CMU School of Drama


Friday, April 15, 2016

The Only Constant Is Change

Stage Directions: While watching Tupac Martir’s keynote address at USITT this year, one thing kept sticking out to me: He’s fearless about change.

One of the first stories he told was how he knew it was time to change jobs. He had been working in Mexico City at the opera, taking any and every job he could: lighting, scenic, costumes, makeup.

2 comments:

Lucy Scherrer said...

The distinction between external and internal motivational for change is one that I had never heard before, but I'm glad that this article brought it up. Every choice that we make affects us in some way, but our physical wellbeing is just as important as our emotional or mental wellbeing. Therefore it would make sense that changes that improve our physical living situation should be regarded in the same light as those that improve our emotional health. I've always kind of viewed it the other way around than this article mentions, however: I feel like a lot of people prioritize their financial security or other physical factors over how their work makes them feel. In the artistic world, it might be considered not authentic to switch jobs because you aren't making enough money to support yourself, but in other disciplines it could be considered foolish and crazy to switch jobs because your current job isn't fulfilling. I guess that just goes to show that a balance between the two is necessary to be a holistically well-rounded person no matter what field you're in.

Sarah Battaglia said...

Well I think what's important here is the difference between external and internal motivation, and how that effects your career. I think that that is an interesting distinction to make, and one I would have never thought of. For a lot of people there is very little external motivation to do theater. There isn't a lot of money, and tech theater isn't necessarily the most glamorous job I can think of, but we do what we do because we like it. It's because of our internal motivation that we chose to give our lives to our career and our cause. I think this is what ties into the aspect of constant change. Internal motivation is always changing so we are always changing and thus our careers will change. Maybe that isn't for everyone, but it is so exciting to me that what I want will have an effect what shows I do, or where I work. I think a lot of what makes theater interesting is that it is never stagnant, and I think it's great that we embrace the change. It may become something that I don't love about theater later on in my life, but right now I absolutely love that I will not go to work every day and do the same thing. I think it is important to be challenged everyday, and to have to learn something new as you go. Technical theater does that, and I am so excited spend my life changing.