Paralysis in Rehearsal (or at the typewriter, workbench, gym, kitchen, bedroom, you get the idea)

You are [insert craft of choice] and you find yourself drawing a blank.

The scene begins, you walk out on stage look at your scene partner and flat, emotionless Shakespeare vomits out of you.

You sit in front of your book-maker of choice and stare at an empty page. The blank page stares back.  Time passes.

Repeat ad nauseum.

Why does this happen?

How does this happen?

Is there anything we can do about it?

All mental blocks are physical.

This is my new mantra.

That and: 

All physical blocks are mental, but that may be the subject of another post.

So what does that mean?

The body and mind are not disconnected; they are not disparate; they are not unified.

They are, in point of fact, one.

So what do we do with that?

Well, to put it simply: any time you are now stuck on a mental problem, try changing what you are doing.

I mean this literally.

Change.

Stand if you are sitting, sit if you are standing, run if you are walking, crouch if there is nowhere to sit, cartwheel, dance, do anything except what you are doing.

Because that is how we get stuck.

That is how the blank page never gets filled.

You stare at a blank page.

Won't this be productive? An hour passes. Shit.

Do something!

Even if it is the act of typing nonsense gibberish at least you are turning it from a blank page into something you can work with.

This I have found is the single greatest trick to my work as an artist.

Do something.

At least then it is craftable, changeable, malleable, dare I say, alive?

One of the most remarkable improvisational workshops I have ever taken was where the master watched the scene carefully.

Let it go until it, in his parlance, 'died'.

I was so thrown, but he explained:

"Comedy/improv, is like an organism. It lives, it breathes, it grows, and sometimes it dies on the vine. It is my job to help you sense when that happens and how to avoid it."

Brilliant.

Art as organism.

Art as life.

The real trick that I find as a director/actor is turning off the Censor.

You may know him by his other name: Satan.

No, I don't mean literally.

But, there is a voice that is systemic in artists, I have found, that constantly whispers creepy (Satanic) shit like: "That's not good enough" "You'll never be that good" "You're not on Broadway"

Really useless crap.

But we LISTEN!

I tell actors in my rehearsal hall every day that what they did, which was silly and ridiculous and stupid was perfect for the scene.

But they shy away from 'that sort of acting'.
Why do we do that?

Because it is silly and ridiculous and stupid.

Our whole life has been about avoiding that sort of behavior in order to blend in and survive.

We need to be a bit more daring.

I'm not just talking about artists anymore.

This is everyone:

Be honest, be truthful, be silly, be courageous. 

It is worthy of art.

It is truthful.

It will help.

And if it does not....

Try something else.