The Theatre Journal Prompts I Used to Heal my Career Wounds
Over the last few years, I've become an avid journaler. My usual style is the brain-dump/stream-of-consciousness journaling, as advocated in The Artists Way by Julia Cameron. More recently, as I've had particular blocks and challenges, I've found using journal prompts a lot more helpful.
The great thing about journal prompts for me is that they encourage a greater breadth and depth of introspection than stream-of-consciousness often generates. Often I find myself writing about superficial events or observations rather than what I probably need to be digesting and integrating.
Search for prompts online and there are loads of websites and blogs with great questions and activities to kick-start a productive journaling session. But when you have a niche issue you're working through, it can be hard to find helpful, relevant prompts.
That's the situation I found myself in earlier this year. For almost two years, I've been going through a transition with my relationship to my acting career. A ‘dark night of the soul’, almost. I spoke about it in this YouTube video:
I'd gotten to the point where I knew I wanted to carry on acting, and pressure in other areas of my life had eased up enough for me to start taking steps forward. But I still had emotional work to do. I knew I needed journal prompts, but I couldn't find any that were suitable or that I could easily adapt.
So I wrote my own. And in today's blog, I'm sharing what I came up with.
Here are fourteen journal prompts for you if you work in theatre and need to reorient your career.
Think of a show you’ve seen that really stayed with you; what about that show made it so compelling?
What does “theatre” mean to you?
If money and opportunity were not barriers, what work would you want to be making right now?
Who is your biggest creative inspiration and why?
Write about what you want to contribute to the world and how you creative career can help achieve it.
What work are you proudest of in your career so far and why?
When did you first realise you wanted to work in theatre? Write about that moment of revelation.
What qualities make for success in this industry? How do you display or foster these qualities? How can you improve these qualities?
Think of a show you’ve seen that left you uninspired. Explore why it made you feel that way.
List all of your creative and/or career successes to date.
Think of one of your peers who has achieved something that you’re aiming for; what have you observed about them and their behaviour and attituded that you could learn from?
What support do you feel you need to reach your goals? How can you aquire these resources?
List all the shows that are on right now or are frequently produced that you would like to be cast in; Do you have appropriate repertoire for those auditions? What material do you need?
What would you like people to say about your work? What are you doing now to earn that reputation?