The Prepared Performer Podcast

Sarah Michelle Brown Writer, Director, Virtual Video Director Sarah Michelle Brown's passion is for telling stories that reach out and give audiences a powerful experience. She is an award-winning artist who writes and directs for the stage, in music videos, documentaries and narrative films. Since studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in New York City, Sarah has primarily worked as an indie artist. Most recently, Sarah has turned her 15+ years experience in front of and behind the camera, into a method of training entrepreneurs how to make videos that shine. Sarah's Free Gift for You! http://www.videosthatshine.com/what-directors-want/ Sarah's Recommended DIY Video Gear http://www.videosthatshine.com/my-gear/ Click below to connect with Sarah on social media! Instagram Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google+

Trusting that you are enough is one of the hardest things an actor can do. Young actress, Tatiana Alvarez recently took a big leap, trusted herself when she was really tempted to try and do the same thing everyone else was doing, and it totally paid off.  In this episode learn how to make your best impact in an audition by... digging in and really discovering what YOU do best celebrating the specifics that cause you to truly shine dropping the need to compare yourself to other auditioners showing them what you can do, instead of showing them what you can't do and  being brave enough to know that your only job in an audition is to give them YOUR best and tell a story, you have no control over whether or not you book the gig. 

Marla Diann, an entrepreneur, visionary, and philanthropist for over two decades, brings her 20+ years of entertainment publicity, storytelling, and branding expertise with her love of human potential and entrepreneurship to her eight-year-old mentoring company.  She is passionate about mentoring creative entrepreneurs in a holistic approach to developing an integrated, trusted, and congruent personal brand as she coaches them how to build a leveraged business based on a healthy money relationship.  Together, she and her ambitious clients navigate a clear path to higher, more consistent revenues without compromising their health, well-being, dignity, family or values.  She intends for her clients to excel in their industry as the go-to-expert working less (more time for family, travel, passions) while earning more.  Marla is a certified Money Breakthrough Method ™ coach who inspires women and men to transform their relationship with money helping them break free of unconscious limiting money habits, gain control of their money behaviors and build a stronger self-worth and higher income. www.marladiann.com  Free Gift: www.5essentialstrategies.com  In her 10 page comprehensive report, Marla takes the entrepreneur through her innovative personal development style business model of 5 essential strategies. The system helps transform the entrepreneur's money relationship, mindset, branding strategy, and profitability for sustained growth. 

Ellen's credits include: Broadway: "Cry Baby," "Enron," "Priscilla Queen of the Desert," and "Kinky Boots," as well as lots of fun projects along the way: Regional theater all of the country, theme parks, cruise ships. Most recent tick off the bucket list: voicing a troll for the sleeper hit "Frozen". Voice and acting students have started on Broadway and national tours of "Annie," "Lion King," "Matilda," "Fun Home," "Les Miserables," "Mary Poppins," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," "The King and I," "Kinky Boots," and "Beauty and the Beast." Follow her on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ellynmarsh

Shelly is a Speaker, Coach, and the Best Selling Author of “Heartbeat to Happiness: Eight Principles of Living a Happy Life.” Shelly is passionate about helping others so that they can live their true passionate lives and indeed obtain whatever their heart desires. You can learn more about Shelly at: http://www.shellycady.com

Montaja Simmons is a proud native of Pittsburgh, PA; she obtained a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Musical Theater from Youngstown State University. In the second semester of her senior year in college, she became an office union member receiving her Actors Equity Association Card. Now back in her home town of Pittsburgh, Pa she continues to pursue her acting career, while trying her hand at film work, commercials, voice over work and even Disney Princess Impersonating.  You can catch Montaja in her most recent Commercial work with Giant Eagle's grocery store. Montaja Believes everything creative, artistic and inspiring is worth perusing and in the near future her very own business to help sharpen the excellence of performers of all types will be in full swing.

Hey Prepared Performers! Shauna is an awesome financial expert! Pay attention to learn how to become a paid performer! Shauna Gingras, PMP® CMC® With a background in Business and Technology Shauna has worked with companies ranging from Startups to Fortune 500, creating process and delivery strategies to increase revenue and market engagement.   Developing the strategy and leading execution with teams co-located in Canada, the US and EU to implement best in class solutions Shauna has been fortunate to contribute to the teams that brought bleeding and leading edge solutions to market in Government, Banking, Insurance, Oil & Gas and Hospitality.   Combining the tools and strategies leveraged by successful corporations allows Shauna to share her experience and empower Small Business and Entrepreneurs to Plan, Perform and Profit!     Shauna Gingras| SRP Consulting

Sean Hankinson, the voice of Ken on Barbie's Dream House, and superstar friend the Prepared Performer joins us and share's all his secrets to booking work as a voice over actor!  A proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA, Sean has been working professionally as an actor for 20 years. During that span Sean has worked on feature film, primetime and daytime tv, off-broadway and regional theatres, commercials, voiceover, modeling, industrials, etc.  Most notably, Sean is currently the voice of America's favorite boyfriend “Ken” for Netflix/Nickelodeon hit show, "Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse".  Sean is featured in Casting Director Bonnie Gillespie's "Self-Management for Actors" book as a contributing artist in the "Series Regular" category for his work as “Ben Simmons” for 3 seasons on the CW's Emmy-nominated Internet series, Prom Queen. In addition to acting, Sean has career coached actor for the last 7 years in LA and NYC as well as internationally in 5 sold-out "Business of Acting in America" workshops.  To continue spreading the tidbits he has collected, Sean will soon release a series online "CoachSean". More on Sean can be found at www.aboutsean.com If you are looking to work in this field, he is AMAZING! Go message him Pronto!  Yahoo! Molly For more on making money as a performer join us as we cure the Starving Actor Syndrome in a free live course! www.StarvingArtistSyndrome.com 

Millennial Money Expert and Actor, Stefanie O'Connell shares how you can leverage your creative talents to make more money.  Stefanie O'Connell is a financial expert, Gen Y advocate, speaker and author of The Broke and Beautiful Life. She's also an equity actress whose past work includes How the Grinch Stole Christmas at Madison Square Garden and the international tour of the musical Cinderella starring Lea Salonga. A broke actress with big dreams, Stefanie stumbled upon personal finance out of necessity, using money as a tool to empower herself and build a life on her terms.  Stefanie has been featured on Forbes, Business Insider, The Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, ABC World News and various other media platforms. She also works with universities, leading financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies, sharing her fresh and timely advice withe their audiences. http://thebrokeandbeautifullife.com/https://twitter.com/stefanieoconnelhttps://instagram.com/stefanieoconnell/https://www.pinterest.com/stefanieoconnel/https://www.facebook.com/thebrokeandbeautifullife

You guys... have you ever ended up with a STACK of old resumes that you don't know what to do with!? Ever wondered why we use such giant photos? Jen Brooks, from The Green Actor has your solution! Watch! http://www.thegreenactor.com/ https://www.facebook.com/TheGreenActor https://twitter.com/greenactors And - for more on Jen Brooks and her ability to belt a high Q - go here! http://www.thejenbrooks.com/ AND - I GOT A NEW MIC YA'LL! The quality in these videos will be improving soon! Get Confidence Tips now at - www.ThePreparedPerformer.com/confidencetoday

Molly Tynes (Pippin on Bway and LOADS of regional work) joins us for a talk all about the pros and cons of joining the Actors Equity Association. 

Today we have brilliant performer and Certified Empowerment Coach, Nikol Peterman. In this episode Nikol shares so much goodness! Including...  What to do in the face of constant rejection How a good audition equals a full bank account How to stop competition and comparison from sabotaging your performance How to Rock every performance and audition. Nikol has been kind enough to offer us a FREE VIDEO SERIES! So amazing of her!  FREE GIFT Creative Vision Into Action (Bold and make hyperlink) Get Unstuck in your Performance and Career! More about Nikol Peterman -  Nikol Peterman, CPC, is a Certified Empowerment Coach who works with leading creatives who struggle to attract their ideal audience, fill their performances and see themselves as valuable.  She empowers artists to be free and prosperous through community efforts, strategic action plans, meditation, yoga, visualization, writing, and other body-mind modalities.  She coaches them to create free of stress in their projects, and feel confident and secure in their creative expression. She specializes in skills for overcoming fear and the constant roller coaster of rejection and short-lived elation. Nikol views the client as a whole person, taking all aspects into account, and ultimately empowering the client to create from a place of authenticity and joy, instilling a wealthy mindset and ability to take inspired action. The creative becomes seen and celebrated! Nikol is a professional actress, choreographer, and writer living in NYC.  Her work spans across film, commercials, musical theatre, and print modeling.  She loves working with children, and has choreographed for all ages and levels.  She teaches local workshops on Authentic Performing and Auditioning, and hosts VIP days for those who are looking to intensify their drive and create a one-on-one action plan. And, once again here's that free video series from Nicole!  FREE GIFT Creative Vision Into Action (Bold and make hyperlink) Get Unstuck in your Performance and Career!

More about Andrew here - www.AndrewMByrne.comFind new material with his awesome Rep Lists - http://www.andrewmbyrne.com/repertoire-lists/Learn from THE BEST in his masterclass in SoCal on October 24th - www.ThePreparedPerformer.com/masterclass Here's his top tips for the Perfect Audition Song. P. is for Playable: Is this song too musically hard for a pianist who has never seen it before?Are there excessive tempo/meter/key changes?Is the copy I'm using legible?Are the chords or the bottom piano staffs cut off/not visible on the copy I'm using? Is the musical information crystal-clear on the page (i.e. are my cuts marked correctly)? E. is for Effective: Does this song have musical impact? (btw, musical impact doesn't necessarily mean loud)Is there a clear storytelling arc?Is the musical climax well-defined and does it occur at the right point in my cut?Am I showing vocal range (pitch, dynamics, texture)?Am I showing range as an actor (physicality, intention, communication)? R. is for Relatable: Does the text of this song make sense out of context?Is there a universal theme being explored?Does this song correlate with the kinds of characters I want to play?Is this song too sad/angry/depressed to allow those in the room to connect with me?Is there a tangible action that the character who sings this song is taking? F. is for Flexible:  Can I imagine playing the lyric of this song from many perspectives?Is this song's story too specific to be spun a different way?If a director asked me to play this song in different circumstances, would that be doable?Could I start at different points in the song with it still making sense?Can I think of more than one role for which this song would be a good audition choice? E. is for Easy (for you:) Does this song show off something I do well?Do I feel like I could roll out of bed at 6AM and sing this song?Does this song feel like it “fits” me?Does my face feel relaxed when I sing this song?When I take a video of myself singing this piece, do I make it look easy? C. is for Connected: Is this song a story that I look forward to telling?Do I feel an emotional pull toward this lyric?When I listen to the music of this song without the text, do I still feel an emotional connection?Do I understand the character who is singing this song?Do I love this song? T. is for Tailored: Do I know this entire piece, so I can make informed decisions about edits?Is my audition version the right length?Is it in the right key?Have I made the cuts that allow me to tell the story in the best way for me?Do I need to make any slight lyric or music changes to feel more comfortable?

Anthony Boyer, agent with Stage 9/DDO, is back! So often, as performers, we spend so much time trying to book work that we don't know how to properly manage our career after we actually get that job! Anthony has great advice in this podcast, jump in!

Anthony Boyer, Agent from Stage 9/DDO is here to kick off our Podcast for Prepared Performers! Join us to get his best advice for booking work as a performer. Whether you want to work in Theater or on Camera, this is for you!

Molly Mahoney is a vocal, performance, and business coach who loves helping her students to succeed and build performance careers! Her website, www.ThePreparedPerformer.com is chocked full of advice for performers. She's now bringing in special guests, professionals from on the stage, behind the scenes and beyond to make sure you really have all the info need to be a truly Prepared Performer.  In this episode she'll give you some of her best tips for rocking your next audition and let you know what to expect on future episodes. And be sure to download her 5 Ways to Boost Your Confidence Today! at www.ThePreparedPerformer.com/confidencetoday