This week's Soapblogger is Eric Vosmeier, Know Theatre's Managing Artistic Director and Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, which starts this week and runs through June 12th. Fringe is now in its seventh year - Vosmeier has been at the helm for the past two Fringe Fests - and will welcome performance artists from all over the world to Cincinnati for two weeks of fringe-inspired theatre and art. As you can imagine, this week is a bit maddening for Vosmeier, which is why we asked him to share some inside thoughts (and probably a few of his inner voices) on Fringe with Soapbox readers.
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Soapblog The Second. Discomfort.
Posted By: Eric Vosmeier
6/2/2010
Following a round of auditions and callbacks with potential resident actors for next season, I moved into the interview phase of that hiring process. This part is not unlike interviewing for any other job, but the conversation does tend to wander into topics you'd not necessarily expect out of a traditional interview.
Recently, I had a very interesting conversation (via email) with a potential actor for next season that struck me as more than just conversation. In fact, it was an expression of a small part of my personal philosophy. The conversation was about discomfort. It started because the actor mentioned how he had recently discovered how important it was to always be a little "off-balance."
After giving it some thought, I realized this was something I not only identified with but was sort of an m.o. of sorts for me. I wrote back:
"Comfort is the status quo. Comfort to me, too often, becomes coasting. Being out of our comfort zone is one of the best ways to learn, to teach, and to create the best work. This is not to say that I'm constantly striving for discomfort for myself or for the rest of the company. But rather to identify those things which should find a nice comfort zone when it benefits the company, and likewise to identify those things that should never get caught in the rut of a comfort zone, when that benefits the company.
I think about that conversation a great deal now.
Granted, as a person, I'm bordering on broken (or at least severely cracked), but I like the feeling of discomfort. I like not knowing what's next. I like having to figure out how to make something work that seems impossible.
Being uncomfortable and off-balance means I can't rely upon those habits I've always relied upon. I can't pull from the same bag of tricks, rather I have to create new tools for ye ole' bag. I have to have new thoughts, new reactions. I have to be challenged. I have to think differently.
I have to hear opinions about things I am not willing to hear opinions about. And I have to allow myself to be open to those ideas and to make changes based on them. Those changes are sometimes significant.
I have to evolve. I have to get better.
This is why I love my job. This is why I hate my job. This is why I love my job.
When we create something new for the stage, we all move into an area of discomfort, of unease. We don't know where the process of creating a character or a set or a poster design or an education program will take us. We don't know if we'll actually know how to do what we have to do to create something. And we don't know if we can do it with the limited resources we have. But we love trying. We appreciate failing. And we love getting better.