John Patrick Shanley philosophizes on life, dreams and disquiet
Janel Shoun |
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Additional coverage of the 2010 Christian Scholars Conference |
June 5-6, June 11-13
Shamblin Theatre
Shamblin Theatre
Excerpts from John Patrick Shanley’s Speech
Christian Scholars’ Conference
June 3, Lipscomb University
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“I’m looking for the story of my life. I’m looking tell you how I feel, who I am, what I am, in some kind of spiritually useful way. But I have to confess to you that I’m feeling cramped. This modern life is crowding me. Fences everywhere… Warning everywhere…. I’m seeing a lot of red lights, stop signs, no parking… And faces that say no way….”
“…I want to declare that I am right and the world as it is is wrong, the world as it is needs to change. That’s what art is all about. And not just art. That is what love and philosophy and spiritual experience are all about. Having visions and sharing them with such a conviction that they become real.”
“The truth is we don’t exist at the core of life very often. In a way, we’re raraely where we are supposed to be… The Now is uncomfortable. When I’m in the Now, I’m usually dreaming of Then.”
“Paradise means a garden with a wall around it. And I’ve never been there. Humiliation of the flesh is a way of forcing this other thing, this other entity they called the soul, in desperation, to find, seek or create a world of the spirit…. I’ll leave this uninteresting predicament and somehow transform myself into another better realm. This is why people daydream at the Motor Vehicle Bureau.”
“We have created an artificial world and now we’re in it. Almost everything about this moment is artificial except us…. We did this. Why? Because we were uncomfortable. We were cold. It was raining. We were dirty… we made sacrifices because we were uncomfortable. And we always will be uncomfortable. That’s what I’ve come to tell you today, friends and allies. We will always be uncomfortable. Is that enough reason to shield ourselves from the stars?”
“Is being uncomfortable or tired or logical sufficient reason to die? Because after you have ruled out everything else in the natural world, the only organic matter left to expunge is yourself. You are the last candele burning after you have blown out all the others. Your light, your consciousness is all that stands in the way of a vast quiet and peace.”
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Interviews with John Patrick Shanley
Doubt: A Parable by the Lipscomb Theater Department
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June 11-13 |
Biography Information
John Patrick Shanley's plays include Defiance, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Limbo, the dreamer examines his pillow, Beggars in the House of Poverty, Welcome to the Moon, Four Dogs and a Bone, Italian American Reconciliation, The Big Funk, Where's My Money, Dirty Story, Sailor's Song, and Romantic Poetry (a musical).
His play Doubt: A Parable was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play.
Mr. Shanley directs in both theatre and film. In 2009, Shanley's adaptation of Doubt, which he directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis, each of whom were nominated for Academy Awards for outstanding performance.
In the arena of film, Mr. Shanley has had four spec screenplays produced: Five Corners, Moonstruck, The January Man, and Joe Versus the Volcano. Five Corners won the Special Jury Prize for its screenplay at the Barcelona Theatre Festival. For Moonstruck, Shanley received both the Academy Award and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. He also did the film adaptations of Alive and Congo, as well as Live From Baghdad for HBO.