There was a study that came out the year before the pandemic called “Quantifying and Predicting Success in Show Business.” It starts off by saying that the unemployment rate for actors hovers around 90% —now, this was before Covid, when unemployment shot up to 100% for all actors. More recent statistics , however, show us bouncing back with about 85% of actors unemployed at any given time, while only 12.08% earn more than $1000 a year. Now, any actor who’s been around for a while has probably he...
Apr 10, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Recently, I went googling for articles about downsizing and simplifying my life, and I found this one called Simple Living Manifesto , which sounded great. But then the title of the blog post was “72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life“ — who has time for 72 ideas?? That doesn’t sound simple to me, but in all fairness, the writer did give a short list before going into that very long list of ideas. And on the shortlist, they were only two steps: 1) identify what’s most important to you and 2) eliminate ...
Mar 27, 2023•1 hr•Season 7Ep. 6
Music director Julianne Merrill and broadcast technology director Jessica Ryan join the podcast for Women's History Month, to talk about Maestra and their annual Amplify concert. Maestra was founded by composer Georgia Stitt (who has been on this podcast before ), and Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin (also a former guest ) hosts the third annual evening of music by Maestras like Cyndi Lauper, Debra Monk, Brenda Russell, and Lucy Simon. Their music performed by some of Broadway’s brightest stars, ...
Mar 20, 2023•55 min•Season 7Ep. 5
As collaborative as theater can be, there are sometimes when the creative process can be more like herding cats—with no clear direction as everyone tries to get on the same page…hopefully. And that’s Broadway or community theater, a web series or major motion picture. I’ve certainly been in shows that started off a bit chaotic but got better as the cast and creative team could unify around a singular vision for the show. But today’s guest has a few stories about the various ways shows come toget...
Mar 13, 2023•52 min•Season 7Ep. 4
One of the important aspects of Black History Month is that it’s not just about what happened 50, 100, 200 years ago. It’s also about the present, the world around us and what’s happening now to bring greater representation and celebration of African-American accomplishments and contributions. Of course, we should recognize and respect what has come before us. Black history is an integral part of American history and culture. But it’s also important to recognize the lives and experiences of thos...
Feb 27, 2023•56 min•Season 7Ep. 3
One essential ingredient to any actors career is experience. It allows us to develop our craft and hone our skills over time. With each performance, we refine techniques, learn from mistakes, and develop greater emotional and psychological depth in our performances. But this growth in credibility and authenticity in acting comes as much from our offstage lives as it does from our onstage experiences. And today’s guest shares both personal and professional challenges that have shaped her not only...
Feb 13, 2023•58 min•Season 7Ep. 2
One of the joys that can come from being an actor, besides getting to perform on stage and feeling the energy of a live audience, is that of working and collaborating with other wonderful actors onstage as well as building friendships off stage. Throughout the past six seasons, I’ve had the pleasure of bringing on some of these wonderful castmates, and not only share their stories, but get to learn a little more about them as well. This past year I was cast in my second production of 42nd Street...
Jan 30, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Welcome to Season Seven of Why I’ll Never Make It, an award-winning theater podcast. After a few weeks off, I’m so excited to be back for another year of great guests and wonderful discussions. Some of these artists are just getting started in the business, while others are Tony-nominated actors and directors. I’m your host and producer, Patrick Oliver Jones, an actor and singer living in New York City with more than 30 years of experience. This season I’ll be talking with guests every other wee...
Jan 23, 2023•3 min
As we start off this new year, I’m continuing where we left off last week with Brooke McNamara by talking with another psychologist, Alisa Hurwitz . In this episode from 2020, we dive into why mindset is so important and how we as actors can better handle rejection and the challenges we face in this business. Each of us has an inner voice that can be very loud and persuasive. Hopefully, it’s pushing us to do better and reminding us of all we can accomplish, but sometimes it leads us to believe t...
Jan 16, 2023•46 min•Season 6Ep. 48
Happy New Year! Thank you for listening to Why I’ll Never Make It! The next season is just a few weeks away and I wanted to start off the year by going back to conversations I had to with two psychologists in 2020. I think their insights are a good reminder for us as we continue to grow and better ourselves as artists. In this episode you’ll hear from Brooke MacNamara, Ph.D . We talk about the amount of training, coaching, and practice it takes to continually hone our craft as performers. One of...
Jan 10, 2023•58 min•Season 6Ep. 47
Happy birthday and thank you for joining me as Why I’ll Never Make It turns 5 years old today! It was on December 28, 2017 that this theater podcast began from very humble beginnings and has slowly gained attention and even some accolades in the past five years of talking with actors and creative professionals. There’s a certain kind of magic in the art of theatre, as the Tony award-winning actor Brian Stokes Mitchell once said, ”It has the power to transform an audience, an individual, or en ma...
Dec 28, 2022•34 min•Season 6Ep. 46
Back in October of this year we lost a beloved star of the stage and screen, Angela Lansbury. Her performing career spanned 80 years in which she received six Tony Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and one Laurence Olivier Award. Despite her years in television and movies (her last film role was Glass Onion in 2022), theater was always her first love, having appeared in 14 Broadway productions and four national tours. As you’ll hear in this special episode (with a big help from fellow podcaster D...
Dec 21, 2022•20 min•Season 6Ep. 45
Back in September of this year, news came out that both shook and shocked the Broadway theater world: Phantom of the Opera will be closing and have its final performance in February 2023. After 35 years, the longest running Broadway show in history, this iconic show was going to be leaving the Majestic Theater for good. That closing date has since been updated to April 16th, no doubt due to the increase in ticket sales after that initial closing announcement, nonetheless the end of an era is nea...
Dec 12, 2022•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 44
During the past 30 years there’s been a growing list of pop and rock musicians trying their hand at musical theater. And they range in style and scope from artists like Cindy Lauper, Dolly Parton, and Elton John to rock bands like The Who, Green Day, and The Go-Go’s. Well, today’s guest has been venturing into musical theater and is from a band you may not have heard of, but their name is certainly one you’re not likely to forget: The Slants. Simon Tam , founder and bassist of the all-Asian rock...
Dec 05, 2022•54 min•Season 6Ep. 43
Do you want to be famous or do you want to be an actor? Very few truly achieve both. For most of us it’s a choice, and the direction we choose impacts the roles and opportunities that we pursue going forward. Today’s guest has been presented with both during his career and came to discover which one mattered more to him. Bettering Ourselves, Bettering Our Careers (Part 3) In the early 2000s, Ben Curtis was training to be a serious actor at NYU, but one commercial audition for Dell computers comp...
Nov 28, 2022•52 min•Season 6Ep. 42
One of the greatest obstacles to becoming a better performer is thinking you aren’t good enough, that the dreams and aspirations you have for yourself are just too far out of reach and beyond your capability. So in today’s episode we explore that feeling with someone who knows all too well the crippling effect of self-doubt and self-criticism. Elaine Romanelli is a singer, songwriter, and actress who has performed off Broadway and on radio as well as hosted an improvised streaming show and relea...
Nov 21, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 6Ep. 41
Jules Helm chats about how to focus on self-care and personal growth by using movement and acting techniques to bring both our mind and body into alignment. He will be sharing his own journey of self discovery as he learned to better love himself and be more comfortable with others, keeping performance onstage rather than having it mask the rest of his life as well. We will also get into the various techniques he teaches to bring actors into a more authentic presentation of themselves as well as...
Nov 14, 2022•58 min•Season 6Ep. 40
Back in 2008, I made the move to New York City to finally pursue my acting career here. And after a couple of years of doing regional work, though, I was looking for more opportunities that could keep me in the city. So I went to the Actors Fund (now called the more generic Entertainment Community Fund and featured on previous episodes ), and at that time they offered assistance to actors looking to beef up their non-performing resume. I talked with someone about places I’d work at in the past, ...
Nov 07, 2022•49 min•Season 6Ep. 39
Joe DiPietro is certainly no stranger to theater and has been writing for the stage since 1991. His musicals and plays have received multiple awards and nominations on and off-Broadway, including Memphis starring Montego Glover and All Shook Up with Cheyenne Jackson. He talks about these two talented performers and shares his affection for Only Make Believe , a non-profit theater company that has been creating and performing live in-person and virtual interactive theater for children in hospital...
Oct 31, 2022•54 min•Season 6Ep. 38
The art of theater is really just storytelling, and the stories that are told from region to region often come from within those communities and offer a shared experience on the stage. Broadway illustrates this with musicals like In the Heights , Allegiance , and The Color Purple —even shows like Noises Off and 42nd Street provide a backstage glimpse of the theater community. Well, today’s guest is here to share her stories as a Native American, and the specific experiences that have helped her ...
Oct 24, 2022•52 min•Season 6Ep. 37
The life of an actor is often a cross between a seesaw and a rollercoaster. Sometimes it’s as simple as an up or down choice between opportunities and trying to find the balance between life and work. Other times we are just along for the ride, going in directions we can’t control. Today’s guest reminds us how unpredictable that rollercoaster be and the difficulty in finding balance. Ricky Schroeder has been dancing since he was 3 years old and has gone on to do a variety of projects from musica...
Oct 17, 2022•51 min•Season 6Ep. 36
For only the second time in my career, I’m doing back to back shows at the same theater. First there was Anne of Green Gables this past summer and now there’s 42nd Street here at the Goodspeed Opera House. It’s a show I’ve did a few years back and in the same role as too, only this time there’s a lead producer who’s working to bring this production (and hopefully its cast) to Broadway. It has Carina-Kay Louchiey as the young starlet Peggy Sawyer and Max von Essen as the hard-nosed director Julia...
Oct 10, 2022•50 min•Season 6Ep. 35
Sometime before the pandemic, I auditioned for a small off-Broadway production of the Lerner and Loewe musical The Day Before Spring . It was at the York Theater, which is known for refreshing older musicals that have had a shorter shelf-life. I wasn’t cast in that particular production, and like most failed auditions I put it out of my mind as soon as it was done, but I never was able to forget the director behind the table, and so I finally reached out to bring him onto the podcast. Marc Acito...
Sep 26, 2022•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 34
Steve Harper is an actor, writer, and producer of the stage and screen. He shares his actor’s nightmare in a Shakespeare production in Cincinnati, but we also discuss the pivotal time when he found himself lacking a plentiful array of shows and roles he could connect with, so he began writing and producing theater, which in turn led him into television and writing for superheroes like Stargirl. He shares how through that process, he became aware of the nuances between the collaborative process o...
Sep 19, 2022•54 min•Season 6Ep. 33
As noted in the previous episode, auditions are the backbone of this industry, but there is an important gatekeeper when it comes to submitting our self tapes or actually getting in the audition room: The Casting Director. You’ve heard from actors and their experiences in front of the proverbial table, but now it’s time to hear from the other side of that room and learn what goes in to casting and the vital role casting directors play in the production for the stage or screen. Daryl Eisenberg , ...
Sep 12, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 6Ep. 32
As much as we actors wish it wasn’t so, auditioning really is our job. Performing it’s just an added perk, if we do that job really well. That being said though, there are times when we mail an audition and simply couldn’t have done any better, yet we still don’t book the part. Such is the life and labor of an actor. Welcome to the annual episode of Audition Stories…the good, the bad, and the hysterical. And today you’ll be getting a sampling of the bonus episodes available to monthly supporters...
Sep 05, 2022•50 min•Season 6Ep. 31
Barton Cowperthwaite is a dancer first and foremost, with performances ranging from the opera La Traviata to Travis Wall’s Shaping Sound dance tour. The esteemed choreographer Lar Lubovitch describes Barton as a “movement poet” and credits him with having what he calls musical visualization. “Rather than hearing the music, this kind of dancer has the impression of being the music." This connection to music is evident in Barton's experience singing the music in productions at City Center Encores ...
Aug 29, 2022•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 30
Back in the summer of 2020, there was a new Netflix docuseries everyone was talking about, a little show called Tiger King . Well, in the midst of all that I sat down with composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa . He talked about a few of his bigger profile shows like The Addams Family , Big Fish , and of course The Wild Party, as well as a Tiger King parody he did with Kristin Chenoweth. We discuss the years of writing and rewriting he's put into his various shows as well as the challenges and big b...
Aug 22, 2022•54 min•Season 6Ep. 29
In the previous episode, I spoke with a musical writing team about their process of writing a full show for the stage with a cast and creative team bringing their story to life, but in today’s episode I’m speaking with a singular artist about her one-woman show and the long journey it took to go from thoughts and ideas in her head to an actual production and a dramatic podcast as well. Gina Harris has performed in theaters and jazz clubs in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She’s a veter...
Aug 15, 2022•53 min•Season 6Ep. 28
In the last episode , I spoke with composer Matt Vinson and writer Matte O'Brien about their new musical Anne of Green Gables . It was the first time I’ve spoken with a musical writing team here on Why I’ll Never Make It, and so for the two of them I thought I would bring back a bonus episode I haven’t done in a while: The Final Five. After that main interview they answered five final questions about what “making it” means to them, lessons they’ve learned both as individuals and as a writing tea...
Aug 08, 2022•24 min•Season 6Ep. 27
