The stage of your life

Hi had a great conversation with an old friend the other day.  Conversation turned to "current projects" and I told him all about Owning The Stage, and how I'm trying to distill what is common about all the various modes of performance.  The assumption is that if we can all learn something new about how it works, the "framework of performance" if you will, we can do better at our chosen craft, no matter what it is.

Now my friend is not a performer, himself.  In fact he is a computer science guy.  But innovation often comes from unexpected places, where different fields intersect.  I was talking about the different modes of performance, such as singing, dancing, acting, public speaking, sales presentations, and so forth, and he jumps in and says "and the stage of your life."

I stopped short, as the gears in my head began to whirl faster than they were designed to go...

Now if we could learn something from stage performance that would help regular people with their lives, THAT would be something new and different.

In a way, it would not be a shock to discover this mysterious insight, because stage performance is the way our culture expresses important values, deals with large-scale loss, learns about itself, and so forth.  But bringing it down to a personal level was a new thought to me.

I'm certainly conscious of the fact that stage performers are often getting more out of it than the money.  (Ha!)  Stanislavski made a comment in his book on that topic, suggesting that nobody benefits more from a performance, at a personal level, than the performer himself.  Mastering any skill can give one a sense of well-being and self-confidence.

And I have to admit that there is a lot of similarity between stage performance and every-day life.  I'm beginning to think of performance as "organized communication in the moment" which is not unlike any of a thousand different interactions we have every day, when we're trying to make a point, influence someone, make a sale, etc.  Quite possibly if we can learn to be great performers, the skills will bubble over into the rest of our life interactions as well!  It might even help us with our solitude, since being a great performer involves mastery over your own thoughts.  Perhaps stage performance is an alternate path to 'enlightenment' in the Buddhist sense, or if not a complete path, perhaps it gives one a head-start.  Most people are inclined to keep themselves busy, or at least distracted, to avoid the chaotic thoughts that creep into their heads in moments of quiet.  That's why TV is so addictive in our culture, in spite of all its negative consequences.  Stage performance skills can help you tame the self-talk that keeps you down.

Short of making everyone a performer, I wonder what concepts we can take from the performance world that would help the regular folk?

Comment if you have any inspiration!

Tom