We recently connected with Anna Newbury and have shared our conversation below.
Anna , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
The paradox–No one can actually teach you anything, and yet there is something to learn from everyone. In order to learn to do what I do, one of my greatest lessons has been learning to learn. That is a responsibility that is all one’s own. It is a common misconception that our teachers are responsible for teaching us, it is in fact, we who must engage in our own learning. Learning requires us to humbly step into a beginners mindset over and over again. But we also have the power to choose our teachers. There is a kind of crazy wisdom to be found in giving over to the instruction of someone else, diving in full tilt and deciding that we are here for this. I have had to learn to embrace my opportunities to learn, they come in all forms and that journey will look different for everyone.
A second great lesson has been that it takes as long as it takes to learn any one thing. I think it has taken me far too long to learn to take the pressure off, to remove the expectations that we place on ourselves that mastery is quickly acquired. If we slow down, we might just begin to stumble upon our own intuitive and creative thoughts. The greatest asset we have as creatives is to be curious and follow the questions into a line of inquiry. As my dear mentor, Mary Overlie said, “I would give anything to be able to follow a line of inquiry to the end of the line.” Learning something asks us to slow down, give ourselves space and time–I believe it is here, that we may meet our most innovative selves. Mary also said, “Your art is only limited by the expansiveness of your mind–Expand your mind!”
When it comes to speeding up the learning process, my greatest lesson has been to get clear about what it is I want. The big dream. It has been interesting to witness how the path has begun to make itself known one small step at a time, and with great momentum, as a direct result of getting specific about where it is that I am aiming. It has also become really valuable to ask myself the question of “what is it I’m working on?” Simply by asking the question of myself, I can begin to explore and dive in to my work in a more streamlined process. Dare to dream. Dare to take consistent strides forward along that path. Do not be afraid of your dream, the unexpected detours on the path, or the time it takes. It’s a calling after all. Sometimes what slows us down in our learning is simply procrastinating. Take proactive action in your pursuits.
This leads me to the greatest obstacles that I have encountered. The stories we tell ourselves. Our culture has a terrible habit of trivializing the work of the artist. The narrative around “artist” carries harsh negative connotations: starving, ego driven, poor, perfectionistic, selfish, narcissistic, great liars, head in the clouds, fifteen minutes of fame, fame seeker etc. Ultimately, art gets summed up in the “entertainment” category. None of that sounds appealing to those called to be artists and I think it unconsciously takes the wind out of people’s sails. But I believe that art of all variety, is about story telling. Through art we reflect upon our lives and the meaning that they carry. Story has always been about surviving, it has served as the great teacher throughout history. Individual and collective. Out of story, have grown all of the religions of the world. They say that money is the most widely believed story of all time. Story shapes our world and our understanding of our place within it. Story is how we derive meaning out of our experiences. It is ultimately what leads us to our own healing. Storytelling is a healing modality. Its power stretches far beyond entertainment and escapism.
As an actor, I believe that “it is a high calling to represent the lives of real people.” Those words are from another mentor, Charles Kahlenberg. They have stuck with me ever since I heard them spoken, because they rang with such truth and resonance. It is a high calling to be an actor, and represent the lives of real people with integrity and dignity. I wish I had known that, as an actor, one must not fall into the negative cultural narrative about the nature of an artist. It is also vital to not trivialize one’s own work as a storyteller, including not belittling one’s own story, or the calling one has to be an artist. I continue to challenge the reasons I have for doing my work and search for the reasons that are increasingly more compelling; awakening my creative inspiration. I am excited to see what happens as I continue to turn the intention of my stories toward healing.
Anna , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My creative education began as a very young child. I grew up in the rugged and beautiful terrain of Bozeman, Montana. Both of my parents are incredible artists and I would say my mom, a multi-faceted creative, taught me very early to see the world in incredible detail, as it was, and not how I imagined it to be. This came from a visual artist, who was incredibly skilled at translating what she saw with her eye, to a two-dimensional medium with nothing more than pencil lead. She is also a dancer and profound choreographer and movement was always buzzing through the house and into the yard. And then I had my father an outdoorsman to the core, a musician, and composer; a house filled with music, where boredom was synonymous with a curse word, aka, the b-word and not permitted. And eventually I found my own medium, where all this art collided in acting for me. And there were a great many directions my creativity could have gone, but for one mentor I had in high school. He was a guest director, Todd Goldberg, who had cast me in a production of Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel, and it was the first time I had encountered a story that had transformed my understanding of the world. It was about life and family; as painful and beautiful as it could be, and about dancing in the midst of it all. And Todd, told me one day, “you know, you could do this.” And I had never even considered it before but there was great power in that permission. And so I did. And I think I carry that with me to this day not only for myself but for others in their journey.
I consider myself an actor, creator, and maker. My creativity spills out in a lot of directions. Perhaps I’m messy in that way! I have trained extensively as a classical actor, and am primarily working in film. I believe that acting and directing are a calling for me, but sometimes that also means I self produce and write projects with other collaborators or my artistic partner in crime, Bonita Jackson Turner and our production company BARE. At times, it’s in the small things; just cooking at home in the kitchen and taking time to smell the roses.
A thing that sets me apart from others is that I care about the small things. I believe that people’s experiences are nuanced, unique, complex and ultimately beautiful. These are the things that inspire me to do my most courageous work as an actor. I was really lucky to get to work closely with Mary Overlie and the Six Viewpoints in her home in Montana during her last years where we both grew up. I have also trained extensively with Barney O’hanlon and Steven Weber along with many other SITI company members in Viewpoints and Suzuki, which is how I was introduced to Mary. As a result of her influence I feel empowered to conduct my own performance research and be my own artist. She really changed the way I thought about the world.
In terms of what I’m most proud of, I think it is yet to come. I have some new self-produced projects coming up, and some incredible stories brewing.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
After I received my undergraduate degree in Performance, I went back to my home town to figure out where to go next, and I started working at a music store, and 10 months later I got my first tour contract, and was on the road for a while but hungry for training and better opportunities. On the road I applied for the national stage combat workshop and my first summer of training with SITI. I saved and saved, more than I could spend to attend them both, which I did that summer. Then I returned, to continue to pay off loans, and went back to my music store gig and added a second job. Slowly but surely, I was hungry to be acting but there was no professional theatre in sight, nor were there any training opportunities. So I started applying for graduate programs and planning a trip cross country to attend auditions in New York for a shot at getting in to school, yet again spending more money than I could spare. In the meantime, there were a couple of local community theaters so I began auditioning, and soon I started offering my services at various high schools, community theaters, and the community college. Within the year, I had enough work to quit my day jobs and doubled my income with teaching, directing, movement direction and fight direction. I went to do my auditions in NY and although I got a couple offers, they were not financially feasible. So I kept working as an independent contractor and a self-employed artist. I ended up founding a young actors studio to train high school age artists. I started a series of workshops called the Artist Matrix Series to provide ongoing training opportunities to a multi-generational community of artists, and I became the first ever Artistic Director of one of the theatre’s in town and albeit was not professional, I stepped into the work of influencing changes from within. After several years of innovating the artistic scene in that place, I felt I had reached my ceiling for the time being and moved cross country to NY. Several years passed, several attempts at grad school failed, and I started from scratch in New York with little community and few connections. I spent a year in New York before finally being accepted as one of twelve candidates to one of my top Grad school choices on a full ride scholarship. So then I was moving to Florida for the next three years. My folks and community still all the way across the country in Washington, I transplanted my life for the 2nd time in two years. A pandemic happened, which brought some unexpected consequences. But to highlight the positive, it gave me an opportunity to transition from theatre into film. My final semester of grad school, I had the opportunity to be cast in six MFA thesis films and all of a sudden, I felt myself begin to dream again. For years I had spent my time aiming at things adjacent to what I really wanted, and all of a sudden I felt the rush of knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a leading actor in feature films. I had a bit of an epiphany which was, “I think I’ve been in the wrong medium.” So after years of what feels like wandering, gathering all these experiences, for the first time ever I feel like I am in the right place at the right time.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The goal driving my creative journey is simply to represent the lives of real human beings with integrity, respect and dignity. I never know who needs to hear, see, feel, witness any given story, and I never know what the impact will be, but I believe it is a necessity to continue to share more stories, not less.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.annanewbury.com
- Instagram: @annanewburyacts
Image Credits
Jeffrey Mosier
Corey Allen
Cameron Milton