Peter Royston (he/him) is an equity stage manager based in New York, and originally from the Bay Area area. His credits include: Blue Man Group, The Public Theater, The Lark, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Theatre Works, among others. Since 2017, Peter has become a vocal advocate and ally to the disabled community, specifically through his lived experience as a White Gay man with Cerebral Palsy. Peter hopes to see disabled stage management representation on Broadway and increased visibility of disabled artists across all aspects of the industry. Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

Ditch Your Backup Plan

51. A Future of Possibilities - Peter Royston

Elsie Escobar is a 14 year veteran in the podcasting industry and inductee to the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame. She is the co-founder of She Podcasts, a podcasting community for women + non-binary that has over 19 thousand members with a corresponding podcast and conference. She's a podcasting advocate, pundit and mentor to primarily women podcaster leaders. She also has an MFA in Acting!   Elsie is Libsyn’s Community Manager and co-host/producer of The Feed: The Official Libsyn Podcast   Elsie loves to drive dialogue in the podcasting industry focusing on podcasts’ impact on society, diversity, and culture as well as their power to drive social change.

50. Build Your Own Position - Elsie Escobar

Noah Lindquist is a member of AEA, a singer and actor, and the creator of the viral videos, "Wear a Mask," and "I Just Can't Wait for Vaccines." Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

49. While Waiting for Your Shot - Noah Lindquist

Kimberly is a New York City based award-winning singer, actor, performer, and educator who recently originated the role of Maya in the New York City premiere of Sideways (based on the Academy Award Winning film). Top theatre critics have dubbed her a "golden-voiced vocalist," "a luminous life-force with a crystalline soprano voice," and "one of the best voices I've heard in musical theatre." Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

48. Go Back into the Fire - Kimberly Doreen Burns

Logan is an actor in NYC with a passion for social justice and human equity. Over the past almost ten years, Logan has crafted a pretty nifty little life for herself, filled with some very cool flexible side hustles that enable her to drop everything on a dime and take an audition or a booking.. and she’s like really proud of that. Most notably, she is an ambassador for a fair trade fashion brand, called Noonday Collection. Noonday partners with artisans across the globe to create dignified work in their communities and combat the modern day slavery crisis. Over 70% of the artisans Noonday partners with are women!! Having this job in particular has been a definite bright spot in a dark year. Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

47. We're Not in Competition with Each Other - Logan Rose Nelms

Alison Franck (CSA) is a casting professional with over 20 years of Broadway, Off-Broadway, Touring, Regional Theatre, TV, Film, Commercial and Voice Over Casting experience. For a decade, she was the Casting Director for the prestigious regional theatre Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, where she cast over 50 productions with some of the theatre community's finest talent. Notable credits at Paper Mill include the Broadway transfer of I’m Not Rappaport starring Judd Hirsch and Ben Vereen, Anything Goes starring Chita Rivera, The Baker’s Wife starring Alice Ripley, The Chosen starring Theodore Bikel and John Lloyd Young, Baby starring La Chanze, Norm Lewis, Carolee Carmello, Michael Rupert and Chad Kimball, The Full Monty with Elaine Stritch, The Importance of Being Earnest with Lynn Redgrave, and was the original Casting Director behind the Broadway transfer of Godspell, which included Telly Leung and Uzo Aduba. SHOW NOTES at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

46. Casting College - Alison Franck

Damion Taylor spent the last 15 years applying data and technology to entertainment. Both analytical and creative, he brings a unique skill set that’s in high demand for brands and media companies. He effectively translates data in a way that is meaningful to creatives talent and has become a respected leader in audience growth and producing data-informed creative. He has lead Audience Development for large traditional media companies (e.g., Warner Bros. and NBC Universal) as well as innovative digital leaders (e.g., Machinima, Mitu and New Form) Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

45. See Yourself Being Successful - Damion Taylor

Elizabeth is a New York actor and teaching artist.  She is the creator and instructor of the N2NYT: New to New York Theatre online course. Show notes at: DitchYourBackupPlan.com

44. Strategize & Maximize - Elizabeth Nestlerode

Gianmarco Soresi is a stand up comic, actor and writer but the first line of his obituary will probably say “guy from all those General Electric commercials.” Check out his comedy special on Amazon Prime: "Shelf Life." Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

43. Understand Where Your Limits Lie- Gianmarco Soresi

Sherita Carthon is a Celebrity Brand Precision Expert who has helped more than 3k celebrities, artists, entrepreneurs and small business owners navigate their brand. An award winning speaker, Sherita has been featured on VH1 | FOX | ABC | MARKET WATCH | ASK.COM and most recently Live with Les Brown discussing her innovative project: The Celebrity Sales Method. Show notes and links at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

42. Death of the Diva Decade - Sherita Carthon

Guests from 2020 answer the question, “Have you made it?” 00:53 Becca Kötte- Broadway actress and recording artist 1:30 David Valentine - Puppet Builder at Jim Henson Co. 2:52  Lauren Hirsh- Broadway child guardian 3:27 Clyde Voce- Actor 4:14 Sarah Schreiber-WWE backstage correspondent 5:50 Ross Evans- Screenwriter 6:17 Katie McClellan- TV, film, theatre & voiceover 7:38 Tim Murray- Actor, comedian 8:42 Grace Douglas 9:42 Mariand Torres- Broadway actress 11:15 Logan Jones- General manager, About Face Theatre, Chicago 11:52 Jenna Rubaii- Broadway actor 12:47 Alanna Saunders- Broadway actor 14:11 Anne Cofell Saunders- Television writer, executive producer 17:22 Lindsay Levine- Casting director 18:06 Carrie Compere- Actor 19:12 Julie Fleischer 20:07 Joshua Henry- Artist and Performer 20:37 Josh Fiedler- Producer 21:04  Travis Cloer- Broadway actor, Las Vegas performer, recording artist 21:42 Nick Francone- Scenic designer for theatre, art director for television and film 22:35 Theresa Squire -Broadway Costume Designer 23:13 Shaun J. Brown- Actor, writer and producer 23:52 Maya Lynne Robinson- Film, TV, stage actress, and writer/producer 24:09 Michael McElroy-Tony and Grammy nominated Broadway performer 24:35 Qui Nguyen-TV and film writer and playwright 25:24 Chantal Bilodeau- Playwright, founder of the Arctic Cycle organization 26:14 Bliss Griffin- Entertainment industry inclusion strategist 20:10 Kiki Rivera- Theatre artist and playwright 26:36 Kiki Rivera -Playwright and Activist 26:57 Laura Camien- Writer, producer, Co-host of The Spark File podcast 27:21 Vincent J. Cardinal- Chair of University of Michigan Musical Theatre DitchYourBackupPlan.com  

Making It: 2020 Guests Answer, "Have you made it?"

Guests from 2020 answer the question, “What was your biggest risk?” 1:07 Becca Kötte- Broadway actress and recording artist 1:40  Lauren Hirsh- Broadway child guardian 2:16 Clyde Voce- Actor 2:55 Sarah Schreiber-WWE backstage correspondent 3:36 Ross Evans- Screenwriter 4:44 Katie McClellan- TV, film, theatre & voiceover 5:34 Tim Murray- Actor, comedian 6:32 Mariand Torres- Broadway actress 7:12 Logan Jones- General manager, About Face Theatre, Chicago 7:48 Jenna Rubaii- Broadway actor 9:15 Alanna Saunders- Broadway actor 9:47 Anne Cofell Saunders- Television writer, executive producer 12:00 Lindsay Levine- Casting director 12:48 Carrie Compere- Actor 13:12 Joshua Henry- Artist and Performer 14:02 Josh Fiedler- Producer 14:22 Travis Cloer- Broadway actor, Las Vegas performer, recording artist 15:23 Nick Francone- Scenic designer for theatre, art director for television and film 16:02 Shaun J. Brown- Actor, writer and producer 16:37 Maya Lynne Robinson- Film, TV, stage actress, and writer/producer 17:02 Michael McElroy-Tony and Grammy nominated Broadway performer 17:53 Qui Nguyen-TV and film writer and playwright 18:23 Chantal Bilodeau- Playwright, founder of the Arctic Cycle organization 19:22 Bliss Griffin- Entertainment industry inclusion strategist 20:10 Kiki Rivera- Theatre artist and playwright 20:45 Jerry Jay Cranford- Director, choreographer, performer professor 21:15 Laura Camien- Writer, producer, Co-host of The Spark File podcast 21:51 Vincent J. Cardinal- Chair of University of Michigan Musical Theatre 22:35 Alisa Hurwitz- Psychologist, Dr. Drama DitchYourBackupPlan.com  

40. Risk: Guests of 2020 Share Their Biggest Risk

In the first episode of 2021, guests from 2020 answer the question, “Did you have a backup plan?” 2:00 Becca Kötte- Broadway actress and recording artist 2:22 David Valentine- Puppet builder at Jim Henson Co. 2:56  Lauren Hirsh- Broadway child guardian 3:22 Clyde Voce- Actor 3:58 Sarah Schreiber-WWE backstage correspondent 4:07 Ross Evans- Screenwriter 4:44 Katie McClellan- TV, film, theatre & voiceover 5:36 Tim Murray- Actor, comedian 6:25 Grace Douglas- Story producer, unscripted (reality) TV  7:25 Mariand Torres- Broadway actress 7:49 Logan Jones- General manager, About Face Theatre, Chicago 8:30 Jenna Rubaii- Broadway actor 9:21 Alanna Saunders- Broadway actor 10:09 Anne Cofell Saunders- Television writer, executive producer 10:55 Lindsay Levine- Casting director 11:21 Carrie Compere- Actor 11:42 Sara Andreas- Broadway Actor and Julie Fleischer- TV writer, script supervisor and Sara’s mom 12:29 Joshua Henry- Artist and Performer 13:02 Josh Fiedler- Producer 13:17 Travis Cloer- Broadway actor, Las Vegas performer, recording artist 14:00 Nick Francone- Scenic designer for theatre, art director for television and film 14:33 Theresa Squire- Broadway costume designer 14:47 Shaun J. Brown- Actor, writer and producer 15:13 Maya Lynne Robinson- Film, TV, stage actress, and writer/producer 15:37 Michael McElroy-Tony and Grammy nominated Broadway performer 15:54 Qui Nguyen-TV and film writer and playwright 16:18 Chantal Bilodeau- Playwright, founder of the Arctic Cycle organization 16:42 Bliss Griffin- Entertainment industry inclusion strategist 17:023 Kiki Rivera- Theatre artist and playwright 17:21 Jerry Jay Cranford- Director, choreographer, performer professor 17:50 Laura Camien- Writer, producer, Co-host of The Spark File podcast 18:18 Vincent J. Cardinal- Chair of University of Michigan Musical Theatre 18:33 Alisa Hurwitz- Psychologist, Dr. Drama DitchYourBackupPlan.com          

39. Guests of 2020 Answer the Backup Plan Question

Dr. Alisa Hurwitz is Dr. Drama! She gives away mental health advice for artists on her Mental Health Live Series on Instagram. In this episode, she discusses her consulting work for the stage, the importance of self care, boundaries and success, and the impact brain development has on the ability to process the challenges of an industry shut down. As a  psychologist who has a lifelong passion for musical theater, Dr. Hurwitz offers her clinical insight into the characters you know from the shows you love. On her website you will find articles on the mental health aspects of your favorite musicals, discussion of new works and access to mental health resources, as well as interviews with some of your favorites from Broadway. http://www.drdrama.com/ Join other fearless friends in the Ditch Your Backup Plan Facebook Community Group to learn more about each interview and to connect with Jen. Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

38. Give It Away to Keep It - Dr. Alisa Hurwitz

Jen shares how artists register risk differently and how protocols in theatre lead to a fearless community that is accepting of risk and supportive to adjustments.

37. Just Jen: Ditch Fear & Take Risks

Stories of rewarding careers between starving artist and celebrity. Longtime professor, Jen Vellenga interviews creatives in arts and entertainment careers to give listeners the courage to ditch their backup plan.

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Ditch Your Backup Plan

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