The Art of Dramatic Living

I’ve been thinking a lot about purpose. My drive to prove myself to others and to please others – I couldn’t even identify who – so many – has lead to a constant pursuit of opportunity and a glut of activity that in some ways has lost meaning for me. I say “in some ways” because theatre has not lost all meaning to me – but I have lost my role in it. The question has become, “If I don’t have anything to prove to anybody, what role is there for me to play?” I’ve been pondering the meaning of my life. This is a time of uncertainty for me.

And this video – that I happened upon after searching for Matthew Fox and his Creation Spirituality movement – speaks to the value of uncertainty and to the larger definition of “role”. This is Joanna Macy speaking at the 2009 Bioneers Conference about Uncertainty.

Joanna Macy at Bioneers 2009 from Defend theCommons on Vimeo.

For me the most obvious answer to this question is over-commitment. I don’t draw boundaries around my time when confronted with theatrical opportunities. I believe this tendency to over-commit is fear based. I am afraid that every opportunity to perform will be my last.

There is a common saying in the theatrical community, “You are only as good as your current job.” The fact is once a show is closed you join the ranks of the unemployed no matter how successful the production was. This is more true in professional theatre than it is in community or educational theatre, but it is a truth based mindset in any artistic community. If you aren’t visible, you don’t exist.

My husband and I had an interesting conversation in the car on the way to rehearsal for Rabbit Hole. We were talking about how busy we are and how busy we’ve been since getting engaged in July, closing a show with Theatre NXS, beginning rehearsals for Rabbit Hole with CEC, getting married, me taking a playwriting class this semester, teaching an acting class on the weekends, buying a home, moving twice – and – I’m sure I left something out, but you get the idea.

The conversation went something like this:

Yes. I’ve been ignoring my blog for awhile. I’ve missed it terribly, but I have been devoted in body, mind and spirit to the big changes going on in my life.

I’m getting married in 10 days. TEN DAYS!!! I thought I could just roll along with my life and keep up with everything and just sneak in a little wedding without any blips in my other activities. I mean it’s just a little wedding. Plain and simple. Small. Private. It really shouldn’t take too much time away from my other activities, should it? Yeah, right!

Getting married, moving, creating a new family – they are all-consuming. So much change! We’ve moved into our new home and have begun to settle in to a new routine, a new family constellation, and a new lifestyle.

I have a confession. I’ve done almost nothing this week but play with my new iPhone. I am hoping this new obsession will pass, but I’m thinking I have at least another week to go with it.

That’s why the Friday post will focus on iPhone apps. I know you may be thinking this is off-topic for a blog about creativity, but then again …

I’ve broken my selections down into 7 categories:

1. Basic – this is the stuff that comes loaded on the iPhone. I’m not going to break this one down.
2. Productivity
3. Networking
4. Reading & Media
5. Self Care & Luscious Indulgence
6. Games – Yup. I’m a player.
7. On the iPod – I only have audio books on the iPod. If you want to read a mini review of David Whyte’s The Three Marriages, you can skip to that from here.

We’re working towards something here. We’re perfecting our craft. We’re evolving as our art is evolving. We’re sharing our beauty and our wisdom with those who long for it and…we are allowing ourselves to receive the intangible and tangible rewards that this sharing returns to us.

I am the first to admit a failure to value my abilities, but every day I am also opening myself to the possibility that what I have to share is valuable. My goal is to allow myself to be supported by doing what I love and by offering that love to others.

This week I was looking for examples of creative people who have taken what they love doing and have found a way to share their love with the world. Creative business owners and entrepreneurs who have allowed themselves to be rewarded spiritually and financially for their contributions to this wild and amazing world.

If you’ve been reading you know that this blog, my focus and business plan are currently (or constantly) under revision. A couple of months ago I introduced The Friday Post in which I share with you the cool resources and beautiful goodies that I find during my weekly internet prowls.

These posts are focused on creativity in the general sense. They have featured resources for writers, online galleries and life philosophies to expand the creative mind. Several people have found these resources valuable so I have decided to add a page that will include all the links from The Friday Posts. I hope this page will be a launching pad for your personal creative quest. That’s Revision # 1.

Revision # 2 introduces the Acting Concept post. Acting Concept posts will focus on an element of the actor’s craft, explain the concept, provide examples, and finally explore how this concept can be applied to daily life. These posts will end with questions that you can use to explore and expand your life on stage and off. My hope is that these questions will spark your imagination and send you flying to your journal pages.

On with the post…

Acting Concept: Acting is Doing

This is the basic numero uno prime and ultimate concept to master. Acting is doing.

What does that mean? In the most obvious sense it means when your character is onstage searching for his blue sock, you the actor will be onstage searching for your blue sock. You aren’t pretending to search. You are searching. You aren’t demonstrating to the audience that your character is searching and you aren’t emoting about how much you love the blue sock. You are searching for the blue sock.

Change signals an opportunity to ask big questions, to re-vision and make yourself anew. That’s where my head was over the past two weeks and I found some really cool things I want to share with you:

The first one is Living in a Human Suit created by Scott Brandon Hoffman aka @TheEntertainer. Scott leads with his sense of humor and has a refreshing way of making you laugh while making you think about the Big Picture.

You know things like your life and your purpose and why you might be inhabiting this planet at this point in time.

I hated to leave my blog and my Twitter friends over the past week, but there wasn’t any other sane choice. I continue to surf the wave of change that is sweeping through my life.

Status Report:

My daughter and I (and the goldfish and the guinea pig) have moved into our temporary home with my fiance, my mother has moved into her new apartment (and is STILL waiting for her cable hook-up – AAAARGH!), my dog has moved into her temporary home with a friend of mine, we had the house inspection last Thursday and we are waiting for the seller’s response to our requests, my belongings are stored away in a truck that is parked in a secured area in some unknown location, my fiance and I are learning how to co-habitate (practice makes perfect) and all of us are negotiating these new territories on a moment by moment basis.

I am still Wonderfully Distracted by Happiness so this post will not be nearly as polished as I want it to be.

You know I love art and I love artists because they are brave and soulful and they fill my life with beauty – even when the art isn’t “pretty” they still fill my life with beauty.

Since I began blogging and twittering I have connected with some truly talented people and I want to share some of my favorite virtual galleries with you. Just click and browse and breathe in the inspiration. All of the sites will open in another window so you can easily come back here to continue your gallery crawl.