The Essential Work of an Artist

This year at the Sundance Film Festival, screenwriter and director Taylor Sheridan was met with boisterous applause as he came to the stage to discuss his new film, Wind River. "Why you do it," he said.

The life of an artist is seldom filled with such emphatic confirmation of why we do what we do. But when those moments come there is no doubt the life of a storyteller is an essential one. 

I remember two times in particular when either I, or someone in the same theater as me was so moved by a piece of storytelling it was clear it their life had been changed for the better in some small way.

Years ago, I saw one of my favorite stage actors Frank Langella perform in a play called, Frost/Nixon. (later made into a feature film) Just a few months earlier I'd arrived in New York bright-eyed and ready to grace the stages of the Shubert and Barrymore myself. It was a wonderful time in my young life. 

There's a scene in the play where Nixon is going on a drunken rant about how he's misunderstood and how he essentially won't allow the Watergate scandal to destroy him. I remember an elderly woman sitting in front of me absolutely riveted by his words and when Langella's monologue came to a close she whispered under breath, "Beautiful." She hadn't intended for a soul to hear her her. It was almost as though she was keeping a secret but she quite literally could not keep the words to herself. I want to make people feel the way Langella just made her feel," I thought.

A few years later, I went to see a film called, La Mission. The film is about a macho bus driver who can't accept the fact his son his gay. At the conclusion of the film, the director fielded questions to a packed house. The gentlemen sitting behind me was in tears as he muscled out the words, "As the father of a gay Latino son I want to thank you for making this film. It's so important we tell this stories."

There are many more accounts where there was no doubt this is what I put on earth to do. Of course, the moments are fleeting and frequently met with the ambivalence that stories matter. Sometimes I'm all but crushed that our culture doesn't value art the way it should. But all that means is you must double-down and protect your artistry even more.

I encourage you to watch for the next time you're at a BBQ, or delivering a presentation and you begin to tell a compelling story. People will, without knowing it, lean in and make sure they catch every word. 

Why? 

Because we all connect - through the human experience. Through stories.