In the days after my graduation from CalArts, I remember feeling a familiar creeping onset of worry and fear - old worries and fears about what would happen next, how I would move towards my big goals, how impossible it seemed to build a career in theater and writing that paid a living wage.

Luckily, I have confronted these fears before. I faced them heading into undergrad, faced them heading into the National…

This weekend, a friend of mine asked what my favorite play was. I proceeded to rattle off three little known new works - two plays by CalArts playwrights and an off-Broadway play that ran 6 weeks in a 50 seat theater in NYC. My friend then followed up with, "what about more mainstream plays or musicals? Any current favorites?"



"Not…

Today is an exciting day.

Today marks the day that Tall Grande Venti, an improv troupe composed of Sarah, Casey, and I, begin our drive from Los Angeles, California to Soldotna, Alaska.

(Follow our adventure on Twitter, Facebook, and …

10 days ago, I graduated from my MFA acting program.

It was an exciting day filled with gravitas and appreciation for the serious and studious undertaking I had just completed.

...or maybe I walked across the stage to receive my diploma from CalArts in a Where the Wild Things Are wolf suit.

I'm a grown up with an advanced degree!

As…

I've discovered a little secret to doing great work:

TRY to do bad work.

When I first started writing, I would often obsess about each specific scene. I wanted to make sure everything was perfect. I wanted to make sure the story or the play I was working on was really great, that it was strong and interesting and would change the landscape of American theater... or at least that it would impress my playwriting 101 class.

When I was in…

In undergrad, I had a brilliant English professor for my advanced creative writing courses: TM McNally.

www.tmmcnally.com

My first impression of Professor McNally was him being over 40 minutes late, bursting in the room, looking about, and declaring in a short staccato: "Am I…

I realized the other day that I've become that guy.

That guy that you go to for computer help. You know, the "technology guy," the "computer guy." I'm that guy grandma calls when she can't figure out why the internets isn't working, that guy that classmates ask when their projectors don't hook up right in class, that guy the professor always calls up front when the speakers aren't playing the video's…

I'm in a good place.

I've had lots of exciting things happen for me this year. I'm about to graduate with my masters degree. I won a few accolades for my playwriting. I am working on some very exciting creative projects. I got to work for some really cool…

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

I just got back from a week at the Kennedy Center's American Colleges Theater Festival. It was my second year attending as an award recipient for playwriting, and it was an amazing week of workshops and meeting fantastic writers and other theater artists.

But that's not why I'm overwhelmed.

I…

This week, I have a smorgasbord of random thoughts and observations. None of them make up an entire blog, so I thought I'd toss them all into the mix. (This may or may not be how I tend to cook food... to varying degrees of success.)

Always Follow Up

I've gotten to meet some awesome people over the course of my career thus far. From playwrights, to actors, to designers, I've…

Yesterday I got to take part in a student film. It was a cute little short film; I played a small supporting role. While on set, I really admired how organized, well put together and timely the whole shoot was. There were several complicated shots outdoors, through and around traffic, and there was a scene with 10+ extras. The director and director of photography successfully wrangled everything and kept the shoot moving along.

The whole project was for a community college class…

Yesterday I got to take part in a student film. It was a cute little short film; I played a small supporting role. While on set, I really admired how organized, well put together and timely the whole shoot was. There were several complicated shots outdoors, through and around traffic, and there was a scene with 10+ extras. The director and director of photography successfully wrangled everything and kept the shoot moving along.

The whole project was for a community college class…

Across the nation, actors everywhere walked off stage, packed up their make up kits, took off their ridiculous costumes, and went home and back to their real jobs. In an unprecedented moment of clarity, these "artists" all realized that what they were doing was childish, unrealistic, and really just a waste of everyone's time and money, and that they were better served pursuing realistic careers and life plans.

"It just hit me," said Ryan Gosling, ex-actor. "I spent so many years…

Today, I am performing in my graduating showcase with CalArts in New York City.

Today, my graduating company and I will strut our stuff for agents, theaters, and industry folk.

And at the end of the day, some of us may have a dossier full of said agents and managers approaching us for interviews and conversations.

Some of us will also walk away empty handed.

Will I be disappointed if I get no meetings? A little, sure.

But I also know that an agent doesn't…

If you're an actor, you've probably heard endless variations of this note before:

Make a more specific choice.

Be more specific.

You're too general/vague/unclear; specify your action/motivation.

My favorite iteration of this comes from one of my Shakespeare teachers, Karina May:

"General acting is generally uninteresting."

Regardless if you're performing contemporary or…

J-Law and the Oscars

So I missed the Oscars last week.

I got swept up working on some writing thing or other, and honestly, I had never been super sucked into the whole movie star craze bananza in the past anyway. Plus, the day before the Oscars I totally got caught in in a bonus 2 hours of traffic thanks to all the closures around the Oscars, so maybe I was subliminally bitter as I neglected the awards show for my own work.

However,…

In performing improv, there is a key tenet: try to say Yes to everything. The concept is that by agreeing instead of denying, the scene can flow better and new information and experiences can be discovered.

As a theater artist, I have found that the ability to say yes is incredibly essential - in and outside of improv. Saying yes to new projects, new experiences, challenging and scary roles all enabled me to grow faster as an artist and person.

Saying yes can be hard. Saying…