LETTER FROM PARIS, 2010

by Natalia Lazarus, Artistic Director
Promenade Playhouse

--I’ve been traveling a lot this past year back and forth to Paris, France, where I have been teaching our signature program, Character Preference. This current visit has been mainly pleasure because of the Holidays; catching up with friends and setting up workshops for the New Year.

--What a spectacular journey it has been. Paris is absolutely sublime for the Holidays. There are lights everywhere: the Eiffel Tower, Avenue Montaigne, the Louvre, the Hotel de Ville and even quaint cobble stone streets are all alive with filmic lighting effects; adding a sizzle to the already bustling energy of this fascinating city.

--What never seizes to amaze me is the vast amount of cultural and artistic events available to choose from and the seriousness of the patrons who attend them. The Parisians attend all current exhibits, ballets, films, etc…It is THE thing to do to be up to date on all that is happening culturally; much like it is for us with the Hollywood film scene and the “it” parties…

--Cafés and parties are filled with discussions about this or that exhibit. There is a lot of passion and knowledge passed back and forth on any given artist, painting or museum. It’s invigorating and inspiring to be a witness to such appreciation for artists. It helps to renew one’s sense of purpose and that we are not deluded or alone in our creative pursuits. I am reminded of one of my mentors who once told me, PERSIST, PERSIST and PERSIST for Somehow, Somewhere, Someone will see you and feel your talent.

--At Centre Pompidou, in the quartier, Beaubourg, there is an exhibit called, ELLES. It is a compilation of all the female artists that are housed in this museum of modern art. One of them is Louise Bourgeois. I first encountered the work of this artist last summer in Los Angeles at MOMA. Her work is innovative, bold and eclectic. It is a series of sculptures and “room installations”, in their most non-traditional form but the through-line is always the same: Louise Bourgeois holding a mirror to herself, working through her past, her turmoiled childhood and her never ending feeling of abandonment that she felt from her mother. The message is strong, unapologetic, universal and sometimes downright bizarre.

--Louise Bourgeois is now 100 years old. Though she had many exhibitions in her lifetime, she didn’t get into a museum until she was 70!!  Artistically, the last 30 years have been the best of her life!

--“Je fais, je detruit, je refais”:  “I do, I un-do, I re-do”, is one of her mottos. There is a documentary on her life out that I was able to catch and it is around these 3 pillars that the film is constructed on.

I DO                                                      I UN-DO                                                            I RE-DO

--That is in fact what we do as artists all the time. We create, we destroy, we re-invent. Throughout our lives we are in this constant journey of doing, un-doing, re-doing and we must realize that this is okay. We can’t always be in the doing. What is important to understand is what phase we are currently in. We grow in our lives and as artists; and our goals change but the through line remains the same, we have something to say that propels us into creation whether it be writing, acting, directing, painting, producing, singing, sculpting…The possibilities are endless but the need for expression persists and persists…

--There is no such thing as “giving up on your dream”. If the dream is your passion, if the need for expression is larger than you, your dream is always alive. It is fueled by you. By your doing, undoing and redoing. It may feel like you’ve given up, like no one is listening, like no one appreciates your talent, others may interpret your behavior as having given up, you may even believe that you’ve given up but in fact you may just be un-doing or re-doing. You will eventually get back to doing and to creation. These necessary steps of self evaluation and analysis, sometimes a simple time out, give us depth and innovation in our journeys as artists. If we are TO DO, we must UN-DO and RE-DO. It is what kept Louise Bourgeois alive. It was her expression that was important, even if it took 70 years to get into a museum!

--All throughout her career, she had fans and when interviewed they all said something similar, “I had never seen anything like her work, it stayed with me and I felt her pain…” Louise Bourgeois continued to plow through, she created, destroyed, re-invented…She didn’t care what others thought, she needed to express herself and she knew deep down that Somewhere, Somehow, Someone would see her and believe in her talent. Through out your career you will find those people and they will help to fuel your creation. The creation of YOU…

--Remember, the dream is never dead, it is always with you, perhaps dormant, perhaps re-inventing itself, perhaps in full creation. Like a child you must nurture it, at times discipline it but always know that it is with you, part of you. The dream is in fact you. The miracle of YOU.

Bien a tous,
Natalia