Tuesday Travel Tip: Assemble a Team of Experts

{The sign outside Nola Studios in New York City}

For the first round of auditions for musical theater, the first step is often to sing part of a song. While we are permitted to sing whatever we choose, we generally try to sing something in the style of the show. If things go well at one of my musical theater auditions and an artistic staff thinks I might match what they need, I am given a callback to do a particular scene and song from the show for the director, choreographer, and producer. Thus begins another series of events. For a callback, I develop a character, learn the scene, and learn the song.

Sometimes, it’s a lot.

Almost always, it all has to happen overnight.

I have two or three experts I can call on short notice. They serve as my vocal coach, voice teacher and acting coach. I collaborate with them on how to interpret my scene or song. They encourage me to make stronger choices and allow me to take risks, which is always the goal of an actor. When I rehearse alone, I don't seem to take things to the most creative place the way I do under the direction of my team of experts. They tell me what's funny, what needs to improve, and sometimes even teach me a better way to act or sing a particular section.

Without my team of experts, I would not be as successful in my callbacks. It takes an outside set of highly trained eyes and ears to help me achieve as much as possible in a short amount of time.

Although my years of training and experience are important, I can’t just depend on what I learned in the past to carry me through each new callback. I need to constantly improve in order to stay competitive. My team of experts pushes me to reach new levels that I wasn’t sure I had.

There are so many factors at play in the world of auditioning for musical theater. We sing, dance, and act all at the same time. To be chosen for a particular production, we have to have the right resume, right union status, right vocal range, be the right size to fit the costume, look like we fit into the family or group of friends that is onstage, and a dozen other factors. Among all of these aspects that I can’t control, I control the things that are within my reach. By working with a team who pushes me to be better, I’m ready when the producer wants a 5’5” Caucasian woman in her 30s for a quirky mezzo-soprano role.

Who is on your team of experts when you need to achieve something new?

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Make a Video

How do you remember your travels? Sometimes I make my own travel videos, some of which you can view here. My latest travels have taken me across the country and back in time to St. Louis in 1903, by way of Florida. I know, it makes no sense geographically, but I'm playing Mrs. Anna Smith in a production of "Meet Me in St. Louis" at a dinner theater in Florida. Watch the video to meet some of the other characters, see the beautiful costumes, hear one of our suggested rewrites for the script, and even get a back stage glimpse of the "snow."(If you have trouble making the player work here, just click the link below the video to view it on Vimeo).


Backstage at Meet me in St. Louis from Dawn Trautman on Vimeo.

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People Who Figure Out How to Remember Things Are Better Off

While I am in Illinois to perform in "Happy Days: The Musical" I live with the other out-of-town actors in a large house owned by the theater. I also have been bestowed with the title of House Mom, an actual paid position. (This seems to be a gender neutral term, as the House Mom for the previous show was a man. But I digress.)

As the House Mom, I assign chores, buy supplies, keep track of the company vehicle (a sporty minivan) and coordinate repairs. At our house meeting I made one request: if someone needs something, put it in writing. It could be a handwritten note, a text, an email or sky writing, but it needs to be in writing. Why? Because I know that I'll forget things that I hear, but I remember things that I read. Is that true for you? Or are you the opposite?

I observe so many people continuously forgetting things. "Oh sorry, I forgot to replace the banana that I ate. I'll bring one tomorrow." And then tomorrow comes, and they still forget. They never took the time to remind themselves. They probably remember at inopportune times, such as when they are falling asleep or taking a shower or otherwise unable to replace the banana.

Figure out how you remember things. Put a system in place to remind yourself. Why? Here are some of the top reasons:

1. Save yourself from the mental clutter of continuously remembering things you forgot, not doing them, and having to remember again.
2. Honor the people around you by "paying them back." They appreciate it, even if it's a banana, and they'll be more likely to help you in the future.
3. Good opportunities come to reliable people. I am not likely to recommend you to someone else for a cool opportunity if I don't think you'll follow through. I end up looking bad for making the recommendation, and someone else looses out on the opportunity.

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A Week in the Life of a Life Coach, Actress and Urban Nomad

Some of my friends in the blog-o-sphere introduced me to Ali Edwards. She leads a scrapbooking project called Week in the Life. The idea is that once a year, you make a time capsule of what regular life is like. To find out more, visit her website.

For my Week in the Life, I followed many of Ali Edwards' suggestions. I also made it work for me. For example, I had my Week in the Life begin on Wednesday since that's when my week begins, after Monday and Tuesday off from performing in shows. I also noticed that Ali Edwards typically does The Week in the Life at the end of April. At first I thought I shouldn't do that week because of how much I had going on, and then I realized that's the point. I just capture a week, no matter what's happening.

I'm glad I did the project. Documenting a week made me think about what's important in my current situation, what I'll want to remember for the future, and who is in my world. I also found myself delighting in normal things, knowing that they won't always be normal once I move on. I even took photos of things like my food, my favorite beauty products, and my shoes because those photos will be a fun time capsule later on.

Start to appreciate normal life. Document it with photos, keep a detailed journal, or just discuss it with a partner. You may find a new appreciation for things that you weren't even noticing.

I will eventually put my pictures into a scrapbook the way Ali Edwards suggests, but for now I've gathered them into a video with a couple show clips. If you've ever wondered about the week of a life coach, actress, and Urban Nomad, here is a peek into my world.


A Week in the Life from Dawn Trautman on Vimeo.

(Having trouble viewing it? Watch it on Vimeo.)
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Tools of the Trade

• Assorted Make-up
• Makeup Application Sponges and Brushes
• False Eyelashes and Glue
• Eyelash Curler
• Magnifying Mirror
• Bobby Pins and Wig Pins
• Microphone
• Microphone Tape
• Microphone Pack
• Wig Cap
• Wig
• Costumes
• Costume Plot
• Reading Material
• Throat Lozenges
• Liquids to Drink
• Phone

What are the tools of your trade?

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The Wisdom of Mrs. C

Have you seen Happy Days: A New Musical? Neither have I, but I started rehearsals for it yesterday as Marion Cunningham. So far, my favorite scene is between Marion and Fonzie. Marion discovers Fonzie distressed over ... something (I won't give away the plot). They make some small talk about Fonzie's heroes, James Dean and Elvis, then she asks him to talk about his problem. He doesn't want to.

Marion: I always thought you and I were friends. You can talk to me.
Fonzie: No, thank you.
Marion: I bet James and Elvis would talk to someone rather than worrying themselves sick. Talking helps you make decisions.
Fonzie: I can't run around asking people's opinions. What would people think? They'd think I'm not cool. That's what they'd think.
Marion: I'm told Elvis and James wouldn't care what other people thought.

How wise is Marion? She knows that talking helps you make decisions. She knows that cool people don't worry about what other people think. (She also knows how to make wonderful pies).

When you have things to decide, large or small, talk to someone you trust. Apparently it will make you as cool as Fonzie, Elvis and James Dean.

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Appreciation

(The cast of The Drowsy Chaperone. Photo by Bella Muccari.)

I just completed a run of The Drowsy Chaperone at an off-off-Broadway theater. It was the first New York City revival of the show since the original Broadway production. But that was not what made this production remarkable. In a risky business such as show business, there is sometimes more emphasis on the business than the show. Not this time. Everyone from the producer to the artistic staff to the crew to the actors really, truly loved the show. This energy resulted in a great production, great reviews, sold out houses with people lining up outside in the cold to get tickets, and visits from original Broadway cast members and even one of the writers. Love and passion for the show actually resulted in more business.

This love and passion carried us right through the final performance. The end of a run can often go one of two ways: it can feel like a funeral or it can feel like a relief. However, the end of The Drowsy Chaperone felt like a celebration. We celebrated the show with a song written and performed by the actress playing the title character. We talked about what we loved in each others' work onstage and offstage. We watched from the wings to support actors in scenes we were not in. It was a whole day of appreciation for one another and for the show we had created together.

Where could you show more appreciation for others in your life? Why not do it now?

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An ode to the library

These are my library cards. One of my favorite "perks" when I am out of town working at a theater is a local library card. I love to read and know that an electronic reader will soon make more sense for me than physical books. I actually look forward to being able to carry all my books with me at all times, stored conveniently in my electronic reader, yet I will miss the trip to the library. I love the search for an interesting book, the smell of the pages and the hushed silence in the room. I love the librarians who seem to know everything about their little corner of the world and can direct you to the perfect reference on any subject of local interest. I also love the way in which the library connects me to the community. Although I am only in a particular town for a few weeks, I belong just a little bit when I have a library card.

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When was the last time you learned a new skill?

I am playing a role in a musical in which the character plays the ukelele. I did not know how to play the ukelele, so I was excited to get started. What's more fun than learning a new instrument? I played the piano and then the flute as I grew up but never stringed instruments. Once I started to practice, I was actually surprised at how slowly I made progress. My fingers didn't want to make the chords, at least not in a way that sounded in tune.

When was the last time I attempted to learn an entirely new skill? I'm not even sure.

So often, we do what we are good at and just do more of it until we are either great at it or living on autopilot. Everything from daily tasks to the central tasks of our career were at one point things we had to learn. As we get older, there are less and less occasions in which we absolutely must do something totally new, for which we have very little preparation or skill. We either build on what we already know or pay someone else to do things we don't know how to do. However, learning to do something completely new provides the opportunity to become humble about your skills, aware of your own learning process, connected to new parts of your brain, excited about obvious improvements, able to share a new activity with others, and eventually able to add a new "special skill" to your resume.

Who knows, maybe someday I'll join a ukelele band in Brooklyn (I hear there are many. In fact, I've seen one that played exclusively Gilbert and Sullivan tunes). Right now, I am a long way off from ukelele bands giving concerts. I'm just trying to get the fingering for Gmajor7.

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Connections

I have just returned from four weeks performing in the show "Church Basement Ladies" at a small theater in Macon, Missouri. I had never heard of the theater or the town before I went there. Instead, the show found me. When casting the show, the artistic director called other directors for recommendations of people he might cast. He asked a director in Illinois that I worked with three years ago if she knew any comedic singers who could pass for a Minnesota Lutheran. She said that she actually knew a Minnesota Lutheran. After a short conversation and submitting my reel, I was offered the role.

I got the job through connections, but the connections did not stop there. I had multiple connections with other actors in the show, one of whom had been doing the show for two years at various theaters. I had connections to the Minnesota Lutheran culture of the show, and connections with the Lutherans who came to see the show. At each performance, we could gauge how many Lutherans were in the audience by the amount of laughter we got as we all said, emphatically, "This is most certainly true" (an important phrase for Martin Luther). If we got a big laugh, we knew we had a connection. If not, people still enjoyed the show, but on a different level.

I even had connections to the props. The show has so many props that the company that created the show rents out the props. We received 10 big bins of shellacked krumkake, lefse, bars and jello molds, among other things. We also received recipe boxes that reflected the personality of each character. An actor friend from a previous production emailed to ask if I'd found her recipe in her recipe box. As it turns out, many of the people who do the show write a recipe for the recipe box, and those recipes continue to travel around to future productions of the show. I wrote my recipe for red jello with bananas floating in it (the secret: refrigerate for about an hour before adding the fruit so that it doesn't all sink to the bottom). In that small way, I will remain connected to the show as the props travel to the next theater.

This is Most Certainly True.

Cinderella's Life Coach

This summer I was in Ohio working in a dinner theater production of Cinderella. One of the most intriguing scenes that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote is right before Cinderella goes to the ball. Her fairy godmother has given her a dress, a coach shaped like a pumpkin, white horses, a coachman and a footman. So many gifts. Everything seems perfect, so the fairy godmother says goodbye.

Cinderella: Aren't you coming with me?
Godmother: Heavens, no. I've been to so many of these things I couldn't stand another. Furthermore, all I can do is give you your wish. How it turns out from here is up to you.
Cinderella: But I'm afraid to go in there all by myself.

Cinderella moves past her fear, goes to the ball, and the fairy tale unfolds.

In Rodger's and Hammerstein's version, Cinderella's godmother can give her all the trappings of a fairy tale, but she must take action in order to achieve her fairy tale ending. Although we don't all have a fairy godmother, how many times are we faced with the resources to fulfill our dreams, but our fear gets in the way? Learn to recognize when opportunities arise, and learn how to move past your fear. Take a risk. Walk into the ballroom alone. Claim your fairy tale ending.

Audition Season

March means many things to many people: Spring Break, Lent, Passover, St. Patrick's Day, "in like a lion out like a lamb". For actors in New York City, it means Audition Season. While there are auditions in New York year round for shows throughout the United States, many regional theaters cast their summer season in March. For three intense weeks, there are more auditions than one person could possible attend. Last year, I missed audition season because I was away in Kansas doing "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". (Ironic, isn't it? Because I was in a show I was unable to audition for other shows.) This year, I submitted my resume and was granted audition appointments at a few of the theaters. Some theaters do not give appointments, so you must go early in the morning and sign up on a list, which often grows to over 500 people before 10:00 am when the auditions begin. If the list has more people than can audition in one day, the theater "types" by collecting resumes, looking quickly at each person, and then announcing who they will allow to audition, based on whether you are the "type" of person they need in the cast.

Audition season means getting up very early, rushing around from one midtown building to the next, strategizing with friends about signing each other into various auditions, and remembering your number on the list at each audition because you must go in order. It means carrying a water bottle, a snack, a dress, makeup, dance clothes, four pairs of shoes, a book of audition music, headshots and resumes everywhere you go. It means warming up in hallways and subways and fitting in a dance class whenever possible. It means waiting hours to sing for 30 seconds, or learning a dance on the spot and then performing it for the choreographer minutes later or acting out a scene for the director opposite someone you've never met before. It also means spending each day surrounded by people who are passionate about the arts and wondering what it would be like to live for the summer in the town where the theater is located, performing whatever show they are doing. The possibilities are endless. And that's why I love it.

Endings

When the last day of school approaches, there are tests to take, classrooms to tidy up, books to turn in or sell. When school ends forever, there is the great fanfare of graduation. When most jobs end, you might have less to do on your last day because you have already delegated many tasks to others or you might be training in a new person to do your job. When you move to a new home, you spend the last week or so packing and living with less of your things. All of these are signals that something is about to change. The signals allow you to slowly ease into your new reality. When a show ends, there are no signals. The day of the last show, you must get up and do the exact same show that you did on the first day. Same lines, same dances, same costumes, same sets. And then, when it is over, it's over very suddenly. We gave our last two performances of Babes in Toyland, and then packed up our costumes and sets just like we had at every venue along the way. And it was over. The little world of Toyland that we had created and brought to children from Wisconsin to New York was gone. We said brief goodbyes to one another, and headed back into our own lives. The end. And the beginning of the next big thing.

The Number Line

When rehearsing a show, you learn where to move around the stage. Sometimes, especially when it is a dance-heavy show, a choreographer will put down a number line. This is a row of numbers taped to the stage that is near the edge of it. A tape mark at the center is zero, and 24 inches on either side of the zero is the stage left "one" and the stage right "one". The numbers continue, evenly spaced, out as far as needed. Then, during dances and complicated blocking, actors know that they must be on, say, "four" at the beginning of the dance and "six" for the next section and "two" for the final pose. This is how shows appear to be symetrical and organized to the audience. With a touring show, the number line becomes essential. We perform on a new stage almost every day, with all new variables to deal with. The set travels with us, but it must expand or contract to fit each new space. Our choreography and blocking must also expand or contract to fit each space. It could be very disorienting, but we deal with it by expanding or contracting the number line itself. The distance between each number can expand or contract to fit the theater. Actors quickly learn that in a big space, it takes much longer to get to "six" (the furthest point out on each side) so you need to either leave earlier or walk faster, but make sure you get there at the same time you always do. The number line becomes a sort of compass, something to depend on when so many other things change each day. It makes me think about other things that we use in our daily life to ground us as we encounter new situations. We carry around skills, assumptions and habits that provide the sort of map and compass to our lives that the number line provides to the show. What is your number line?

Previews

While in Chicago with an evening free, our cast attended a preview performance of a new Broadway-bound musical, The Addam's Family. It boasted famous Broadway stars and a great creative team. There was also the "fun factor" of seeing the show before our friends in New York.

The show started with a great ceremony in the graveyard attended by the family and their ancestors. Gomez, the father, welcomed everyone, "living, dead, and undecided." From there, the show itself was at times living, dead, and undecided. There were places that it took no less than a major Broadway star to hold the show together and make it entertaining. Still, there were a few good songs and a few great lines. For example, the grandma was trying to make a point to Pugsley, the little boy, by referring to Medusa. The boy said, 'Grandma, I don't understand your references." The grandma replied, "Stop with the D@#& texting and pick up a book once in awhile!" Another character said that she was trying to spread something everyone needs and only a few people have. Morticia replied, "Health care?" It stopped the show. Still, songs came out of nowhere, relationships between characters weren't developed, and sight gags went on too long.

It wasn't the first pre-Broadway performance I've ever seen, but it really made me appreciate how hard it must be to write a good musical, and how much work must have gone into musicals that I love. This one has a great team of people associated with it, and I believe that they will be able to bring "The Addam's Family" to life.

Al Ringling Theater

Being from the Upper Midwest, I have long known that the Ringling Brothers Circus originated in Baraboo, Wisconsin. We took a mini vacation there as a child, including Circus World, where the clowns taught my brother to juggle. (Two blog posts in a row mentioning clowns? What are the odds?) However, I did not know that Al Ringling used $100,000 of the circus proceeds to build a theater in Baraboo. It is an amazing treasure right in the middle of an average Midwestern town, modeled after the theater at Versailles. Yes, that Versailles. Before the theater was built in 1915, vaudeville players lost a day between Chicago and Minneapolis. Baraboo was well placed along the route, four hours from Chicago and four hours from Minneapolis. It filled in a day for them so that they could perform (and be paid) during their journey between larger cities. The dressing rooms are virtually unchanged from how they were when they were used by Lionel Barrymore, Mary Pickford and the Lunts. After Vaudeville, it was used as a silent movie house, then a regular movie house, and, for one day, Babes in Toyland. What a joy to join the tradition of such an historic stage.

A Christmas Show

There were many reasons for becoming an Urban Nomad, one of which was that I was spending more time out of New York City than in it as I was performing at regional theaters. I always returned between shows, partly because that is where my friends and connections are, and partly because that is where most of the auditions are. The trick is to have a place to be in New York when you need it without it becoming a liability when you need to be away for months at a time. When I gave up my apartment in August, I had already started auditioning for Christmas shows throughout the United States, fairly certain that I would get one as I did the past two years. That meant that I would only be a nomad in New York City for a couple months before moving to a regional theater. But by mid-October it was obvious that I wouldn't get a Christmas show, at least not on the traditional time line. I reluctantly gave up on the idea of a Christmas show and started to make a plan to stay in New York until January. Just about that time, a friend needed someone to take over a room in her apartment. Her roommate had been cast in the Las Vegas company of the musical Jersey Boys and would be gone for a year. It was a beautiful room and the timing worked out perfectly, so I agreed to move in. The very day I was to move, I got a call for a Christmas show. I was offered the part of Widow Piper in a national tour of Babes in Toyland. Just when I gave up on the idea of a Christmas show and made other plans, I got a Christmas show. All I wanted for Christmas was . . . a Christmas show. That's exactly what I got.

Quoted in Back Stage National Edition, 30 Jul 2009

When I was in tenth grade, the high school counselor told my mother that I was interested in too many things. My mother said that she didn't think that was a problem. This article supports the idea that having a variety of passions can be a good thing. I was happy to be quoted regarding the interaction of two of my passions: life coaching and musical theater, both of which are enriched by being an Urban Nomad.

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Career

Back Stage National Edition
30 Jul 2009

How easily we forget there’s life beyond acting. It’s essential for actors to have passions outside the business, providing themselves with other creative outlets and a balance against what can be a stressful and frustrating pursuit. And to play...read more...

Tech Tags: Back Stage National Edition newspaper NEWS