Studio Time

As a theatre artist,  Billy contributes to the theatre community as a performer and as a creative. He has performed in The King and I at Lincoln Center, Here Lies Love for the Public Theater, on Broadway in Miss Saigon and will appear this season in a new David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori musical called Soft Power.

Billy also creates and captures images as a photographer through his business Billy B Photography and teaches at the Jen Waldman Studio.

In our conversation we talk about being an artist first, colour conscious casting, discovering how you can best be of service to a project that you believe in and leading with purpose.

Find and follow Billy online:
billybustamante.com | billybphotography.com | instagram

Bradley has performed his show "The Fastest Piano in the West" around the world as a headline cruise ship act, his musical "Becoming Bill" will have a brand new production at Brisbane's Powerhouse Arts this August, and he is about to launch the first season of his podcast "Making Musicals" which he recorded in a very intense ten day trip to New York.

Bradley and I talk about how the belief and encouragement of just one person can alter the trajectory of your career, we talk about the true value of prizes and awards, and how to choose projects that allow you develop specific skills that will then benefit your work globally.

In this episode:

• understanding who is your bio for and what should it communicate to them
• how the power of one person believing in the work you do and what you might create can alter the trajectory of your career
• how to find the resilience to keep developing a project over many years and iterations until it finds its feet
• how to recognise the signposts along your journey that direct you to keep going
• the real value of prizes and awards
• how to find projects that will give you the opportunity to develop specific skills that you can apply globally to the work you do
• the value of having a collaborator who will push you to do better work and help you find
• what having a predefined constraint can do for your creative process

You can subscribe to the Making Musicals Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

If you enjoyed this episode, you might like to listen to Episode #09 with Eddie Perfect

Upside.fm is a podcast that looks at whether it’s possible to build a start up outside of Silicon Valley

Book tickets for Becoming Bill - playing at Brisbane Powerhouse Arts Aug 14-25, 2019

Find Bradley online:

website | instagram | facebook 

Lyndy's experiences on the road and then on Broadway in The Little Mermaid and the 2006 Revival of A Chorus Line inspired her to collaborate with Austin Eyers to write a book that would celebrate the unsung heroes of theatre - the 'swings'. These are the performers who are ready to step into almost any role as required when another actor is unwell or injured, always without fanfare and often without recognition. Broadway Swings also serves to prepare first time swings for the roller coaster ahead of them and acknowledges their unique place within the performing company.

With her husband Jeromy, Lyndy left New York City and returned to her hometown of Lexington, Kentucky where the grass is not only greener...there actually is grass. Her career expanded to include direction, choreography and teaching and Lyndy was invited to work on productions at Universities and Regional Theatres.

In 2015 Lyndy and Jeromy launched the Lexington Theatre Company, which presents a season of music theatre each summer. They match together today's Broadway stars with tomorrow's Broadway hopefuls to bring wonderful theatre talent to the Lexington community and provide quality training and a pathway towards a professional career for aspiring artists.

Notes and links from this episode:

• what Lyndy learned going into her first long running show
• surviving your first year as an aspiring performer in NYC
• the importance of holding loosely to your goals while letting each experience lead you to the next and being open to discovering opportunities that may surprise you along the way
• the long and heart-wrenching audition process that led to Lyndy making her Broadway debut in the 2006 Revival of A Chorus Line
• listeners in the US can watch Every Little Step on Amazon Prime (not available to view in Australia)
• in Knock Down the House AOC says “for every ten rejections you get one acceptance, and that’s how you win everything” 
• the process of keeping an audition log to track when you book the job and when you get cut (and why)
• being prepared for disappointment can help you deal with the bumps in the road you will inevitably face
• the way you decide what jobs you’ll audition for may change based on what stage you are in your career and other life factors you need to consider
• the importance of making sure you’re aligned with what the project is going to be and making sure that it’s going to support the type of life you want to live
• why Lyndy and Austin Eyer decided to write Broadway Swings as a tribute to and resource for those performers who work as swings in theatre shows
• how teaching programs can help young performers train their “swing brain” and gain an understanding of what is required of a swing
• what Lyndy loves about Broadway and theatre and what she would love to change
• why Lyndy and her husband Jeromy Smith decided to form the Lexington Theatre Company to bring music theatre to that part of the world and provide training opportunities for the next generation of performers
• thinking about feedback from a position of service and always keeping empathy in mind
• the importance of having an appreciation for all the people and departments that are contributing to making your show or project the best that it can be
• once you’ve reached your goal or fulfilled your dream, how do you think about what’s next?
• the value of a great mentor - how Wayne Bryan from Music Theatre Witchita helped Lyndy and Jeromy get the Lexington Theatre Company off the ground, bringing them back full circle to Kentucky

You may also like to listen to the previous episodes of Studio Time that we referenced:

Listen to Jen Waldman, visit her website and discover her podcast with Peter Shepherd The Long and the Short of It

Listen to a fellow Oklahoma City University alumni Drew Wutke
SYTYCD Choreographer Al Blackstone tells the story of his audition journey to book a job on Wicked in this episode

Follow:

Lexington Theatre Company website | instagram | facebook

Read Broadway Swings

In both her consulting practice and through her work at institutions such as the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory and Indiana University, Angela has helped musicians at all levels overcome obstacles, book more performances and build the lives they desire.

Her book Beyond Talent is full of advice, examples and practical tools to advance a career in music.

Notes and Links from this episode:

• Why Angela decided to compile the answers to the questions she was most commonly asked by musicians and turn them into a this book
• What initially being turned down by a number of publishers (before signing with Oxford University Press) taught her about rejection
• Adam Grant's Work Life Podcast episode "Bouncing Back from Rejection"
• The Tools and Coming Alive by Barry Michels and Phil Stutz
• Read more about Resistance in Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art
• What happens when you get the exact thing you wanted and worked towards, only to discover it's not what you thought it was going to be?
• When is the right time to begin thinking about and planning how you might build your career?
• Answering the artist's eternal dilemma "How do I describe myself?"
• Try this exercise before taking your next promotional or headshot photos
• Check out an example of great photography on Joshua Roman's website
• Why getting clarity about how you want to market yourself and your work creates a better connection with your audience and better performances
• Where music schools might be failing their students
• Why the selling part of "selling out" isn't the problem. It's when you discover you've fallen out of integrity with why you became an artist that you need a reset to get back on track.
• Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanney
• Angela's book Beyond Talent - Creating a Successful Career in Music

Follow:

Angela Beeching's website | Blog | Musicians Making It facebook group

Born in the hills of Arkansas, Dobbs has performed all over the world and currently resides in Melbourne, Australia.

He recently wrote “So You Want to be a Musician…unsolicited advice for aspiring musicians” a book filled with invaluable lessons and professional insights from a life devoted to the art of making music.

Dobbs earned a masters degree from Julliard, and has enjoyed a career spanning six decades conducting symphony, opera, ballet, music theatre and chamber ensembles. He has trained and encouraged young performers throughout his career. 

In this conversation we talk about some of the themes from his book, learn how rather than him discovering his niche as a musician, the niche found him - and Dobb’s shares some wonderful anecdotes about the people and situations that have made up his career.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Leon Barzin - Dobb’s conducting teacher for two years. In this clip you can see him conducting and hear about his work with the National Orchestral Association
• Berlioz Requiem
• Stravinsky Agon 
• Kathleen Ferrier - English contralto
• Patrice Munsel - American coloratura soprano
• Photo of Bubbles - the original Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess. Here he is tapping in the 1937 film Varsity Show.
• The Sydney Morning Herald remembered Ruth Pearl (Franks) here in 2008 and on this New Zealand site

Conductors referenced in this conversation include:

• Claudio Abbado (conducting Mahler 3 with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra)
• Dimitri Mitropoulos
• Leonard Bernstein
• Pierre Monteux
• George Szell
• Bernard Haitink
• William Steinberg

Follow:

You can learn more about Dobbs and purchase “So, You Want to be a Musician” at dobbsfranks.com

Though the lens of a system she knows very well, Health Care, Mary is teaching people about compassion. How to offer compassion to the people around you, the people you seek to serve and to yourself. 

She was the engine behind the social movement Change Day Australia which reached 146 000 people who all pledged to do one thing that could make a difference for the people they worked with. Whilst Mary works with more health care professionals than artists, she can teach us how making intentional small changes in how we approach our work can produce really big results.

Notes and links from this conversation:

• TedX Talk: Three Elements for the Alchemy of Change
• Amanda Palmer: The Art of Asking - book and TED talk
• Compassion Revolution Conference and Reel Feels Film Festival
• America - the story of a 93yo Mexican woman and her grandsons: trailer and  review 
• Morning Pages is a practise introduced by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way

Follow:

Freer Thinking website | Join the Revolution at Compassion Revolution | Mary’s TedX Talk

If Richard’s name sounds familiar it’s because he is the first child of the actor and comedian whose name he bears. Richard Jr’s story of how he grew up amidst many of the same challenges that haunted his father - including abuse, an absent parent, alcohol and drug addictions - and yet somehow survived, is a tale that will inspire and give you hope that you can overcome just about anything.

In a Pryor Life is an incredible book - Richard introduces readers to the larger than life characters who populated his life in Peoria where he grew up with his mum, and the well known names he rubbed shoulders with when visiting his father in Los Angeles. 

As an author he’s not afraid to lay himself bare, and the stories and anecdotes that Richard shares are honest, sometimes shocking and other times very funny. I thoroughly recommend the book as a fascinating read.

In this episode we touch on some of the stories from his early years and how they were influenced and shaped by his colourful family. We learn how he began to establish his own identity as a young adult, and how learning to love and accept himself on his own merits allowed him to push beyond his self destructive behaviour and live life on his own terms.

Links from this episode:

• Richard’s father - Richard Pryor
• Stirred Crazy
• In a Pryor Life website - find out more about Richard Pryor Jr, other interviews and articles and purchase your own copy

Follow Richard Pryor Jr:
twitter | instagram | facebook

What did you think of this episode? Send me an email [email protected]

How To Date a Narcissist is available to watch on YouTube from March 5 at youtube.com/swearycanary You’ll find a link in the show notes of this episode.

In this conversation Kristy explains how she came to leverage her hard earned experience in the world of dating into the concept and script for her first web series. She explains how quickly the writing and filming was done and then how she raised the funds and support to invest in proper post production and a well planned marketing roll out.

We talk about the show’s preview screening and how the feedback she received from women differed from the feedback she received from some men and we dig into stereotypes and gender expectations, especially in comedy.

Show notes and links:

• Deadhouse Films is a passionate group of filmmakers led by industry innovator Enzo Tedeschi
• Noam Dromi and Legion of Creatives
• Shane Abbess
• Drew Wutke on Studio Time Ep #19
• Kirsty Stark on Studio Time Ep #22
• Fiery Hawk comedy sketch about the audition process
• Something Fishy a twisted little film by Kristy Best
• How to Know if You’re Dating a Narcissist 

Follow:
instagram | facebook | twitter | linkedin

In this conversation we track Kirsty’s journey from university, through her time in the camera department on film sets, to her realisation that she could have more influence on the stories that were being told on film by taking on the role of producer. 

Just some of those stories include a post apocalyptic adventure series, a comedy series about an uber driver on the autism spectrum who’s looking for love and a transgender student’s first day at high school.

Kirsty describes how she has reverse engineered her way through what may have otherwise been insurmountable obstacles to get her projects made and why she chooses to keep her company in South Australia when others might move to Australia’s eastern states or even further afield.

In this episode:

• My Neighbor Totoro - trailer and wikipedia entry
• The Babysitter’s Club
• Epic Films
• Wastelander Panda - ABC iview Australia | Watch on YouTube
• Ella Macintyre joined the Wastelander Panda team as Social Media and Impact Producer to help leverage the initial attention the prologue was receiving on YouTube.
• Studio Time Ep 06 Liz Bojanic — Superpop and the Band Invented By Its Fans
• Pozible - Crowdfunding for Creative, Community and Passion Projects
• Kirsty describes the strategy Epic Films used to increase the goal amount they sought through crowdfunding while minimising any risk that they’d miss their target and end up with nothing 
• The Wastelander Panda team devised their first three episodes to achieve specific goals (crowd pleaser, showcase of director’s skills and painting a picture of the greater WP story world) designed as answers to the questions they knew they’d be asked before other partners would come on board to make future episodes
• Kirsty’s Tips for First Time SXSW Attendees
• Kirsty explains how she will ‘reverse engineer’ a process, by starting at a desired end point and then working her way backwards, asking questions about what will happen at each stage of the process
• Madman Production Company
• Mentors: Sophie Hyde and Rebecca Summerton from Closer Productions
• the power of thinking about why people might say no and countering their objections ahead of time…actually transforming the objection into the compass that shows us what we need to do to move towards our goal
• ask what is behind the criteria you are being asked to meet, and look how you can address this with the resources you have (or have access to)
• Goober - ABC iview Australia
• Studio Time Ep 04 Jen Waldman — Discovering My WHY Changed Everything
• Jen Waldman & Peter Shephen discuss Content Dictates Form on their podcast The Long and the Short Of It
• Goober’s writer Ben Crisp
• Creating the story world and bible for Wastelander Panda
• First Day - ABC iview Australia, watch this wonderful interview with actress Evie MacDonald
• Julie Kalceff - First Day’s writer and director
• Prix Jeunesse - Internation Children’s Television Festival
• Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman
• Why I (Kirsty) Still Live and Work in Adelaide
• Matchbox Pictures

Follow:

Epic Films

Email Studio Time: [email protected]

With radio plays already under her belt, Xira's latest milestone is having Sleep Talker added to Spotify’s Pop Edge playlist alongside songs by some of her favourite artists.

In this conversation we talk about how Xira released her first single only 18 months after she began songwriting, how important it is to get over yourself and share your ideas sooner rather than later, the benefit of surrounding yourself with the right team and how embracing something brand new and having the courage to start as a beginner again kickstarted her songwriting career.

Xira on Triple J Unearthed

Follow:
facebook | instagram | spotify | apple music