IT'S REZOLUTION SZN BAYBEE. While this year may have consisted of cobwebs on your dance shoes and scrolling through IG instead of AA, 2020 is DIFFERENT. New decade, new you. You're done listening to the inner voice of fear and negativity, and you have an arsenal to finally defeat it: 

• You have a new planner with positive, inspirational quotes like "You have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyoncé!"
• You're hitting dance class at 5 AM daily because rest days are for people who are NOT ON BROADWAY.
  
• 3 open calls per day, every day? HOLD MY THROAT COAT. MAKE IT 5.

THIS is the year you turn into a ripped, screlting discipline machine. You're going to cook all your own vegan food, book so many dream roles you have to turn down OTHER dream roles, meditate for an hour each morning in your Stephen Sondheim shrine, AND somehow get 8 hours of sleep.

You've got a detailed, color-coded plan in your planner, and all it requires is that you work REALLY, REALLY HARD. Feeling...

Imagine this:

You're walking down the streets of NYC on a sticky July afternoon. 

You're in between acting gigs.

Your Instagram feed is filled with selfies of friends snapping laughing backstage pictures in the most fabulous show wigs. 

What fun they are having!! 

You're so busy scrolling through these DELIGHTFUL pictures, that you walk directly into another pedestrian. 

That pedestrian turns out to be an old acquaintance from some class you took freshman year of college.  Was is "Intro to Theatre Studies"? "Writing the Essay"? "Theoretical Zumba in the Feminist Age"?!

Before you can figure it out, they do the unthinkable... 

They ask you, THE DREADED QUESTION.  

"So, what are you up to?" 

What do you do?!

You're not in a show right now! This feels like a trap...

Think, think, think!

Oozing casualness, you respond, 

"Oh, you know, this and that. Auditioning a lot. I recently closed 'Mamma Mia!' at Agrabah Rep. Bob Loblaw was...

Ready for the Audition Rep Matchmaker’s patented one-step process to attaining a beach body?!?!

Step 1.  Take your body to the beach.

There is no step 2.

Boom.

Beach body attained.

Now, I know this is not new information. Memes with this very message abound across the internet.

However, given the HUNDREDS of messages we receive each day that our bodies are not acceptable as they are, I think it bears repeating.

ESPECIALLY this time of year.

‘Tis the season of street harassment and body shaming, when temperatures rise as self-esteem falls!

Plus, if you’re like me, as audition season grinds to a halt if you’re probably antsy for a new project.

Something you can control and fix.

How about your body?!

That seems like a good place to direct all your frustration and anxiety!!!!

Right?!?!

…right?

In my experience, this does not make for the most enjoyable or productive summer…

Here are five gentle suggestions of things other than your body...

Audition season can be tough.

Sometimes you just need a meme-able burst of inspiration to keep pounding the pavement in those tattered LaDucas!

So these are for you, all my Broadway dreamers!!! 

WE GOT THIS!!!!!!!!

1. Not to get biblical right away, but these first two quotes always remind me of Matthew 7:7. "Ask, and it shall be given to you..."

2. "Seek, and ye shall find." 

3. So, go ahead and ask for what you need!

4. A reminder that the answer you're looking for may be right in front of you.

5. Or it could come from the most unlikely place!

6. So, don't be afraid to put yourself out there to the community.

7. And never hesitate to look to your elders for wisdom.

8. They challenge us to ask the important questions.

9. This quote gets misattributed a lot, but I believe it was either Uta Hagen or Ben Franklin who said it first.

10. For when you need to really OWN it.

11. When you need a reminder that sometimes, it's okay to say "No."

12. Because self-care is...

I don't know about you, but as the days get shorter and colder I am STRUGGLING with motivation. 

I look at my to-do list in the morning and the temptation to open a new browser and watch a YouTube video or two (or five) is great. 

I put off the thing I need to do, I berate myself for putting it off, make myself a cup of coffee, I check my Instagram, berate myself some more, and then before I know it it's noon. 

But here's the wild thing:

Once I'm doing the activity I'm supposed to be doing, it's not that hard. 

I rarely find myself ten minutes into a yoga class saying to myself, "Why am I doing this?! This is soooo haaaaaarrrrrd."

(Note: I don't do hot yoga. That could very well be a different story...)

But truth be told, I have this experience with 99% of the activities I put off doing.  

The activity itself isn't painful—Getting started is. 

That's where the five minute rule can help us!

Last week I did an...

Hi.

My name is Sara, and I'm a recovering perfectionist. It's been about 33 minutes since my last nit-pick.

Sound familiar? Welcome to Perfectionists Anonymous.

I used to wear my perfectionism like a badge of honor. Perfectionism meant I was prepared. I was diligent. I was SERIOUS about my craft. I thought it made me competitive.

In reality, perfectionism was killing my career.

Perfectionism is the voice that advises, "You should really wait until you have a solid double before you take class at BDC."

It protectively whispers, "Once you lose ten pounds, you'll be ready to pursue representation."

It sagely warns, "If you go out for that show, they might call you back to dance. You're not ready for that. It's probably safer to stay home."

Perfectionism is NOT your friend.

Perfectionism is a toxic boyfriend that says, "I love you, babe. But no one else will. Stay home with me."

Perfectionism may feel safe and familiar, but in an industry that values vulnerability and risk, it is...

Alright, folks.

I know we spend a lot of time talking about how to be our best selves in the audition room, but I think it’s time we back it up a step and talk about…

The Holding Room.

Allow me to take you there.

The room is small and windowless.

The fluorescent lights perfectly highlight the girl in the center of the room casually stretching her center split… at a singer’s call.

The air is perfumed with the smells of sweat, burning hair, and—wait is that actual perfume? Who is wearing all that perfume right now?!?

You close your eyes and take in the sweet sounds of nature:

• The man furiously muttering his monologue to himself
• The belter “That’s Mine, THAAAAAAT’S MINE”-ing to the heavens
• The gaggle of recent college grads loudly discussing the callbacks they have this week and the fact that they heard this show is already cast

Just when you think you can take no more, another sound pricks your ears…

The monitor is...

Alright, folks.

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...