Finding Work-Life-Art Balance: Catching Up with Cara Greene Epstein

During the past two years, many forms of art that rely on people gathering were paused, with theater at the top of the list. The industry and audiences suffered — theater’s reliance on an ecosystem of people — not just an individual performer — had a ripple effect across the world. Thankfully, this important art form is back — back to connecting audiences to the depth of human emotion as they connect with the sights, sounds and performers on stage in person and in real-time.

Cara Greene Epstein’s 2021 TED Talk?“How Theater Weathers Wars, Outlasts Empires and Survives Pandemics”?shares a bigger story of why theater — particularly in this moment — matters to all of us. She cites historical crises and important moments of creativity that resulted and lasted. And she reminds us that in the “intermission” we experienced, creativity doesn’t lie dormant — we all can exercise our creativity, not just actors, ‘big thinkers,’ or musicians. An award-winning screenwriter, actor, director and teacher, Cara also uses her talents and energy to facilitate creative sessions with organizations to help people realize their own creativity.

Recently, Cara and I had a chance to connect and talk about her own creative practice, advice for others and the inspiration she receives from the people, places, and things in her world.

Laura: When did you know you wanted to be an artist? Was there a moment, or did it evolve over time?

Cara: I don’t remember not wanting to be an actor. That’s the first thing I wanted to do. But I don’t remember not seeing myself as a storyteller or a writer, which is the thing that I always did.

The umbrella is really storytelling — I’ve always written stories. Though for a long time, it wasn’t the main thing. I was a theater and a government double major in college, so my interest in activism was always in my consideration set, and there were some other ideas along the way. But art has always — always — been something I’ve wanted to create and do.

Laura: Who have been your greatest influences — whether people, places, or things — as you’ve developed as an artist?

Cara: The first is what I call?big nature. I find large bodies of water very inspiring — lakes, rivers, waterfalls, oceans. Water is creatively fulfilling and a great place for reflection for me. I tend to go, go, go. When I’m near water, I’m reminded — without having to be reminded — to breathe and slow down. I also love big trees, mountains, and things that are outsized.

When I was in my acting MFA program, my voice teacher?Jan Gist?was a big influence for me. She taught me technical skills like breathing and dialects. But she really encouraged me to do was?play?and reminded me that when I’m ‘in play,’ I feel the most connected. I tend to get worried about getting it right, but when I’m in play, my work feels more authentic than at other times.

There’s something she said to me once that I always remember — that?life is like a spiral staircase. It’s about not just trying to get to the next level but a reminder that you’re always going to come back to the same issues and problems and things that are your “things.” The spiral staircase visually reminds us that hopefully you’re just encountering these things or issues at another level. That’s something I come back to all the time when I’m thinking “oh, how can I be dealing with this again? Didn’t I solve it?”

Another inspiration is Picasso. I backpacked through Europe one summer and went to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. My mind was blown because I didn’t know he was such a skilled classical artist. I didn’t know that he could draw a perfectly realistic face and then chose to break that mold. For me, it was illuminating because it was all about mastering the rules so you can break them with the intentionality and authenticity of your own voice. I don’t think this always has to be the case, but Picasso’s inspiration reminds me to ask the question,?“Do the rules serve the story I’m telling?”?If I break the rule with something I’m creating, I do it intentionally, with choice and purpose.

There’s also a?Martha Graham quote?I love:

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

— Martha Graham

Graham’s quote is brilliant. It reminds me that an artist’s job is to be a vessel and to allow creativity to move through us — not to critique it, evaluate it, or decide if it’s right or wrong — but to express it and put it into the world. It also reminds me about how perfectionism can be paralyzing and that the idea you have in your head is almost never — if ever — going to be the thing you’ve created. So, there may always be discontent with the creative process — and that is normal.

Finally, the writer and activist?Sonya Renee Taylor?had a powerful statement at the beginning of the pandemic about not returning to the normal we knew:

We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.

— Sonya Renee Taylor, via?her Instagram.

I think that before the pandemic we normalized exhaustion, perfectionism, hustle, and busy-ness — and I think the intent of what she shares inspires us to imagine and weave a new tapestry that works better for all of us.

I think about this a lot as a parent too — and I think about it as?work-life-art balance. I find that in a day, it’s almost impossible to have a balance of all three. Maybe over a week or a month I find a balance among the three, but I don’t pressure myself to have it every day.

Read the full interview with Cara in the Profiles in Creativity series.