Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity. - T.S. Eliot -
My Daily Good Website which comes to me via email daily had an interesting article "11 Tips to Living a Creative Life" but I was first attracted to it by the above quote. And I think there is a lot of truth to that comment.
Elizabeth Gilbert
The article and subsequent TED talk are from Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love" and has a new book out "Big Magic" which I have not read as yet. Pretty interesting.
We have all heard of actors, writers, musicians, visual artists who have been tortured with anxious feelings about their work...in some cases, what may seem like a super ego may well be just the angst from which they are suffering.
A few years ago, Dick and I had the privilege of attending a stage play at the Bass Hall, Fort Worth, Texas by invitation from one of my best buddies from college who is married to a guy whose family owns a Sound business for stage plays in New York City..(.the guys who work with the mikes, make sure all sound is good, compatible, etc.) And Beth and Richard were here with the cast of "The Sunshine Boys" with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, Richard in charge of all the sound workings.
Play bill for the Sunshine Boys
Beth sat with us in the audience while Richard was at work. Apparently guys in this business often become very familiar with actors and on first name basis with many. At intermission, Beth went to talk to Richard back stage; she returned to say he really had his hands full! It seems that Klugman was not very happy....this was his first appearance on stage since he had suffered from throat cancer. They were trying it out away from NY because Klugman was very nervous about getting up in front of an audience.
While on stage at the Bass, Klugman could not see the audience nor hear their reactions to the funny lines by either laughter or applause. He was used to playing on Broadway in a much smaller venues! And it was a week-day so the audience didn't fill up the hall like a weekend would. He had been used to being able to see beyond the stage and hear the audience applause and laughter. At the Bass, being much larger than the theaters he was used to, (you know, everything is bigger in Texas!) neither of these...seeing or hearing from the stage...was occurring. I guess Richard was able to convince him that all was well, because he seemed pretty jovial at the cast party after the show, which we were invited to attend! Quite an evening!
I bought myself a calendar for 2017 with my activities written on it. I look at it every day to see what, if anything, I am supposed to do. This calendar happens to be about this very subject! Artist's Angst! Here is a picture for the month of January!
The though for January!
And, although age has soften the anxiety with each new work of art..(.I am now really just trying to please myself)...Most of my artist friends and I do go through a similar process!!
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| Elizabeth Gilbert |
The article and subsequent TED talk are from Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love" and has a new book out "Big Magic" which I have not read as yet. Pretty interesting.
We have all heard of actors, writers, musicians, visual artists who have been tortured with anxious feelings about their work...in some cases, what may seem like a super ego may well be just the angst from which they are suffering.
A few years ago, Dick and I had the privilege of attending a stage play at the Bass Hall, Fort Worth, Texas by invitation from one of my best buddies from college who is married to a guy whose family owns a Sound business for stage plays in New York City..(.the guys who work with the mikes, make sure all sound is good, compatible, etc.) And Beth and Richard were here with the cast of "The Sunshine Boys" with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, Richard in charge of all the sound workings.
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| Play bill for the Sunshine Boys |
Beth sat with us in the audience while Richard was at work. Apparently guys in this business often become very familiar with actors and on first name basis with many. At intermission, Beth went to talk to Richard back stage; she returned to say he really had his hands full! It seems that Klugman was not very happy....this was his first appearance on stage since he had suffered from throat cancer. They were trying it out away from NY because Klugman was very nervous about getting up in front of an audience.
While on stage at the Bass, Klugman could not see the audience nor hear their reactions to the funny lines by either laughter or applause. He was used to playing on Broadway in a much smaller venues! And it was a week-day so the audience didn't fill up the hall like a weekend would. He had been used to being able to see beyond the stage and hear the audience applause and laughter. At the Bass, being much larger than the theaters he was used to, (you know, everything is bigger in Texas!) neither of these...seeing or hearing from the stage...was occurring. I guess Richard was able to convince him that all was well, because he seemed pretty jovial at the cast party after the show, which we were invited to attend! Quite an evening!
I bought myself a calendar for 2017 with my activities written on it. I look at it every day to see what, if anything, I am supposed to do. This calendar happens to be about this very subject! Artist's Angst! Here is a picture for the month of January!
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| The though for January! |
Are those autographs on the Playbill?
ReplyDeleteYes but it's not my play bill. I got the picture off the Internet.
Delete