The actor’s journey is one of occasional highs and frequent lows. It is a path riddled with self-doubt and frustration as we question our career choices, wondering if we’ll ever really ”make it.” But it is those few moments of glory on stage or screen that can sustain us through all the setbacks and challenges. On this award-winning podcast, New York actor Patrick Oliver Jones invites fellow creatives to share stories of failure and persistence in their lives and careers. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the creative life rarely seen in the glitz and glam of this industry that reminds us we’re not alone in this often bumpy and winding journey of the performing arts.
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episode 8: Elizabeth Swain Leads a New Generation of Theater Artists
In the final episode of Season Five, I spoke with a talented and passionate actress and producer Debra Ann Byrd. In our conversation, she mentioned one of the professors, Elizabeth Swain, who had a significant impact on her own training and understanding theater. She spoke so highly of this mentor that I looked her up and decided to ask her to come on his podcast as well.
What I came to learn is that Elizabeth Swain is so much more than just a professor of theater- she is a Broadway actress with national tours, television credits, and quite the prolific director as well, with a specialty in classics like Shakespeare and the Greek tragedies. Elizabeth is also a member of the prestigious Antaeus theater company in Los Angeles. As you’ll hear today, Elizabeth is the perfect guest for Women’s History Month as she provides such a unique and wide perspective through her decades of work both on stage and off.
In today’s episode you’ll be hearing three stories from her life:
- Story #1- Her first theater tour before she had actually decided to be an actress
- Story #2- Balanced her growing Broadway career with motherhood
- Story #3- How and why she was ousted from Barnard College
This Week's Spotlight: Antaeus Theater Company
Antaeus began in 1991 as a project of the prestigious Center Theatre Group. Founding Artistic Directors Dakin Matthews and Lillian Groag believed there could be a world-class classical ensemble in a city driven by the TV and film industry. They brought together a remarkable group of 30 members in Los Angeles to embark on this ambitious project, and committed to meeting every Monday night to read, study and rehearse great classical plays.
The Final Five Questions
Though studying economics first, Elizabeth Swain eventually found a place in theater and has gone onto to acting, directing, and teaching. She has guided so many students through the Classics, and continually inspires a new generation of artists. You can find her Final Five on the WINMI Blog.
SUBSCRIBE TO WINMIGet access to Audition Stories, the Final Five questions, and other bonus content by becoming a monthly or yearly subscriber to Why I’ll Never Make It. Producing this podcast is rewarding in its own way, but I’m essentially a one-man operation. So it is both costly and time-intensive to put together each episode. By subscribing you’ll be supporting these podcasting efforts, and have access to extended conversations and other bonus content. Your financial support of this podcast is greatly appreciated!
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Why I’ll Never Make It is an award-winning, Top Theater Podcast hosted by actor and singer Patrick Oliver Jones and is a production of WINMI Media. Background music is by John Bartmann and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
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