Studio Blog