A Creative Process

by Thomas G. Waites

IT IS ALL A CREATIVE PROCESS. Whether it is acting, writing a play or teaching an acting class, it falls under the heading of Creative Process. I have been an actor for thirty years. Hard to believe sometimes but true enough. The good news is that it does get easier. When I was young, in my formidable years, I agonized over every audition like it was the be-all and end-all of everything.  Now, if they want me, good, if they don’t, that is okay too. I do not want to appear arrogant, nor convey anything other than the desire to work on good material but if it doesn’t work out I used to think I would die. Not anymore. Now I will live. 

The creative process, just like everything else, goes through three stages. Birth, Death, and Resurrection, and then it is just a matter of letting the spirit flow through me. I am a classically trained actor from Juilliard. We were taught to examine the text, carefully, methodically, read the whole script from beginning to end. Read anything else you can get your hands on about the author then make some choices and dive in. Get your head wet, make mistakes, rehearse the thing as often as possible. When I was a young actor I would do my monologues at parties on the balcony for anybody who would listen. Hey, it was a chance to perform. If you get the job some ideas you had must have worked, must have sparked something inside of them. “Them,” in this case are the producers, casting directors, director and even the person reading with you. They are your first audience. And if something worked, they brought you back for the call back or the second meeting. The birthing process continues.

All the preparation in the world cannot prepare you for what is really going to happen anyway but I get up and run each morning around the reservoir in Central Park, this clears the head and body, getting the creative juices going. I almost die while I am doing it because I like to push myself. The harder I push myself the more the endorphin rush comes to the head. Then it is a matter of making time to meditate for a twenty minutes before battle and I do see it as a battle. I am fighting for my creative life out there each time. The birthing continues.

When I sit down to write, act, or direct, I think of all the things I love most in this world. My children, Sam (19), Michaela (14), my girlfriend (young) and all the other things I am quite fond of, such as pizza, ice cream, oceans, music, and most of all stories. Then I think of all the things I hate most in this world; violence, war, destruction, addiction, unkindness, injustice, disagreements with my agent. These things bounce back and forth causing ideas to take shape in my mind. Driving me forth with a cause and a reason to do what I do. Because with everything you do there has to be the question: “What is this for?” And if you have an answer then you can do it. It might be just for the money. Hey, we all have to have health insurance, right? I mean it is not easy sometimes to survive as an artist but there is not a feeling in the world that compares when we are able to connect, perform, and create. It is like what heaven must be like when we get it just right and the audience is transported.  That is why I do it. I kind of die in the moment, then… am reborn. That is part of the death.

Resurrection is the real pay off.  The moment of completion is when I know at the end of the day I did my level best to immerse myself in my goal, to be the best I can be at whatever I am doing. There is a moment of clarity that happens when all the suffering in the world creates an engine inside and it all just coalesces into the instant and there is a chance that I may get to do this again. And in my case, I will. No matter what, I will forge ahead in the clarity of purpose. If you took my creative process away from me I would not be alive in any real sense. I might exist on the outside but I would be dead inside. Creation is our right. We are all creative beings. Each conversation is a chance to create. Each breath, thought or walk in the park is a chance to produce something new.  The best is when the audience is there for the final presentation, they applaud or the screen goes black and we come down from our cross on the altar of performance. It is the surest way that I know of to access heaven in this life. And if I can keep doing it for the rest of my life, I know I will always stay young at heart.

Birth, Death and Resurrection is the story of my life, and my life is the story of Creative Process.  Know this: I wish the best for everybody out there reading this to get that next acting role, or commercial, television show, industrial, call back. Go out there and create. The more you do the better it feels. The one thing you can say is you never know what is right around the corner, provided you hang in there long enough. •2007

THOMAS G. WAITES Is currently appearing on Broadway in a revival of “South Pacific.” His other Broadway appearances include “Search and Destroy,” “Awake and Sing,” and “Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap.” Among his other stage work: Bobby to Al Pacino’s Teach in “American Buffalo” (Circle in the Square), Red Ryder in “When Ya Comin Back Red Ryder?” (Baltimore’s Center Stage).  His many films and TV roles include “And Justice for All,” “The Warriors,” “The Thing,” and “Law and Order.” He will play Captain Brackett in Lincoln Center’s “South Pacific” this winter. Mr. Waites is a member of The Actors Studio. A renowned acting teacher for many years, he is also a playwright. His plays include “Macaire,” and “Cinnamon Sky,” an adaptation of Chekhov’s “Platonov” (Jan. 17-Feb. 3 Duo Theatre, East 4th Street).