Guys…I gotta tell you about last week. I had my first stint as an audition reader, and honestly, it kind of blew my mind. I highly encourage you to find a way to do it sometime because it is an EDUCATION. I could probably write about 5 separate blog posts about what I experienced, but I’m short on time so I’m going to distill it into the the 5 lessons that hit me the hardest.

1. ANSWER THE QUESTION YOU’RE ASKED.  NOT THE QUESTION YOU THINK THEY MEANT TO ASK.

I know—when you’ve got that adrenaline pumping it can be really hard to take a breath and listen. But fight the urge to game out why the creative team is asking you a question and just answer the question.  Almost every person who got asked, “What else is in your book?” provided one option.  They answered, “I have song A? That’s contemporary. Does that work?” The CD would cheerfully repeat, “What else is in your...

Hey friend,

I’m going to level with you. I’ve been having a weird week.  I’ve been having trouble sleeping, my focus has been scattered, and I’ve been interpreting interpersonal interactions less than generously.

(What does that text mean?! DOES SHE HATE ME NOW?!?!)

…You get it.

Nooooooot my best self.

And until this morning I couldn’t figure out what was going on.

Then it hit me…

The Post-Closing Blues. 

I closed “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” on Friday and like clockwork come Saturday morning I had that creeping “you’re-never-going-to-work-again” anxiety.

So what do we do to combat the post-closing blues?

Here’s my checklist:

STEP 1. DO THE THINGS THAT MAKE ANY HUMAN FEEL BETTER.

I know these may seem painfully obvious, but when we’re spinning out sometimes we needed to be reminded about the very basic things that make all human beings feel marginally...

I gotta be honest with you, I am TIRED.

Audition Season seems to get longer every year and I’m seeing burnout in every holding room I walk into these days.

I’m seeing dancers reach into their bags at ECCs and pull out one character shoe and one tap shoe.

It’s not a good look. (Or sound.)

But here’s the thing…

Have you ever decided to take a little brain break in May only to wake up in September realizing you’ve achieved none of your artistic goals? 

It’s like deciding you’re going to take a midday nap and sleeping through the night and into the the next day…For four months straight.

Instead of sleeping away your summer, follow these basic guidelines to make sure you’re resting and not slacking.

1. SET A TIME LIMIT

Don’t want to oversleep? Set an alarm!

I know it seems simple, but as actor/entrepreneurs we don’t always have the luxury of a set schedule.

If you worked a basic 9-5 job, you might know that...

It’s time for me to come clean.

The rumors you’ve heard are true.

I am a double dipper.

Now before you uninvite me to your birthday party, let me explain.

I am not some kind of monster who returns a tortilla chip into the communal salsa after taking a bite. The double dipping I’m referring to is in regards to my time-management style.

Hip millennial that I am, I spent most of my weekend arranging Post-it notes around my room in a series of goal setting exercises. I set up a giant makeshift calendar on the floor so I could set about the task of scheduling my weekly routine. (You can tell I’m quite a hit at parties.)

It’s a back-to-school ritual of mine that has stayed with me long after graduation day.  The problem I was trying to solve this year was the same one I’ve been dealing with most of my adult life:

There aren’t enough hours in the day.

It’s a platitude that used to drive me crazy. Over the years I’ve dealt with...

How do I know if I should  add this song to my book?

As a rep coach, I get asked this question ALL the time. We all have those songs. The ones we flirt with forever, but ultimately keep in the back of our book or in the front pocket of our binder. Why the fear of commitment, people?! Put a ring on it, already! (Or, at the very least, a sheet protector.) I think people over-complicate this issue.  They ask themselves the wrong questions. They obsess over whether a song is “overdone,” or “range-y enough”, or “type appropriate.”

And why are these questions particularly maddening?

Because YOU can’t answer them.

These are all questions that attempt to read the mind of a casting director. The unspoken beginning to each of the above questions is: “Will a casting director think this song is…” And if there is one thing I’ve heard from every casting director I’ve taken a class with in this city it’s,...

Summer stock season is coming to a close, and you know what that means…

Time to take stock of your choices.

(And yes, I took stock of my decision to make that joke and I REGRET NOTHING!!!)

Annnnyway…

How did this summer go for you?

Were you the productivity monster you told yourself you’d be?!

Did you clean your room, update your audition book, take 3 dance classes a week, eliminate gluten from your diet, update your website, hit the gym every morning,  finish the “Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” practice guitar everyday, read 20 new plays, reconcile with your father, and quit your day job?!

Did you?!??!

….

Yeeeeaaaaahhhhh, me neither.

But let’s be real, that is an unreasonable list! If those are your goals, you are setting yourself up for failure.

This is one of the traps I see my clients falling into all the time.

Let me know if this pattern sounds familiar:

1. An events spurs you to action and jump starts your motivation (i.e....

“Crazy.”

Ever notice how often we throw that word around?

Especially on the internet.

Especially when we have the comfort of anonymity.

Especially in reference to women whose behavior we do not approve of.

Let’s talk about that for a second, shall we?

If you’ve been on Audition Update anytime recently, you may have noticed this trend. It seems like every day there’s a new thread lamenting “these crazy non-eq girls” starting lists at 4am.

The nerve of them! Those crazies!

Here’s where I take issue.  By all means, vent. The non-equity audition circuit is BRUTAL. But the people starting lists at 4 in the morning aren’t “crazy.” They’re responding very rationally to a very broken system. Are you angry that you can’t show up to an audition after 7am and still get seen?  By all means, be angry. That sucks. But “those crazies” are not your enemy.

The fact that those women are behaving in a...

We all know the true meaning of Thanksgiving: Overeating and genocide remembrance.

Oh no, sorry, I meant that other thing that sometimes makes me uncomfortable: Gratitude.

Or, to be more specific, public displays of gratitude. PDG, if you will.

(Oh, you won’t? Moving right along then…)

By PDG, I don’t mean the practice going around the dinner table and saying what you’re grateful for.  I think that’s actually a lovely tradition. (Although, you KNOW Aunt Sharron is going to pull out “health and family,” so make sure to have a second piece prepared.)

We all know that gratitude is a good thing.

In fact, neuroscientists have been telling us for years that practicing gratitude is one of the chemical keys to happiness.

It’s science.

However, the hysterical Twitter personality/badass author AnnoyingActorFriend has been telling us for years that tweeting #grateful #blessed and #ItsAllHappening are the social media keys to assholery.

...

This weekend I made the EXCELLENT choice to rewatch Pixar’s “Coco.”

As expected, I laughed, I sighed, and I cried buckets. I very rarely cry at movies, but inevitably SOB during Pixar movies. Don’t judge. We all have.  Those emotionally manipulative warlocks had us choking up 5 minutes into “UP”!

And as an actor it made me wonder: Why is it exactly that Pixar seems to have a direct line to our tear ducts?

And more importantly: How can I steal this wizardry?!?

Because let’s face it, when was the last time the short-song cut of that contemporary ballad got HALF the emotional reaction of Sully saying goodbye to Boo in Monsters, Inc.? What are we doing wrong?!

I have a theory!

Let’s take a look at five of the most tear-jerking Pixar moments and see what they have in common. In no particular order:

1.  UP: The Opening Montage

We see the a couple fall in love, get married, deal with infertility, build a home, have some small...