Creative obsession – Grace Zabriskie on “obsessional mode” and the value of reading
Grace Zabriskie on obsessional mode
Grace Zabriskie commented recently about the article In Praise of Positive Obsessions, by Eric Maisel, PhD, and on the value of reading.
“I have for many years now extricated myself, without too much guilt, from social events with close friends by knowing I will be understood when I say that I am going into – or already deep into – ‘obsessional mode.’
“It seems to me that while a person who has long known that he or she is a person who lives to make things that weren’t there before hardly needs to have it explained that ‘an obsession can be positive,’ still there are many younger artists who greatly need this confirmation of that aspect of the creative process.”
On obsession for actors
“Keeping one’s energy to shoot a scene late in the day after one has been called in at the crack of dawn… learning how not to dissipate one’s energy during that day, how to conserve one’s strength and not fall into the trap of boredom while one waits… this is another way of understanding and utilizing obsessional mode.”
“I don’t imagine I’m the only actor who gets obsessional in preparing for a role, preserving energy through a long day of not getting to work, maintaining what you believe is right for your character when dealing with wardrobe, hair, make-up, etc. As you get older, you need the ability to go into obsessional mode just to learn lines properly. Everything in life tends to teach you that not a lot really matters in the long run, and obsessional mode is an antidote to that.”
On the value of reading
“It is my firm belief that actors, with or without extensive formal educations, need to read good fiction constantly. Keeping a fine dictionary at hand is part of what will maximize reading, but actually summoning the energy to USE the dictionary, even if it’s a lot, requires a version of obsessional mode.”
Two books Grace Zabriskie recommended to a young actor friend:
Possession : A Romance – by A.S. Byatt
[“Winner of the 1990 Booker Prize, the U.K.'s highest literary award, it is a gripping and compulsively readable novel.” Amazon.com review]
Unless : A Novel – by Carol Shields [nominated for the Booker Prize]
Grace Zabriskie: “Reading really well drawn and interesting characters helps you see lots of things that are important for growth as a person and as an actor.
“An example would be a character who thinks a lot but maybe doesn’t say much, or doesn’t express to others anything like what you know, from reading, that he’s thinking. This can lead you to begin to understand the importance of formulating an inner life for a character, creating reasons for every word the character says.. an inner context for those words.”
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Quotes used with kind permission of Grace Zabriskie.
Photo from HBO.com site for “Big Love.”
See her sculptures and furniture designs at gracezabriskie.com
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Grace Zabriskie, creative experience, creative obsession, acting passion
Tags: emotional challenges, emotional energy, Eric Maisel, personal development.
05.24.06 | 
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