Early in the pandemic, I started collecting plants in my living room. Surrounding myself with green things helped provide peace of mind during a period of so much upheaval and tumult. Here was something I could control, something I could care for. All I needed was a little potting soil and some water from myContinue reading “lessons learned from houseplants”
Author Archives: joshua chamberlain
cut your teeth
Malcolm Gladwell’s Principle of 10,000 hours is well documented, but for those of you who aren’t familiar, the idea goes like this: achieving mastery of a specific skill require an estimated ten-thousand hours of practice. Backed by research studies and social experiments, Gladwell asserts that “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” AndContinue reading “cut your teeth”
all you can do is the work
I’ve fought with my desire to control for years. We’re all hurtling through the world, like pinballs ricocheting off one another. While it’s reasonable to expect today will look a lot like yesterday, the truth is we’re thrust head-first into the unknown each morning. This is something I’ve always struggled with. I don’t like change.Continue reading “all you can do is the work”
Screen Craft Finalist
My full-length play, All Stations Distress, was recently selected as a finalist in this year’s Screen Craft Stage Play Competition. A tremendous thank you to the team of directors, producers, actors, and collaborators over the years who have helped me develop this transformative piece of work.
“Trouble”
Last summer, I had the opportunity to work as the Associate Producer on the short film, “Trouble,” written and directed by Jacob Chase and starring Anthony Rapp and John Rubenstein. The work we do is always worth sharing, but this was a project I was especially thrilled to be a part of. “Trouble” is nowContinue reading ““Trouble””
tell the story
A while back, I wrote a play. I was in conversations with a theater company about producing this play when the world shut down. A lot of things happened after that. You know what I’m talking about. Now, theaters wants to produce plays with a message, plays that say something about the world we liveContinue reading “tell the story”
tunneling to the other side
Last night, I watched If These Walls Could Sing, a documentary about Abbey Road Studios, on Disney+ and had an absolutely ball. What resonated more than anything was the number of musicians who spoke about Abbey Road Studios with a sense of spiritual awe, as though the space itself is a portal to where creativityContinue reading “tunneling to the other side”
speaking truth to power
I recently listened to an episode of The Moment with Brian Koppelman in which Koppelman reflects on his late father’s influence and the lessons learned from watching his father operate in the music business. One of these lessons is how to speak truth to power, a privilege that stems from a similar place as professionalContinue reading “speaking truth to power”
play time
One of my favorite reads from last year was Get Jiro, a graphic novel written by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose and featuring art by Landon Foss. The graphic novel depicts a wild world in which chefs dominate the social fabric like crime lords. There’s a joyful savagery to the story, which opens with aContinue reading “play time”
ask for what you want
Every time I decide to write about my “Rules to Live By,” this is where I get stuck. It’s a simple enough piece of advice, and yet I’ve struggled with it throughout much of my life. The first time I heard this nugget of wisdom articulated this way, I’d just begun working as an apprenticeContinue reading “ask for what you want”