Today we’d like to introduce you to Beth Ruscio.
Hi Beth, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
As a kid, I was a visual artist—I spent a lot of time observing, paying attention—details, seeing shapes, quietly drawing or painting. I got a full scholarship to college in art, but I had many other interests, including journalism (as an editor on my high school paper all three years), the law (as a debater), the theater (as the daughter of working actors and a fledgling actress too). To support myself, I was also a bartender, banquet waitress, caterer, executive secretary, and for my first job, I de-tasseled corn. At the University of Iowa, the theater won out and I went on to a long, accomplished and award-winning professional career in theater, film and television, with over 70 film/tv credits, 80 plus theater productions, a Drama Critics Circle Award, 3 LA Weekly Awards, 5 Dramalogues, Best Actress at Method Fest, featured in the Emmy winning classic The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom.
But, I had always written. Co-authored a play (1961 Eldorado) with my husband, Leon Martell which we both acted in. And when my short stories kept getting more and more compressed, I decided to make the leap into poetry, fell in love and wanted to make it my own. Beginning at The Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension (Laurel Ann Bogen, Suzanne Lummis) and graduating to master classes with renowned poets (David St. John, Cecilia Woloch, Ellen Bass, B.H. Fairchild, Sarah Maclay, Dorothy Barresi), which are ongoing, I’m devoted to mastering the craft of poetry. My actor parents had a great affinity for the artful way to express things, admired it in others, cultivated it in themselves, read constantly, and by example, showered us kids with appreciation for the beauty of the spoken word. So, I like to think of myself as having written poetry all my life, but until 15 years ago, a lot of it stalled in my head like a weather system whose precipitation never hit the ground.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The biggest challenge I’d say is my own acceptance that gaining maturity in the field of poetry would take years and years. I wrote bad poems to get to a place where I could write better poems to get to a place where I could attempt to write from my deepest impulses. This slow and steady pace has served me in ways outside poetry. It confirmed for me that it’s never too late to try something if you’re serious and willing to work, fall, get up, try again, repeat. There are outside forces, sure, like others questioning, why poetry?–but I didn’t have those doubts. I just squirmed when people announced I was a poet now, not because I didn’t have material but because I had a reverence for the job title. I threw myself into the work, and little by little, I began to both grow into my voice and grow what my voice could express. I am on equal footing with two art forms: I am an actor. I am a poet. They drink from the same river. They are both spoken art forms. I am a better actor because I’m a poet. A better poet because I act.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a poet, I’m most proud of the book I published during the pandemic—Speaking Parts. It won the Brick Road Poetry Prize, has gone on to be my publisher’s all-time best seller, an unexpected phenomenon. I’m moved by the letters I’ve gotten from people who’ve read it and who were themselves moved to give it to others. Very gratifying to feel you are being read. I only wish my parents were alive to see it.
But let me add: there are many little successes that I relish, like taking a walk and an idea arises, either because I’m in motion or because my head starts clearing a path for a new idea. With poems, which are generally compact, you can walk around composing and keep it in your head until you get to a piece of paper–although I fold a piece of paper into one pocket and stash a pen in the other, just in case I get overwhelmed with ideas! These sparks of inspiration are just as celebration worthy as the culmination moments when the idea is realized. Being alive to wherever inspiration comes from and recognizing the promise they contain. Those are things I’m proud of.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
For writers, I always say, “Read.” Read across all genres, go to the library, now that they’re opening up, discover writers yourself on the what’s new shelves. Ask people what they’re reading, and go borrow that book. For poets, if you read a poem, find their books, go to school on their work. That’s the best homemade schoolroom you can make for yourself: the books of other authors. Try to understand how they’re doing what they’re doing. Have a conversation with one of their poems by writing a poem of your own. Go to readings. Sign up to read in the open. Read your poems to an audience. Poetry lives in the air. Seek out poets you’d like to study with. Find where they are teaching. Sign up. Find a good workshop. Be devoted to it. Bring your work in and invite feedback. Get better. Write harder things. Other poets can be your most valuable audience. Learn to critique others’ work and you will go far in refining your own ability to critique your own work. Laurel Ann Bogen always says that each creative act then requires a critical act. You will develop an aesthetic. Beyond Baroque has an ongoing Wednesday Night Poetry Workshop that’s free and has been going for over 50 years. I just spent the first four months of 2021 as its facilitator and I can attest to the quality of poets in attendance and the seriousness of their purpose. Go outside your art form: visit museums, go to the theater, listen to jazz, go to a concert at Disney Hall. The Los Angeles art world has more flavors than Crayola has colors—try them all.
Contact Info:
- Website: bethruscio.com
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9EOWaryPHQ&t=15s
Image Credits:
The triptych photo credit, Beth Ruscio at the book launch for Speaking Parts, December 2020, Photo by Jerry Garcia Beth Ruscio reading at the Rapp Saloon (in front of the double doors) Beth Ruscio and Lolita (her talented dog) reading Keats, Photo by Brighde Mullins Beth Ruscio reading (against the white wall) at Angels’ Gate in San Pedro Beth Ruscio in the television series, WISEGUY
