Our Managing Director Penni Tinsley gave me a book one day almost a year ago called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, she thought it might help me with something that was standing in the way of my success as a professional actor, she characterized it as a tendency to overidentify with myself as an actor. In the copy she gave me, she highlighted this passage
" A pro stands at one remove from her instrument - meaning her person, her body, her voice, her talent; the physical, mental, emotional, and psychological being she uses in her work. She does not identify with this instrument. It is simply what God gave her, what she has to work with. She assesses it cooly, impersonally, objectively. The professional identifies with her consciousness and her will, not with the matter that her consciousness and will manipulate to serve her art. Does Madonna walk around the house in cone bras and come-fuck-me bustiers? She's too busy planning D-Day. Madonna does not identify with "Madonna." Madonna employs "Madonna."
A light bulb went off, this was a new concept for me, and it changed the way I think about myself and my art. There is a section in Steven Pressfield's book that speaks to each of us in relation to our work, our craft, the intersection of our art and our commerce, and the interconnectedness of our spirituality and our creativity. It was for this reason we purchased a copy for the cast of our debut production SHEPARD.
Steven's Pressfield's The War of Art is an important book for theater artists because of the incorporeal nature of imaginative creation working with one's body, voice, and mind. For those of us sitting in our rooms analyzing a script, or in the rehearsal studio crafting a new monologue we might have an idea of what it feels like to procrastinate or rationalize our way out of doing our work. Pressfield defines the enemy to our creative success as "Resistance," a force of self sabotage from within, and encourages a warrior like mentality to overcome it and "turn pro." He offers continuing insight on this philosophy through his Writing Wednesday blog. In this Q&A Steven discusses Resistance in the group setting, Resistance from outside forces, and dreams. In addition I'll post a follow up to Steven's question for me on "Group Resistance."
Q&A with Steven Pressfield
Resistance In A Group
Being a theater company, we face resistance not only on a personal level in our work, but also at the group level as we move forward with new projects. What are the different ways resistance can manifest in the group dynamic and how do you see resistance influencing the group, both as a whole and on an individual basis?
SP: Nick, I confess I have never even considered this subject. Group Resistance. (Being a solitary writer, I've only deal with it on a solitary basis.) Maybe I should be asking YOU about this. But since you've asked, let me tell you what I have observed about Resistance in a dynamic larger than the individual.
In The War of Art, there's a chapter on collective sabotage, where entire groups of people make an unconscious compact that none of them will rise higher than their current state, artistically or otherwise. If one crab dares to make the leap for the rim of the bucket, the others will clamp him with their pincers and bring him back down. That's probably not the Group Resistance you've experienced.
I've also observed in couples or parent-child combos or other dyads that, if one member starts overcoming his or her Resistance, the other will not only attempt to sabotage him or her ("You've changed, you're not the same person, what's wrong with you?") but will, by some perverse and uncanny mechanism, mirror and play back the striving person's own internal Resistance exactly. In other words, if an aspiring writer finally starts to write but secretly has fears of, say, surpassing his parents' achievements or of being disloyal to former friends who are still mired in Resistance, the writer's partner/wife/parent/whatever will play that very stuff back to him, verbally, out loud. But maybe this is not what you're asking about either, Nick. Both of these are competitive individually. One individual feels threatened by another's achievement and so tries to sabotage that individual, consciously or unconsciously.
But you're talking about a group dynamic, aren't you? Where an entire group acts as one to sabotage the group collectively. Write me back, will you, and let me know if that's it. I'd like to hear your thoughts. You can no doubt answer this question a lot better than I can.
Follow up:
NJ: Here are a two quick example of how resistance might affect our group.
We have three producing partners, myself and two women named Penni Tinsley and Joanna Bowzer. After our first production we were eager to start work on another one, so eager that we had the agreement drawn up to rent space, we alerted our actors to another production on the horizon, and we began to assemble a rehearsal schedule, marketing plan, and business model that could be put into effect immediately to create the planning and infrastructure for a second show. All three of us were behind this heavy push to get show #2 off the ground. We were sure NYC needed to "know" about our group, and fast. With so many start up theater groups in NYC, we wanted the community to know we were here to stay, not a "one and done" operation.
You might know where this is going. It was at this time I was re-reading your book to give some thought to questions for this Q&A, specifically the passage A Professional Is Patient. I called my producing partners to remind them of this lesson from your book, and it was a big group "aha" moment - because our time table for completion was unrealistic and overambitious. We've since pushed the date back a month, which has allowed us to put a more deliberate and thoughtful plan together and actually allowed for the muse to really speak through each of us in regard to the piece.
So, "group resistance" in this example acted in a fashion similar to solitary resistance, we just experienced it on the group level.
A second example. The three of us have taken it upon ourselves to become more adept at networking. We have been filling our schedules with more theater performances than ever, meetings with producers and founders of theater companies with similar aims, and generally doing everything we can to increase our visibility in the theater community. A while back Joanna said to me "Might some of this be resistance?" I hadn't given it any thought in that regard. Her point was simply that here we were filling our schedules with opportunities to see the work of others while our new project sat on our desks at home, collecting dust. "But, but, but" said Rationalization. It IS important that we network, see the fruit of others creative labor, arm ourselves with knowledge about the landscape of the "scene" and what others were creating across the city. I think you get the point.
There is a synergy to group resistance. It wasn't just my rationalizing, it was the unique rationalizations of all three of us that made the combined effect all the more powerful and more of a blind spot to us. If Joanna and Penni also thought seeing shows and meeting people was the way to spend our evenings, well then it must be so. Little did we all know that it was Resistance, using our combined manifestations as a steam roller against us.
So, there's a few thoughts on this idea of "group resistance", and we will continue to give it more thought as we move forward. If we reach any more conclusions on it, I will be sure to get in touch.
Resistance in those you love and in your peers & colleagues
As we move forward as artists and as a company, we have found that some of our closer artistic peers and advisers seem to be embodying resistance. Do you have any suggestions on how to move beyond that and what was your personal experience with that as you become more successful?
SP: Ah, I didn't read this question till just now. I've addressed it partially in the answer to #1. Yes, very definitely Resistance comes up in close artistic peers, as you say. Did you ever see the movie, Withnail and I? (Withnail is a person's name.) About two starving actors in London, one of whom gets a Big Break while the other doesn't. It's exactly on this subject. I highly recommend it.
Here's what I think happens when artistic peers exhibit Resistance, or, more exactly, when they embody Resistance and beam it towards us. If one member of the group, or the group as a whole, begin to progress and get better, any member or advisor or colleague who himself is NOT advancing, will feel threatened by this and will start to "act out" negatively toward the people who ARE progressing. It's not that he or she is "bad." It's that he or she is dealing with their own unconscious Resistance--and you or your group's progress is perceived as a reproach to them (usually unconsciously.) If you can succeed, why can't your peer/advisor/whoever?
This is a tough one to deal with, because if often requires direct confrontation--and we know how most people respond to that: with anger and denial. You lose friends that way. I have found in my own life that I have had to leave certain friends behind. It's tough and it's sad. But, if you're in prison and you've made the decision to break out, you can't keep hanging around with friends who want to stay in. They'll rat you out to the guards. You have to make new friends, who are willing to make a break too.
Dreams as part of creative process
We feel that many of the best creative ideas come from the unconscious mind through dreams, day dreams, fantasies, etc. In the war of art you talk about dreams and the profound effect they can have on an artist. Can you talk more about the way your dream life relates to your creative process?
Great question, Nick. I am a big believer in dreams, but I must say I've almost never had a dream that helped me with a creative problem. I've never solved Act Two, based on some vision that came to me at three in the morning. Where dreams have been a huge help to me is in the struggle against Resistance. Dreams have fortified my resolve. They've bucked me up when doubts were overwhelming me. You read the "Largo" dream in The War of Art. That's one.
For me for some reason, water is a symbol of creativity, of flow. I've had this same dream many times in different forms, where I'll be walking on my property and I'll notice springs bursting out of the hillsides or little rivers flowing down from the hills above. I take those dreams as good omens, telling me, "Don't worry, Steve, good juju is flowing and more is on the way."
But, as I said, Nick, I've almost never had a dream that was a "great idea." If you guys have, I envy you!
We're honored Steven took the time to answer our questions, a special thanks goes out to his publicist Callie R. Oettinger for putting us in touch and facilitating the Q&A.
by Nick Job
