Finding the Magic From Stage to Page, with Seth Panitch, novelist of "Antique"

What happens when an accomplished creative deliberately becomes a beginner again?

On this episode of YOUR WORLD OF CREATIVITY, Mark talks with Seth Panitch, an award-winning actor, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, director, and theatre educator who has added a new creative identity to his 30-year career: novelist.

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https://www.amazon.com/Antique-Novel-Seth-Panitch-ebook/dp/B0FBLVCVPD

Seth's debut novel, Antique, published by Grand Central Publishing in February 2026, follows Grace Schaffer, a once-celebrated antique appraiser whose career, marriage, and sense of identity have fallen apart. When she encounters a mysterious necklace that appears to give her an uncanny ability to predict the value of objects, her journey raises a deeper question: What's the difference between what something is worth—and what we are worth?

In this conversation, Mark and Seth explore:Becoming a beginner again — What writing a novel offered Seth that acting, theatre, screenwriting, and filmmaking couldn't, and what he had to learn—or unlearn—to embrace a new creative form.Finding the story behind Antique — How antiques, appraisal, mystery, and magic became the setting for a larger exploration of value, identity, and self-worth.Balancing magic with emotional truth — How Seth uses mystery and the unexplained without losing sight of the very human story at the center of the novel.From stage and screen to the page — How decades of experience with dialogue, pacing, character, and performance shaped Seth's approach to fiction.The artist and the teacher — How leading the MFA Acting Program at the University of Alabama influences Seth's creative practice—and how remaining an active artist shapes the way he teaches.Feedback, rejection, and creative risk — Knowing when outside feedback strengthens the work and when an artist needs to trust their own instincts.Appraising our own creative worth — Separating reviews, sales, awards, rankings, and other external measures from our deeper sense of value as creative people.

Seth's journey is a reminder that a creative career doesn't have to be defined by a single medium. Sometimes the next chapter requires stepping away from what we already know, embracing uncertainty, and giving ourselves permission to become beginners again.

And perhaps Antique offers a question every creative person can consider: Who gets to determine what our work—and ultimately we ourselv