We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brianna Kalisch. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brianna below.

Alright, Brianna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I’m currently working a project that means a lot to me. It’s titled {IN}TANGIBLE and tells the story of a woman and her family dealing with dementia. I’m calling it a “circus-play” because the goal is to fully fuse two art forms by using both words and circus movement to tell the story.

It’s meaningful for several reasons; it combines my two worlds of theatre and circus and has pushed me beyond my comfort zone in a very positive way. Previously ‘writer’ wasn’t part of my multitude of hyphenates but after I experienced a loved one developing dementia I started to write. Initially, it was a means of processing the unique grief that is slowly loosing someone before they are actually gone but out of that {IN}TANGIBLE was created. It definitely hasn’t been a solo venture and I’m so grateful for all my collaborators. Currently we are working in partnership with The Dementia Society of America to produce it in New York City this year.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a generative artist working in the fields of theatre and circus. In the course of my career I’ve worn many hats but currently work primarily as an actor, circus artist, and a creative producer.

I trained as an actor at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and as a circus artist in too many places to list, so we’ll just say around the globe. Recently I have stepped into a producing role and have produced a narrative photo series, a short film, two play readings, six circus performances, and am currently writing & producing {IN}TANGIBLE as mentioned. In whatever form the opportunity is presented, I really enjoy the creative process, creating new work, and collaborating with other artists.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Years ago I read about a university pottery class where students could choose to be graded on their Quantity of pottery or on the quality of one piece. Each time the quality of the students who chose quantity was higher than quality of the students who stressed over one piece. Reading that opened a door in my mind and I began setting rejection goals: how many times can I put my art out there this year? 100 times? More? Then each “thank you for your time” and “we’ll call you” became a badge of honor.
Focusing on “how many times can I perform/submit/apply for xyz?” vs “how can I get this performance/submission/application perfect?” totally altered my journey as an artist. Focusing on creating a perfect product crippled my artistic expression. That mind set also created fear and quite likely would have driven me to quit at some point.
Repetition, doing the thing, doing it poorly, then a bit better, bombing and trying again, all this is good. To be clear, it’s not easy and sometime it’s a bit painful but it is a path that keeps me learning, growing, curious, and courageous – all ‘muscles’ that need to be exercised. If there’s one thing that changed the trajectory of my career was understanding this and it has ultimately made me a resilient artist who embraces the bumpy road and can celebrate the attempts. Failure and rejection are typically circumvented at all costs, but truly, I think the way of the artist is through.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I believe that stories have access to a person’s heart and mind in a different way than a persuasive argument or factual data. It is rewarding and humbling to be granted that access. Sometimes, someone will share with you the way your art impacted them, but often times it’s just a lingering feeling in the room of a shared experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: briannakalisch.com, intangibletheplay.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/wandertheblue, instagram.com/intangibletheplay

Image Credits
Renee Choi Photography and Steve Sarafian Photography as listed on the photographs, others unlisted with permission.