The Ensemblist

This week, we are pivoting our stories about the Coronavirus from how it caused theatre productions to shut down to what performing artists are doing with this time. Today, we speak to Joe Rosko, founder of Built for the Stage, an online training program that helps actors achieve their fitness goals. We spoke about how to stay mentally and physically fit during this time of isolation. Here's our conversation...

The Coronavirus Pandemic is taking a serious toll on the theatre industry. However, there are glimmers of hope where people are still connecting creatively online. One of those opportunities is thanks to Jeanna de Waal, currently starring as Diana in Diana: A True Musical Story. She is also the co-founder of Broadway Weekends a "theatre camp for adults" that has started teaching free online classes on their Facebook page: Broadway Weekends at Home. Here's our conversation...

When a Broadway show closes, we often think about the cast onstage being out of work. But really a Broadway production is an entire ecosystem - often with more than a hundred people working in a variety of positions. One of the performers affected by the closing of Broadway's Frozen in Bronwyn Tarboton. As a vacation swing with the company, she had been performing with the company in a variety of tracks since October. Here's our conversation...

This week, I chatted with Broadway veteran Tamika Lawrence (Caroline or Change, Come From Away, Matilda The Musical) about the launch of her new apparel line: Ready Set Wear Apparel. We chatted about how her mother (kindly) tricked her into starting the venture, and how the Spice Girls were a stylistic influence on her design. Here's our conversation...

Last week, Will Blum released a 12-minute filmed presentation of Floyd Collins shot entirely inside his new New York City apartment. We talked about how the idea went from concept to reality, as well as what it means to be creating "theatre" in quarantine. Watch the film here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CFBZgSSj0Ma/

Broadway ensemblist and friend of the pod Timothy Hughes has created a new online community called Performer's Puzzle: an online membership community that helps define and celebrate our personal passions. We chatted about the purpose of the new community and how his acknowledging his status as "the tall guy" helped him create creative opportunities.

In the wake of this pandemic that has altered the face and shape of how we consume so much popular media, particularly when it comes to musical theatre, we’re spotlighting One Million Musicals. Created by Jacob Ben-Shmuel and Alan Blake Bachelor, One Million Musicals is an ambitious, independent endeavor to produce - you guessed it - ONE MILLION high quality musicals to the podcasting space...

At the 2020 TheaterMakers’ Summit about “The Art of the Pivot," The Ensemblist's Mo Brady spoke to four titans of the American musical theatre about their love for theatre, how that love was satisfied as a performer and how they’ve pivoted that love into a different mode of creation. Please enjoy a portion of that conversation, with Asmeret Ghebremichael, Stephanie Klemons, Steve Rosen and Luis Salgado...

In the wake of COVID-19, never has it been more time-sensitive than to provide a virtual home and community for creatively displaced theatrical artists and creators. In this edition, we spoke with award winning Director and Choreographer Jason A. Sparks, President and Theatrical Director of Fosters Theatrical Artist Residency. Fosters is a new nonprofit organization designed to support and nurture artists and their new theatrical works to their truest, greatest potential...

Most recently seen in New York shining in the ensemble cast of off-Broadway’s Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Dionne has performed on Broadway in Motown, Memphis and Hot Feet. But her other passion is for fine period clothing, which led her to become the owner of the fine vintage clothing and luxury goods store Couture du Jour. Dionne spoke with Anna about how she turned into passion into a thriving storefront in New York’s theatre district, and how her two careers continue to interweave...