To A Messy Year
Issue No. 20, December, 2021
Hi There,
Last month, when Stephen Sondheim passed, the world lost a master creator. He was a personal hero to many artists, including me. As a kid, I remember scrolling through TV channels and stumbling upon Bernadette Peters performing as the witch in Into the Woods. I found the entire production striking— but nothing moved me more than the finale, Children Will Listen.
Jump ahead some years, and through the lens of artistry, I appreciate that song in a much deeper way. In Six by Sondheim, Sondheim spoke about his estranged relationship with his mother and what he went through as a child. She once sent him a letter saying that the greatest regret in her life was giving birth to him. Learning this heartbreaking fact made his extended lyrics to Children Will Listen even more powerful for me (listen to Lea Salonga sing it here). A man who had suffered such abuse and neglect from his mother wrote an anthem on good parenting, having never experienced it himself.
That letter is only the beginning of the abuse Sondheim experienced. And with such a tortured past, he had every reason to turn towards self-destruction. Instead, he chose creativity. In doing so, he penned lyrics that shared wisdom, wit, and most importantly: the messiness of Being Alive(the title of my second-favorite Sondheim song).
A fulfilling life in the arts involves more than bookings and jobs—it means embracing generosity and sharing from a place of vulnerability. It means taking something that has moved you, for better or for worse, and translating that experience into something that can be seen, heard, tasted, or felt, and letting others be a part of it, too. Sondheim epitomized this sharing. What a gift.
As we wrap out this messy, up-and-down year, here’s a toast to creatives and creativity. This month, I’m sharing a collection of my favorite takeaways from experts who so generously share their wisdom and expertise.
JC
Creative Work
On Building an Approach to Change
Like many of you, 2021 was a year of giant personal changes for me—in addition to a return to public life, I became a mother and opened a studio space.
When I started the year, I had no idea either of those events were in the cards for me. Undertaking each meant facing a lot of personal fears and embracing a kind of messy magic.
I’m still early in my journey, but not taking success or failure too personally is a big lesson I’m learning. It’s allowing me to appreciate what is happening in the moment, without attaching my identity to outcomes. Here are some of the wise words that are helping guide me on that path.
- “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
—Steve Jobs, from Jobs by Walter Isaacson - “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same…
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it”
—Rudyard Kipling, If - “The wisest advice I ever received after soaking up one too many plaudits for Shameless was painful but true: ‘It might just have been a success despite you.’”
—John Yorke, Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey Into Story - “Giving up on perfection is the first step; the next is to stop trying to come up with something different. Striving for an original idea takes us away from our everyday intelligence, and it can actually block access to the creative process.”
—Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom
On Building an Approach to Your Work
It’s easy to get caught up in the grind of trying to forge a career as an actor, losing sight of the joy or feeling that brought you to the arts in the first place. Setting aside the business aspects of acting, you have the chance to add something to the artistic conservation through your actual craft. To do that, carving out space for structure and play is a must.
Much of an actor’s profession is out of your control. But you have a complete hold on where you put your own attention. And the decision of where to put your focus can change your life. When aiming your mindfulness, finding a balance between structure and freedom is the key to great practice and great performances.
- “When we convene day upon day in the same space at the same time, a powerful energy builds up around us. This is the energy of our intention, of our dedication, of our commitment.”
— Steven Pressfield, Turning Pro - “Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.” To stay eager, to connect, to find interest in the everyday, to notice what everybody else overlooks—these are vital skills and noble goals. They speak to the difference between looking and seeing, between hearing and listening, between accepting what the world presents and noticing what matters to you.”
—Rob Walker, The Art of Noticing - “You don’t have to be fearless to find your voice. You just need to be a bit braver today than you were yesterday. We humans are the ultimate paradox. There are two things we want: we want to hide and we want to be seen.”
—Bernadette Jiwa, What Great Storytellers Know - “Every day is filled with opportunities to be amazed, surprised, enthralled— to experience the enchanting everyday. To stay eager. To be, in a word, alive.”
—Rob Walker, The Art of Noticing - “The hardest thing to learn is not “how to juggle,” but how to let the balls drop.”
—Anthony Frost, Improvisation in Drama - “Allowing the mind time to meander is not a luxury that can safely be cut back as life or work gets more demanding.”
—Guy Claxton, Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind - “The habit of excessive planning impedes our ability to see what is actually in front of us. The mind that is occupied is missing the present.”
—Patricia Ryan Mason, Improv Wisdom - “You must learn to hear people thinking. Just in self-defense,” he said, “you have to learn, where is their kindness? Where is their danger, where is their generosity?”
—Mike Nichols, from Mike Nichols, A Life by Mark Harris - “Don’t wait for the proverbial apple to fall on your head. Go out in the world and proactively seek experiences that will spark creative thinking. Interact with experts, immerse yourself in unfamiliar environment…Inspiration is fueled by a deliberate, planned course of action.”
– Tom & David Kelly, Creative Confidence
Edit Less – Experience More
And to close…
An idea from Stephen Sondheim, encouraging us to separate the act of creation from the art of editing.
Words to take with us into this new year.
“The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you can put everything down, stream-of-consciousness, you’ll do yourself a service.”
—Stephen Sondheim (Source Unknown)