theater – joshua chamberlain

be findable

Over two years ago now, I hosted a reading of a play. For obvious reasons, that play never went into production. I spent two years twiddling my thumbs, telling myself my play would get produced “as soon as all this ended,” and taking solace in the wisdom of George S. Kauffman, whose Broadway debut wasContinue reading “be findable”

for moments of catastrophic failure

I’ve been working on a new play for the last year or so. This past weekend, I assembled a cast of actors to sit and read the script for the first time. It was awful. While the feedback I received was invaluable, the consensus from those in the room was that the play was aContinue reading “for moments of catastrophic failure”

lessons from Mike Nichols

I finally finished reading Mark Harris’s biography, Mike Nichols: A Life. A few takeaways: “I passionately believe that in art, certainly in theater, there are only two questions…The first question is: ‘What is this, really, when it happens in life?’ not what is the accepted convention…but what is it really like? And the other questionContinue reading “lessons from Mike Nichols”

we wear the mask

It’s both chilling and appropriate that Facebook announced its name change and shift in business the week of Halloween. ‘Tis the season for all the mischief that accompanies wearing a mask. And Facebook has always been in the business of mask-making. It’s fair to say that most of us on the internet wear masks thatContinue reading “we wear the mask”

letting go

I’ve never been great at letting go of things. But I’ve come to realize letting go might be the single most important lesson to be learned. The one constant in life is that everything changes. If we aren’t able to adapt to that change–to let go of the way things used to be–then we windContinue reading “letting go”

water your vine

Like everyone else in America, I’m still swooning over Amanda Gorman’s performance of her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at the Presidential Inauguration this week. But a one line stood out to me above the rest: Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no oneContinue reading “water your vine”

failure’s pretty great

Yesterday, my roommate and I had a conversation about failure. I told him a story about writing my first full-length play. When I finished it, I printed out copies and invited a group of friends to come over and read it. This night was among the top five most embarrassing nights of my life. TheContinue reading “failure’s pretty great”

“be patient”

A few years back, I went to see a Broadway play. Afterwards, I hung around outside the stage door and wound up talking to the director. “Be patient,” he said when I asked for advice. This is something at which I’ve never excelled. Be it waiting for a break, waiting for things to change, orContinue reading ““be patient””

the work continues

Charles McNulty, a theater critic for the Los Angeles Times, recently published an open letter to his students, detailing how even now, theater and literature have immense power to sustain the human spirit. “Great literature, as Chekhov illustrates in his plays and short stories, is where simplistic binaries die. Characters live personal lives while contendingContinue reading “the work continues”