Onward to NYC

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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My D did her NYC showcase and cabaret performances this past week in NYC, and the plan for her is to move there towards the end of the summer. She got a number of “contact us when you get to town” comments from different industry people at the showcase. I got very mixed opinions on that talking to people there and hearing input from students and others. From “without an agent you have no chance” to “I have worked continuously without an agent ever since arriving in NYC”. Very confusing for a parent that knows nothing about the business. Also, my D’s type is a classic musical soprano (think Shirley Jones), and while several classmates got meetings (ethnic with completely different styles), I heard the classic genre is making a comeback in NYC and elsewhere. She thinks right now she’d fit young mother type roles, and the woman who cast the showcase told her she’s a few years away from fitting the roles she’s best suited for (Eliza Doolittle, Marian the Librarian, and such). She is of course open to any options (regional, theme parks, cruises, etc, etc, etc). .

So the journey begins starting probably in August. Any advice from the veterans out there?

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@jeffandann what would include ethnic and completely different styles? Also, what would be benefit to moving to NYC prior to her fitting her role?

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Networking, auditioning, taking more classes all would be beneficial :slight_smile:

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ifyouonlyknew, I guess the advantage of moving to NYC right now is that is where auditions for a lot of regional theater, cruises, etc. happen. Since she started this process my D’s goal is to make a living as an actor. To her it has never meant Broadway necessarily, but being in NYC will afford the opportunity to audition for a variety of venues, establish networks, etc.

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My daughter is one year from graduating and she has begun the process of auditioning in the city…taking those baby steps to the giant leap that will happen next year :slight_smile:

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As far as styles, etc, some folks that got asked for more info are more belters or rock voices, which from what I can gather are more in demand currently. I think she also knew some kids who got inquiries about Hamilton and other musicals where a more ethnically diverse cast is the norm.

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Does your daughter have points yet? That helps. She should also talk to @alexaMT, who has worked very steadily without EMC or an agent.

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@jeffandann - we are at the same stage. I think you are correct in that you can audition for much more in the city. Plus you can expand your network and continue training if you have the resources to do so. But I agree that regional work is awesome too if booked. Some regional work will also provide EMC points or equity cards and great industry contacts. So definitely keep options open as to where you want to be. Sounds like your D has a good head on her shoulders and will do just fine.

As far as what is being cast now, we are seeing that cruise lines in particular all seem to have very belty, rock style shows right now. All the people we know getting called back for those are in that vein. But there is always a need for more classically trained voices also. These kids will have to do lots of research and seek out the theaters who are doing shows for which they are well suited then find a way to audition for them. But there are plenty of theaters doing more classical style shows. And there are national tours for things like “Gentleman’s Guide” that would fall in that category also. So there is work to be had.

If all else fails, I also think there is much to be said for creating your own work while you are auditioning for others. So something else for her to think about with her network of actor friends. This can be done from anywhere

Best wishes to your D. I have enjoyed reading about her journey on here and wish her all the best. Who knows? Perhaps our Ds will meet in an audition line in the Big Apple one day!

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Thanks everyone. Will be leaving the site now that all is done. Appreciate all the input and advice over the years!

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Wow!! She’s graduating already? Holy moly does time go quick! (Though my own will be a junior next year - don’t know how that happened!)

Lots of wishes for tons of broken legs in the Big Apple for your girl!!

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@jeffandann I hope you will come back to update us. There is a lot to share! I’m particularly interested in hearing how you navigate the move to NYC! If not, best wishes to your D.

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@jeffandann…hope you stay on a while…love to hear about next steps after all the years of following each of these kids. I don’t have a lot of advice. I do agree with you that NYC is where many auditions take place even for regional theater. There are more Non-Equity jobs to be had than Equity and so your D should likely start out in that track, so to speak, if she doesn’t have an agent. An agent is easier, but many start without one. Further, showcase is surely not the only time or place to obtain an agent. This is a long process. Success cannot be measured by what happens the very first year out. I agree with someone else who said that all should not ride on auditioning. Many of my D’s peers, including herself, create their own work. They work with one another and they are doing things. Networking takes time. She should adjust once there and feel things out and give it time and try all sorts of things! Keep us posted from time to time!

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@jeffandann … I concur with @IfYouOnlyKnew and @soozievt - please don’t leave! I’d love to hear how it goes as I’ll be in your shoes sooner rather than later.

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Thanks for always being so kind @Jkellynh17 !

It is true that I’ve worked fairly steadily since graduating without representation. Most of the folks that got attention at my showcase from agents were people who are going to work TOMORROW. Young ingenues, dancer dancers, non-Caucasian performers. <- none of those describe me.

I did get response later down the road from 3 or 4 casting directors after showcase. The opportunity alone to get on their radar and have them call me in for projects when I was brand new to the city was the best thing that could have come out of showcase, IMO.

I’m in the process of doing a tour that will grant me my equity card. Now that I’ve been in the city for 3 years and have my card and some known names/theatres on my resume, I will be using this summer to hopefully get some meetings with agents. We will see how that goes!

And @jeffandann - agreed, please check in when you can! It’s amazing how your D’s situation could help so many others down the line. Best of luck to her!

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@jeffandann, my daughter is now almost a year post graduation and has worked steadily for pay as an actor without an agent and without her equity card (though she does have EMC points). She is currently on tour with a show that AlexaMT (above) was one of the original cast members of in its first run.

My daughter has been in NYC for almost 5 years now. Not going to sugar coat what it’s like to be a Caucasian female performer looking for work in that city or anywhere. It’s hard. It is also hard to be typed as someone that is best suited for roles she is still a few years away from. My daughter is tall. Tall apparently means older except when it doesn’t and thankfully, sometimes it doesn’t. But when tall means older, older also means people whom are actually older who can play that age and often younger so the aging into the perfect zone sometimes can be a very long way away. The talent pool is deep.

EMC points (like mentioned above) can help one to get seen in an equity call but otherwise, don’t change the game all that much. One still has to be the one they decide they want and need and again… the talent pool is deep. So if you are unique or an under-represented type that is needed for a project, that helps a ton. Otherwise you have to just keep at it. Nothing ensures you will not get cast more than not even showing up for an audition. You would be surprised how quickly people give up and stop showing up. Some of this is because they have to be at their survival jobs and can’t just show up. A lot of it is also because it’s work to audition and not everybody is really all that willing to work that hard with no guarantee of reward. The recent graduates that I know that are getting cast are still swinging at it, or have great agents, or are under-represented types and some are just really lucky whether they deserve what comes their way, or not.

All of that said let me talk about NYC. There are so many lovely young people moving to NYC after graduating from college in all professions. If you ask me, I think it’s a great place to be a young person and spread your wings. It’s where I’d want to be if I were 20 something. So many of my daughter’s high school friends (only one of whom has anything to do with theater and he’s a Harvard Grad) are there now. I had the pleasure of being at my daughter’s apartment a few months ago with a group that came over or lived with her (I cooked dinner at her place… they all showed up for the free meal), and I was struck just listening to them talk by the fact that my kid had a real community in a very big city. It was comforting and it included pretty recent friends and not just the people she had known in the previous 4+ years at NYU. So it’s really not a bad place to land as a recent graduate in any field. Good people find each other and take care of each other.

That said though… it’s a tough place to be an actor. I have a friend with a crazy talented son about to graduate from TSU and apparently the advice that those kids are getting (Kaitlin?) is to establish themselves regionally, build up the resume and if they “do NYC”… couch surf before committing to move there. To be honest, I respect that advice within the bounds of thinking about securing acting/MT work. It’s very good advice in that context. So if you really want to secure paid work as an actor right out of the gate, the odds may be better in regional markets. But if you want an experience to spread your wings as a young person surrounded by others whom are doing the same thing, and are willing to take your chances, for sure hitch up the wagon train and move to NYC. You will be in good company. And if you are lucky, you’ll find established New Yorkers who will include you in their circle and off you go or you can also move with friends from your program which many do too. Right now my daughter’s besties and/or roommates include MTs from BoCo, Baldwin Wallace, Pace (none of whom she knew a year ago) as well as NYU, her home town and the list goes on. Life is not always easy but I’d have to drag her out of there kicking and screaming. And if I were 32 years younger… I’d want to be her too. (Except not the performing part. Ew… no… never ever!)

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One more thing. The creating your own work advice that I’d read here in CC used to scare the pants off of me. (Um my kid doesn’t play the piano etc…) I offer that creating your own work doesn’t necessarily mean you create your own work. It can also mean playing a supporting role and aligning yourself with people with the skills and interest whom are creating their own work that you can be a part of. @SoozieVT’s daughter for example is exceptional at creating her own work. Really truly exceptional and she has a great network of peers that she is leveraging in that process whom also are leveraging her excellent work and I bet are beyond happy to be a part of it. Win/win. (Correct me if I’m wrong soozievt but it looks like a win win from the bleacher seats.)

My daughter does not have SoozieVt’s daughter’s talent for writing music. (She could write a play, comedy sketch, web series and maybe will but we are in the MT forum so I’ll stick with MT for now.) What she does have are friends whom are good at writing music and are creating their own MT work. They need actors like her to help support their effort or have ideas that they want to bounce off of her. Or they ask her to sing so they can hear it. So she makes herself available for feedback, readings and rehearsals. Hops on trains to a pitch at theaters couple of hours away etc. You want these creative people to be your friends but you also want them to want you to be theirs. If you are lucky you realize your life sort of turns out like that organically. Most likely though you get what you give.

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I totally agree with @soozievt --please stay on! My own S is due to graduate this October, as is my D from her MA program, and I really would value folks’ stories and wisdom.

I’ve been following @soozievt’s D for a long time, as my oldest S went to NYU Tisch ten years ago (he left the program and is not in acting) - but this is where I first read about @soozievt’s talented D and her journey. @soozievt has been generous to share this journey post-grad as well. And it’s been not only exciting to read about it,but it’s really helpful. I well remember her D right out the gate, and what struck me then, and now, is how hard she worked, at multiple projects. There are no guarantees whatsover, in any of the arts, but the one essential quality is hard work and perseverance. You don’t get anywhere without this. This is perseverance without any immediate reward. It’s so difficult. As a writer myself, I think rejection is the hardest part of being an artist, hands down—many people do give up, as @halflokum says, because it’s just so hard. For many people, there is only so much rejection you can take, before you start to wonder if you’re crazy for doing this, and if you really wouldn’t prefer working in a steady job. (And that can end up being part of the journey.) If you look at the bios of even the most successful actors, the majority includes years of perseverance without substantial reward, sometimes a decade of this. One young woman I’ve heard of that I’ve been recently so impressed by - Jo Lampert - persevered for ten years non-equity, never giving up, being true to herself and her type, taking and giving an interconnected range of roles and jobs --and has now landed a major role at the Public. If we just looked at her one year post grad, that wouldn’t have told this story.

And @halfokum - whose D is hugely talented and definitely not afraid of hard work - brings up another essential quality, one that is easily overlooked–generosity. I totally agree with her, that what goes around comes around. I mean, generosity is a great quality by itself, but it’s really important to give if you want to receive. I’ve seen this so many times, that web of interconnectedness.

@AlexaMT is such a great example of a talented young person who gives – I’ve also been following her generous posts since she first began at Coastal Carolina! Congrats to you @AlexaMT for that upcoming equity card!!!

For what it’s worth, my kids were given the advice of staying regional a while back, when my S was a regional child actor. There is definitely a strategy of starting out in a regional market, where you have ties, and where it is a teensy less competitive, building your resume, then branching out from there. You can even end up being a successful regional actor. I’d think this would especially hold for those in colleges with strong regional markets. But as @halflokum points out, NYC is also a great place for building connections. I’m thinking there’s no one right path, and it also depends on your goals. I do have to say that the common advice of creating your own work can be daunting, particularly if you don’t have money. But I’ve seen so many actors build from that in unexpected ways. I mean, even if you’re not multi-talented (my D, for example, doesn’t write songs or plays - at least now- nor does she dance or sing much), there are still ways to collaborate and build your work. She herself was given the advice, from Northwestern’s Acting For Film mentors, to build your work via YouTube and other video sites. I guess we shall see…

So my short response in my long post is I’d love to share and learn from others’ journeys! And congrats to your D, @jeffandann , and best of luck to all.

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I’ll join the chorus - please stay on @jeffandann - keep us apprised of your D’s journey. I have relied on so many of you who have “gone ahead” to um, er . . . guide my S. You all make me feel this is possible - even if not a walk in the park. Good luck to your D.

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OK, you all convinced me. I’m staying!

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@jeffandann…so glad you are staying on! The life beyond the MT/Acting degree is of interest to many of us!

@halflokum and @connections…as you mentioned my D in your posts, I am compelled to respond. :slight_smile: Thanks for the very kind words. You both have very talented kids out there doing it.

But yes, my D doesn’t wait to be cast in something. If you love to perform and love to create, then find ways to do it no matter what. If you wait for others to find you and give you work, you could be waiting either a long time or a while in between gigs and so on. The other thing about creating your own work is that you then get to star or perform in it! You can cast yourself. :smiley:

The other thing that I think is working for my kid is that she has a diversified career so far. She actually has three careers (all in theater and music) going simultaneously. So, if something were to be slow in one area, there are the other areas, and she loves all 3 areas. However, it makes for a VERY busy life to juggle so many projects at one time, when just one of these areas could be a full time devotion. And conflicts (good ones though) arise, where she might have to turn down being cast in something, because the work on another project is intense and she can’t do both at once. I just mention this because it could help others to not focus on only one type of work in theater.

Another thing mentioned by previous posts is the whole networking and collaborating aspect. My D would be the first to tell you that being a part of a community of artists is a huge part of her life. She is very intertwined in her career with her MT/Acting friends, many of whom she went to NYU/Tisch with, but others as well. Many create their own work or have different careers in theater and music and they work together…they may cast one another…they may sing back up for one another…they may direct or choreograph for one another…they may have started a theater company…seriously, all this has happened in my D’s case. Her peer group from college and beyond, are doing some really great work, including at the highest levels (but even at smaller levels too) and they collaborate and work with one another on these projects. Granted my D was in NYC for college and has had time to build a network, but t this point, at age 28, her network is vast. Also, the more projects and shows and other work you get involved in, the more people in the industry that you meet. My daughter would also say that she is grateful that some older accomplished people in theater seem to like to mentor and support younger ones coming up. She has benefited in that way too.

I’ll mention once again, that it takes time to build a career. I read a lot on this forum about what happens right after showcase or in the first few months after graduating, but really it takes longer than that. And yes, as others said, drive, motivation, perseverance, hard work, are all required. Some realize it is not for them, and that’s OK too.

@connections mentioned Jo Lampert, who is starring in a show right now at The Public Theater in NYC. There was a great article about her very recently in Vogue magazine that talks about her earlier career and such. It so happens that Jo is one of my daughter’s best friends. She is older than my daughter, but they were friends in college and in the same a cappella group. Jo was a bridesmaid in my D’s recent wedding and performed at her wedding reception in fact. We are so proud of Jo. Jo’s story, like my daughter’s, is not just about being cast in theater productions. Jo has worked a lot in performing contemporary music, as does my daughter (not MT genre music). Jo has sung and toured in various music performance groups/bands. She and my daughter have also performed a great deal together in concerts. My D has also cast Jo in her own musicals. This same story could be told about many of her friends. Jo’s life didn’t revolve around auditions for musicals only. And in terms of Jo now starring in a significant Off-Broadway venue, remember, it took time and perseverance to get to this point. Jo graduated college about 10 or 11 years ago. She has worked in the field all the while, but it has taken a while to get to this break out moment.