The Life of an Actor
3/4/2019
...involves auditioning. A lot. And this is the time of year when regional theatres are casting their seasons and there are just a TON of EPAs (Equity Principal Audtions, which are basically open auditions for Equity members) in NYC right now. I think I've been to 11 so far this year. That's not that many compared to many of my actor friends but I try to target myself to auditions that actually are casting roles that I'd be right for and that I have appropriate material for (meaning the right cut of a song or a role-appropriate monologue), and of course I try to strike a work-life balance that will keep me alive, getting enough sleep, eating well and not hating myself. So maybe I don't go to as many auditions as I could/should, but I have my own personal goals that I work toward. And I am finding I need more downtime for my own personal health and sanity as the years go by.
Anyway, auditioning is usually fun! And you get to run into actor friends! Today for example I ran into my buddy John Little who was in An Actor's Carol with me (and drove me each week back and forth between NYC and Cape May while we were doing that show), and my pal Nikki Ferry, who I met just going to these EPAs together so many times over the years. And there were many other familiar faces in the holding room today, too. We get to know the faces of our fellow auditioners over the years. And it's pleasant to chat with them. Someone asked me about my purty pink shoes and I started saying how well I got them at Nordstrom Rack so they were a little easier to afford and also that The Shoe Fund helped me out and someone else said, "Oh, I didn't know the Shoe Fund was still around" and I got to tell them that yes, thankfully, it is! The Shoe Fund, for those who don't know, is this wonderful fund wherein actors can get $40 back when they buy a pair of shoes that are under $100 once every two years. (It used to be every year, but I think they're running low on funds!) It was started in 1945 when an actor named Conrad Cantzen bequeathed his estate to the Actors Fund in order to help unemployed actors pay for shoes so they can look good at auditions! Thank you, Conrad. When you are just scraping by, as I am right now, and you desperately need new shoes, $40 is a big help. Learn more about the amazing Shoe Fund here!
And yeah, an actor's job is really to AUDITION. And you don't expect to get most of the things you go out for. If you get a callback or book something, that's GREAT but that's not the usual! One of my favorite acting teachers used a baseball analogy. (And that teacher is David Nathan Schwartz! Who I just saw playing a dentist with halitosis on an episode of the hilarious I'm Sorry! If you're in LA and you want to take a great improv/acting class, you should definitely check to see if he's teaching one at the moment.) Anyway, the baseball analogy was this: Babe Ruth had the best batting average of all time at .342. But that means that out of 10 times up at bat, he only hit the ball a little over 3 times. And he was the best! So if we're getting 3 callbacks out of every 10 auditions, that's AMAZING! And if you get considerably less than that, even THAT can be considered really good too! Ugh, I think I'm phrasing this all wrong. Schwartzie put it much more succinctly I think. But anyway, that's one way to think positively about auditions.
So anyhoo, the last few months have been busy with auditions for me, and I've also been challenging myself to write a play again. This time it's for a 10-minute play festival. I was sort of dry on ideas but this particular festival had very particular parameters that sounded like a juicy challenge to me. I think I'm just about done writing the play and am going to submit it soon! Yay me! Being all creative and stuff. Speaking of being creative, if you need inspiration, I cannot recommend Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic enough. It was actually one of the things that inspired me to write Florence the Firefly. Speaking of which, I just submitted Florence to her first play festival! I know I need to do that more (submit it to more places to be considered being produced)...so I will try to get on that!
Meanwhile I am paying the bills with teaching Music Together classes and babysitting and occasional random odd jobs. (Tomorrow I'm doing a focus group! Fun! I hope.)
And I'm trying to stay politically informed as much as possible for my health and sanity. I find local politics much easier to swallow and also much easier to make a difference in. NYC just had a special election for Public Advocate--At first I barely knew what that position was, let alone the 17 candidates on the ballot, but I spent HOURS doing research and it was a FASCINATING education in how our city works. And only a few hundred thousand of us New Yorkers turned out to vote. No one can say that our votes didn't make a difference in THAT election.
Besides the focus group, I'm also teaching a class tomorrow and doing a "Teacher Takeover" day on Instagram. Before today I had only ever posted one thing on Instagram so I am pretty Insta-illiterate. We'll see how that goes! I may not be great at the social meeds but what I lack in technical know-how I hopefully make up for with PASSION. I am PASSIONATE about THE POWER OF PLAY and the POWER OF MUSIC. You can check out my day of Instagram tomorrow on https://www.instagram.com/eswsmusictogether/ Hopefully I can make something of it. Please follow ESWS Music Together! Especially if you have young children on the UWS or UES! Or if you know people who do! Or if you just want to see the kinds of things I do for a living. Ok, that was the Life of an Actor for today. Peace!