Usually after a show closes, I get sick. All the stress and adrenaline that have been keeping me running for however many months of rehearsal + tech + performance take a vacation and leave my body defenseless. And my body says, “Girlfriend, you need a nap. I’m gonna zap you with a cold so you stay in bed and take long hot soaks in the tub.” Zing! Since Hedda Gabler opened last Thursday, my brain has gone numb. I had so many blog posts churning in my head when I didn’t have time to write them. Now that I have time to write them, they’ve vanished. I have them captured on my little “Future Blog Posts” list, but the creative energy required in order to bring those ideas coherently to fruition just wants to be left alone to play sudoku and read escapist fiction
Do you engage in a creative practice outside your main art form? If so, how does that practice inform your work? Or does it? Is there something else you’ve longed to try? What do you do to stretch your creative muscles? What can you do that will keep your vision fresh? For me it’s iPhone photography. These are pics shot and edited with my iPhone 3G for the iPhone photography class I’m taking. I’m having a blast with the class and learning tons. It’s very technical and my mind doesn’t grok technical easily. I’m a complete newbie to using any kind of camera. But I’ve always been fascinated with photos that aren’t your typical family vacation/reunion photos
My latest project is in the brainstorming phase so I thought I would toss it out here for your reaction. I would love to hear from you. I’ve decided I don’t want to do another traditional play for awhile. It’s time to explore something new. Enter – The Empty Chair Project. My hope is that this project will include many different kinds of performing and visual artists and give them the chance to explore working with a theme and making it their own
I’ve added a new category to the blog. It’s called “Lifestreaming”. Lifestraming is a methodology for Life Design as developed, inspired and created by Jessica Mullen. I was introduced to Jessica yesterday in that inter-web-you-don’t-know-me-but-I-am-following-you-online kind of way when I was surfing around looking for artsy-fartsy printable planner pages. (I was suddenly struck by the urgent need to re-invent my life management system. And I promise to post about all the amazing things I found in the very near future because I think you will absolutely eat it up.) The thing that turns me on about day planners and life management systems is that they are representations of our thoughts about who we are and who we want to be and the systems and philosophies (spiritual and/or secular) that we develop in order to realize our dreams. It’s about producitivity in the sense that we are producing ourselves. Which is vital to the macro: creating your life piece of why The Performance Lab exists
If you have ever made anything you care about (and I’m 100% sure that you have), then you know all of these contradictions are true: Beginning is everything. Finishing is everything. Beginning is difficult. Half-way to done can be impossible. Beginning again is essential. You will never finish. You must finish. Okay, just stop, then. And, once you’ve finished, letting go can be more difficult than beginning. All of this has a lot to do with why The Performance Lab exists
If it weren’t for the doing of it, I wouldn’t know what I wanted to do. Aha moment this morning! I have a confession. I plunged into this blogging project and the acting classes without a lot of forethought. When I began, I had no idea what I wanted and truth be told – the dream is still unfolding. All I know right now is that I am building something of value. Something authentic and something new
Here’s the deal with inspiration. Inspiration is lovely, but it isn’t reliable. It arrives unexpectedly at odd hours in odd places, but you can’t rely on it and it rarely provides you with enough fuel to carry you through to completion. If you wait for inspiration to arrive before you begin, you may never begin. And if you give up when it disappears, you will give up too soon
I am a sucker for planners, productivity programs and task management tools. Not an expert – a sucker. Someday I hope to qualify as a semi-pro. There are many wonderful systems and tools available to choose from along with endless blogs and blog entries dedicated to improving personal productivity. I’m going to give you a run-down of my favorites and their pros and cons and then introduce you to a concept that I’ve been playing with which applies Theatrical Perspectives to Life Planning and Productivity. First let me explain a bit about why I came up with the Theatrical Perspectives and how planning from multiple yet cohesive and collaborative perspectives may be helpful for you too
Artists and writers are often required to sneak their creative work in around the edges of their lives and rely on their own will, desire and self-coaching to achieve their goals. And, because our creative work is often a labor of love as opposed to the kinds of labor we do for a paycheck, because there is no boss waiting expectantly for our results to add to his/her bottom line – we can let our creative time slip by. Then another week goes by and another month and another three years and that dream of writing a novel or seeing your art in a gallery is still sitting on a shelf gathering dust and waiting for you to show up
Sometimes my fear wants me to pull back and stop, but I know in my heart that my fear is a signal telling me I am in the midst of expanding a very worn comfort zone. Since I have started paying more attention to the tactics of my inner critic and my ego I have realized how active they are every day. They want me to stay in my comfort zone with the blankets pulled up over my head. They want me to keep reading about how to do it instead of doing it. They want me to make another plan and another plan for making the plan. They want me to play computer games and drink more wine. And they love junk food – especially Cheezits flavored with tobasco!
RSS
Newsletter
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
NetworkedBlogs
