The musical Titanic has a great protagonist--a doomed ship. The tough thing is...everybody knows the end of the story. But strangely, our knowledge of the end is also what gives the story it's edge. It's a god-like power, knowing the person you're listening to is going to die long before it happens to them. …
Taproot Theatre’s “Brownie Points”
Theatre as conversation starter: it's a metaphor we often pull out when we're trying to justify theatre's existence. "To teach and to please" was the catchphrase back in the 18th century, and Taproot Theatre's current production--Janece Shaffer's Brownie Points--manifests that ideal explicitly. One of the characters even suggests early in the play that there …
17 Steps to Beating Resistance
Keeping the themes of "The War of Art" (by Stephen Pressfield) going one more day, let me ask you this: how did the battle with Resistance go today? Here's how it went for me, and the 17 steps I took (or that I felt myself taking? Or that someone gave me the strength take? Or...) …
On Finishing “The War of Art”
So 24 hours later, I'm through Steven Pressfield's The War of Art. Without looking back at my notes and highlights, here are the take-aways for me, the specifics the little voice inside me is urging me to pay attention to. Stop speculating about art's mysteries. Be a craftsman. Make the work. Every day. The mysteries …
A Brief Note On “The War of Art”
How do you define a critic? I don't remember where I first heard it, but here's the definition I use, though frankly, until recently, I'd forgotten it. "A critic mediates between an artist and his work." Yesterday, I got a note about the latest draft of the my current project. It wasn't a note I …
JEFF BERRYMAN 