Ready for the Quest
NOTES // Chapter Three
00:29 // "Grim destroyer of mankind, vengeful persecutor..."
Those words (and some to follow) are from a work of prose in Early New High German, written by Johannes von Tepl in about 1401. It's called Death and the Ploughman, and the SITI Co. staged a production of it, first in 2004.
It's a powerful text, and I turn to it when Death makes its forceful presence known in my life. The production was my favorite that I ever saw from SITI. I had the privilege of watching them rehearse for the premiere at the Wexner Center (ask me about the cheeseburger) and then I saw the show five times, in Columbus and NYC.
I spent all my years with Available Light trying to capture some of the magic that made that show special in such a peculiar, ethereal way.
From Wikipedia:
It is a spirited dialogue between the ploughman, whose wife Margaretha has recently died, and Death. Central themes of the book are their opposing views on life, mankind, and morality. The work also represents a concept of marriage as a communion of love, a notion not generally accepted at the time.
00:29 // 🎵 music
Y'know – I did not consider this connection until now, but it's kinda cool, so I'll mention it.
This music is just a little improvisation I recorded, but I did not originally record it for this book. I originally recorded it when I was doing sound design (and making some music) for Available Light's production of Everybody, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. (Directed by David J. Glover – you'll hear from him later on.)
That play, Everybody, is a modern adaptation of Everyman, which is only about a hundred years newer than Death and the Ploughman, mentioned above, and is also a play about (among other things) confronting death.
I guess I have a type.
3:08 // "Choose your metaphor..."
Kalle Lasn, in Culture Jam, says "Interrupting the stupefying patterns we've fallen into isn't pleasant or easy. It's like crawling out of your warm bed in your dark room one December morning at five A.M. and plunging into a tub of ice water."
5:55 // "Dear Matt, Wondering if that project's worth pursuing..."
That's Shanelle Marie, reading from a pretty old blog post of mine. That was on a blog called Slay Don't Wait. (Some of my friends in high school started calling me Slay (because of my last name, Slaybaugh) and that continues amongst some folks even to this day.) This was long before Slay became a slang term for doing something amazing. Or, was that when it became a slang term...
Also – Shanelle was the very first person to show up and record for this audiobook. It is very meaningful, because her willingness to contribute was a huge vote of confidence when I really needed it. It's not surprising, because she has taken many bold leaps with me and has often supported my crazy ideas. Thank you, Shanelle, you're a great friend.
8:11 // "Steven Pressfield has a rule of thumb..."
On page 11 of The War of Art, in a section titled "Resistance Is Infallible," Pressfield says, "The more important a call of action is to our soul's evolution, the Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it."
10:13 // "This particular book came out in the fall of 2020..."
I do love Seth's little book and it's on the list. In fact, reading that book is one of the reasons I made this book; both in the sense that I was inspired and that I felt like Seth had pointed to the thing but not quite described it. What Seth wrote is essential, but I felt like it was only part of the story.
Acacia and I went to see Seth speak, once upon a time, in Grand Rapids, MI. We asked him if he would be willing to attend a roundtable about marketing non-profit theatre and said he'd do it as long as it was in New York. Hmmmm... Maybe we'll get around to that one of these days.
11:28 // "It's that noise in our heads that reminds us we have no business..."
That's River Caelum, my incredible nephew, starting from page 29 of The Practice (see above.)
We recorded that in my basement, surrounded by moving blankets hanging from the laundry lines. This whole thing is a pretty very DIY experience. The audio was recorded in at least ten different places. I'm not saying that was a wise decision, but sometimes you've just gotta work with what you've got.
If you think you’re facing down some imposer syndrome, you may be interested in the Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale, at the website of Pauline Rose Clance, PhD. Here's a helpful diagnostic tool: https://paulineroseclance.com/pdf/IPTestandscoring.pdf.
12:47 // "There was a collaboration I was leading..."
Actually, it was called the Columbus Voices Workshop. You can go and watch the very fun (and surprisingly long) video we made for the Kickstarter. It's a delightful, little time capsule. Many of the people in the video are in this audiobook, and you'll get introduced to the "Don't wait" refrain, which is also important here.
15:18 // "How you respond to those moments of uncertainty..."
“How you respond to those moments of uncertainty will determine the success of all your future endeavors.” That’s a bastardization of one of my favorite Anne Bogart quotations from A Director Prepares, which is, “What you do now, what you make of your present circumstances will determine the quality and scope of your future endeavors."
16:39 // "What have you been dreaming of..."
“What have you been dreaming of at night that you dare not speak of during the day?”
I don’t think I conceived of that beautiful question on my own. It’s been in my life a long time, can you help me figure out where it came from?
17:06 // "A little self-awareness, and then some compassion..."
You'll hear me tie self-awareness, self-compassion, and self-care together several times. As Emiliya says, "Self-awareness enables self-compassion which enables self-care."
And actually, it keeps going – self-care enables self-awareness which enables self-compassion – and – self-compassion enables self-care which enables self-awareness.
You can start anywhere in that virtuous cycle and you'll get all three. It doesn't matter where you start, it just matters that you do.
Coach Matt Slaybaugh