Are You READY?

It's holiday season...

It's opera audition season...

It's always theatre audition season...

Sometimes, it's successful,  sometimes it doesn't seem to be.

If you aren't getting the auditions,  or the callbacks if you get the auditions;  if you aren't getting seen;  if you feel frustrated,  disappointed,  despondent, ready to take a hiatus...

Your feelings are valid.  Acknowledge them,  give them permission to exist and let them move through so you can get to the next.

What is the next?

A simple, yet complex question:  Are you ready?

Your answer may be:  Yeah, but Susan, ready for what?  I am not getting seen/getting appointments/getting callbacks/getting ANYTHING.

Ah, but what happens WHEN they call?  WHEN you get the audition appointment?

If you are stubborn and crazy enough to pursue this career choice (and you have to be a little or a lot of both!) - you have to be ready.

Once the disappointment wears away,  get your big girl panties on and GET TO WORK.

There is nothing more devastating than to watch someone who SAYS they want a career,  who may go through disappointing seasons of no work/no auditions,  suddenly get an opportunity, and they just are not ready.

It happens more than you think.

Make a commitment to yourself this season.  Make a commitment to be ready.

Sometimes you wonder if a casting director, or an artistic director even remembers you.  Then, out of the blue,  you get a call.  Are your ready?  (and that's not a story, it DOES happen)

What are you doing to be ready?

Is your voice is tip top shape?  Are you studying regularly enough,  are you practicing consistently to access your talent at will?

Are your arias ready to sing and PERFORM?

Is your audition book ready so if the casting director says "what else have you got in there?"  you could sing that cut exactly the way you want it?

Do you know what you want them to see about YOU in an audition?

Vocally?  Dramatically?

Are you ready to take on those roles or those projects that you say you want?

Is your head shot working?

Is your resume up to date?

Have you up'd your game in order to stand out for all the right reasons once you have a chance to show them what you do?

What if that phone call came today?  Are you going to get excited,  get focused and prep or are you going to start making excuses as to why it might not work?

If you say you want it,  then DO IT.  Prepare even when the opportunity isn't beckoning you.  Prepare precisely because it is not there.  This allows you the opportunity to be ready when the pressure isn't breathing down your throat!

Is the presentation of YOU accessible at a moment's notice?  This is the time to assess and ponder and then do something about that!

Little secret:  the business isn't going anywhere.  You can take some time to get yourself in order to truly be ready when the call comes and they want to see you this afternoon, tomorrow or next week.

So, instead of letting the lack of work, auditions, callbacks get you down - let it be permission to get it all together!  Organize!  Plan!  Study!  Practice!  Discover!  BE!!!!

Yes, sometimes being ready means you hurry up and wait.  Waiting doesn't mean dormant.  Waiting means prepared.  Our business is fickle,  and it's temperamental and it changes its mind quickly.  If you aren't ready to meet the challenge when the opportunity beckons or demands your attention,  you will be stuck in your own decisions.

The opportunity will come.  Be ready for what you need to do, in order to DO IT.

Don't settle for kinda, sorta,  maybe.

Kinda, sorta, maybe isn't memorable for the right reasons.

You want it?  You gotta go get it when it presents itself.

That's the best gift you can give yourself this season:  ALL OF YOU!

Finding Your Niche

Sunday musings...at the end of November...

Are you finding your niche?  Where you can inhabit?

There are so many factors in our lives as artists.

Some are artists.

Some have artistic temperaments.

Some are performers.

Some are artists who perform.

Some are craftspeople.

Some are process people.

Some are a quick bolt of lightening.

Some are a slow burn.

Finding out WHAT you are,  and then WHERE you are reveals even more,  and can be thoroughly exhausting and confusing.

We fight the constant "in the box" mentality to allow our artistic individuality to be allowed to breathe.  We need to do that if we want to find authenticity as an artist.

However, then there's the business of show.  If we want to work,  make a living or some semblance,  are we ready to go where our talent takes us?  And how do we know not just how we WISH to be seen, but how we ARE being seen?

I see the frustration.  I've experienced it.

As I get older,  I have decided not to succumb to the box,  but rather, enjoy the process of creating MY OWN.

And I don't want a box,  I want a niche.  It allows for my uniqueness to be displayed as opposed to being put away. 

As a performer,  you want your uniqueness remembered.  You want to be in the minds of someone who is casting who sees you clearly.

Here's the catch:  the only way they see you clearly is if YOU see you clearly.

If something doesn't add up,  it's too much time and effort to riddle it out,  and your head shot and resume are placed unceremoniously in THAT OTHER PILE.

You, the artist, You, the performer,  must discover what makes you unique, where your niche will be, and occupy that space!

Get creative with it.  Come on!  You say you are an artist,  so BE one!  Create!  Create yourself!

Don't get caught in the regular,  boring, non-descriptive adjectives.

Carve out a place for yourself!

How aware of yourself are you?

Time to ask the hard questions of yourself, and people you trust that can keep it real.  This doesn't need to hurt, but rather invigorate you to discover what space you can truly call yours!!

There are so many people trying to work in this business,  Music Theatre, Theatre, Film, TV, Opera - all of which have their own specificities and quirks.

There is always going to be someone better than you,  hungrier than you,  more determined than you.

So what makes YOU the best YOU, the most unique YOU,  the most qualified YOU?

The pieces of the puzzle don't have to fit in a "traditional" way - sometimes the "quirks" we find that don't seem to fit can end up becoming the recognized niche we need.

Are you ready for that?

So much of the time we are constantly trying to CHANGE something.  If only I had...If only I could do...If only...one day...

What about saying the square peg does belong in the round hole and this is how it works?

And claim it.  And demonstrate it.  Show us.  Create the niche.

What are your personality quirks? What makes you YOU?  Ask the people that love being around what they love about you.  Also ask them what drives them NUTS.

What are your physical attributes?  Don't value judge!  They are all real.  If you think perfect physical specimens are the only ones working,  (whatever THAT means) you are mistaken!!!  You are a perfect physical specimen for a role if you embody the niche you say you do and it works!

What can you emphasize about your energy?  Do you know what your energy reveals?  Are there differences in that energy when you are with your friends?  Your family?  Business people?  In an audition room?  In a class?   What happens?  What changes?  What can you use????

Does your voice match your body?  Do you have options?  What are they?

What can do you to still be true to your physical self and your vocal self at the same time?

You are only stuck if you decide to be.

If you feel stuck,  guess what?  That's what "they" get in the room:  This person doesn't know what they want us to see;  they don't know who they are;  next!

So often, we think we must de-emphasize something.  What if we were to really emphasize that quirk, so-called oddity,  interesting quality,  fascinating tic?   What niche could you occupy and thereby, inhabit, within the business?

Okay, I hear the question now:  but if I try to get too specific, doesn't that limit my ability to get hired?

And I answer:  Generic is generic.  There is tons of generic out there.  How does one differentiate? If you find your specificity,  then you focus on working in THAT niche.  The work could be constant frankly,  because you would be filling a niche that is uniquely you.


Type, Fach, Hit - whatever you use to "define" is there as a guideline.  The basic description is generic.  YOU define your niche by what you bring and how you hone and how you reveal.

Get creative with it! 

As an example:
We are all a little quirky.  What are your specific quirks?  Quirky how?  Describe your descriptives!!!

Find the roles that would fit YOU as you occupy and inhabit your niche.

Decide where in the business that takes you....you might be surprised as to how much possible work there is,  if you decide to focus in instead of get frustrated with a generality.

Happy discovery!