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[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hi, everyone. I am Martín Acuña, and you are listening to Backstage Talk.

[0:15] Martín Acuña: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Backstage Talk, season four. Today's guest is a very dear friend of mine, Carson Lambert. He is a commercial and non-profit theater administration student based out of both Austin and New York City. His wide range of theater internships most recently saw him in the business office at Manhattan Theater Club, where he handled ticketing, reconciliation, and reporting for the 2022 Broadway productions of Custom Living and How I Learned to Drive. He is now entering with CHI Talent Management, booking and representing performing artists in various Broadway and film television projects. Carson, I am so happy that you are here on Backstage Talk, so welcome to the show.

[1:06] Carson Lambert: Thank you so much. Oh my gosh, and thank you for the amazing introduction, and to you all the same. Marie, just being such a great friend of mine, and I'm so glad that I can call you a friend and a colleague, and to be here is an even greater joy. So, yay. Thank you.

[1:21] Martín Acuña: Yay. So, what did we miss on your bio? Because you've had a lot of experience at a very young age, so tell us something that we missed, and maybe if you want to throw a random fun fact about you over there, we would be happy.

[1:28] Carson Lambert: Yeah, of course. Well, so as you said, I am basically born and raised in Austin, and have been here all of my life, and spent however many years here just trying to do the best that I can to lay a foundation for getting to New York and building a career in commercial and nonprofit theater administration, and laying the foundation for that the very best that I can while I'm an undergrad. And so, a lot of that looked like interning at, you know, theater companies here in Austin, and theater-related adjacent companies in various shapes and sizes, which have all very much helped me channel that the very best that I can. And it's been an interesting journey, and of course, you know, the pandemic happened, and that has thrown a little bit of a wrench in things, but yeah, as you said, most recently, I spent the summer in New York, and it was great.

And I, you know, I'm just so passionate about all the companies, and the work that's being done up there, if not the city itself, and just the theater community is so tight-knit, and just feels like, feels so unlike anything else that I've ever experienced in my life. And it's, I'm very grateful to have even been a part of that, and I can't wait to get back.

[3:05] Martín Acuña: Yeah, same. Like, we constantly talk about our planning, and our moving dates, so we know, I know, especially that we cannot wait to go back to New York, so yeah. And what would be a random fun fact about you?

[3:17] Carson Lambert: Oh yeah, of course, oh gosh. You know what, this is the same one that I used the last time that I tried to record, but I'm gonna roll with it, because especially this morning, it's appropriate, because I literally just got back from getting one, but I can drink a Starbucks iced chai tea latte, like it's water. I feel like it may as well be running through my veins. It's my go-go juice.

[3:39] Carson Lambert: Love it, love it. I couldn't do it without coffee, honestly.

[3:41] Martín Acuña: Yes, yeah. I used to be, oh gosh, no, go.

[3:48] Carson Lambert: No, go ahead, go ahead.

[3:49] Martín Acuña: You used to be what?

[3:50] Carson Lambert: No, I was gonna say, I totally used to be, like, my go-to caffeine thing was, like, Dr. Pepper through and through, and then outside of, and then the tooth, and then I've switched off of that to the chai tea lattes, and so that has been good, but the other thing, Meg also totally, 150% got me hooked on sparkling water instead of the Dr. Pepper, and so that has been my, that's been my other.

[4:20] Martín Acuña: Yeah, your go-to. So shout out to our friend Meg Mazeron, who was also a guest in, I think it was season, yeah, it was season two. So yeah, shout out to Meg, we love you. So let's go into the specifics of Broadway, musical theatre, your internships. So let's start at the very beginning, which was your aha moment in which you said, I want to live the rest of my life in the performing arts world.

[4:35] Carson Lambert: Yeah, it's funny, because I feel like, as far as this idea of an aha moment goes, I feel like I can identify at least two points over the course of my education and my career thus far that I would kind of pin as those moments, but it's also something that has definitely evolved over time and continues to, and I think that's, you know, part of the beauty of it. But the first thing that definitely comes to mind is, I feel like, at least relative to my experience, and, you know, a lot of the people that I've talked to and come to know, both through listening to them speak on podcasts and speak about their experience in getting into theatre, you know, I feel like a lot of people kind of funnel into it just by virtue of, you know, maybe going to theatre camp in like an early kind of childhood or, you know, high school or youth theatre program or something adjacent to that.

And so, you know, like, I've always loved theatre as long as I can remember, and certainly going to theatre. But in a weird way, I kind of definitely didn't identify as much of a theatre kid, the same way that I feel like a lot of people do, until I knew that I was going to pursue it professionally, just because I just wasn't making a lot of theatre back in high school. And so I would say, you know, I was definitely part of the Hamilton era, kind of, that kind of like re kind of ticked me into it. And then I was like, Oh, wait, like, I can do this for a living.

[6:16] Carson Lambert: Yeah, yes. And so I was, I was actually a choir kid all through middle school and high school. And you know, it was fun, but it was definitely more of a social outlet. And above all else, I really have never identified as much of a performer. And so seemingly, however, I, you know, I found myself working with our volunteer parent boosters and directors, and, you know, just helping organize concerts and events, like it was a full-time job. And all these things that I realized, you know, kind of came to mesh and mesh together that, you know, literally quite literally made up arts administration. And upon graduation rolling around, I realized that like, Oh, yeah, no, kind of like I just are kind of like you just said, people do this for a living.

And you know, so could I. And so that was kind of the initial aha kind of click moment that helped me start channeling all my energy into what it is that I do today and what it is that I want to continue doing. And basically, what set me on my path for the past four years of at least my undergraduate journey.

[7:26] Carson Lambert: And so that is to say, I think the other major realization that I've had over the course of, you know, my professional and academic career thus far from that point is that, you know, relative to what I want to do there, I have found to be so few institutional pipelines that would allow somebody to foster a career, specifically in, say, general management or producing, you know, without just directly landing an internship in one of the big, you know, general management offices on Broadway. And so in a weird way, I have found the journey in and of itself to be a bit of an aha moment, because it's which is cool, because it's I feel like I'm charting a lot of my own path. And I'm learning so much from that.

But it is very, it does leave you with a lot of these, like, oh, wait, you know, I can do this, and I can tap into these resources. And I'm actually learning so much from that. And, you know, kind of seeing what doesn't doesn't stick relative to these perspectives, or seeing what doesn't doesn't stick relative to seeing what doesn't doesn't stick relative to the, you know, jobs that are out there, and what fuels me and motivates me and what, you know, gets me out of bed in the morning, is there's, and yeah, just a lot of these specifics that really helped me channel that, I guess, is the best way that I can put a cap on that, I kind of lost my train of thought.

[9:03] Carson Lambert: Yeah, so relative to this idea of an aha moment, and kind of, you know, charting my own path, I go, so I go to a small liberal arts four-year undergraduate university in Texas, where I study business. And on that basis alone, like, it's a pretty respected institution. And I'm, you know, super grateful to be here, and I've learned a ton. But, of course, like, my, you know, my freshman year, three years ago, I walked into our career office, and I'm like, I want to intern on Broadway, how do I make this happen? And, of course, you know, I'm in the middle of Texas, and no one in our, like, they were like, what do we do with this kid? Like, it's kind of, you know, ridiculous, like, how do you answer that question? And so so much of the journey has been channeling that momentum and energy and path myself. And for that, I'm really grateful to have gotten where I have. But it has definitely led me with so many of these kind of aha moments and realizations over the years.

[9:58] Martín Acuña: That is actually the perfect segue to asking you why Broadway and why New York and why arts administration specifically in New York?

[10:07] Carson Lambert: Yeah, I mean, as far as Broadway goes, I feel like I'm going to pick it apart into the two separate, you know, I feel like there's something to be said about Broadway, Broadway, and then there's something to be said about just like New York and the virtues of living in the city. And so as far as, you know, theater and Broadway goes, it's it, I think it just boils down to what I love about the art form. And for me, a lot of that, when I think about what it is that I love about theater, and what gets me out of bed in the morning, I definitely think that I'm somebody who I live for the big moments, you know, I've seen Wicked three or four times now, both on tour, and then I also got to see it in New York for the first time this summer.

And, you know, I think about the feeling that I get as, you know, these emerald green floodlights just like drape the audience under the Ozdust Ballroom, like in Dancing Through Life, like right on this, you know, big grand queue, in the middle of that dance number, and, you know, or the total, you know, the roar of the crowd as Dolly Levi, you know, like makes her big entrance on the grand staircase and stuff. And I'm just like, it's, there's truly nothing like it. And that is so much of, it's so much of who I am, it's so central to the work that I want to be doing. And I, it's why I do what I do. And so I would say, that's a big part of, you know, why Broadway, but if not just theater in general, of course, but, you know, I think per my interest in theater specifically, kind of, like I said earlier, I'm so passionate about the way that commercial theater intersects with nonprofit theater and exploring all the intricacies of the field that exists because of that. And oftentimes that looks like neither what is happening on stage or what's happening backstage. There's so much more to it besides, you know, just those two things.

[12:08] Carson Lambert: And I feel like as far as my love for New York City goes, I sort of just like seeing how the work that I'm doing in maybe in one department or for one team or one project influences, impacts so many people adjacent to me at other companies or coalitions or other shows and stuff. And it's just this grand kind of melody of the way that institutionalized theater comes together. It comes together in such a beautiful way. And there's an art form in and of itself and seeing how, you know, somebody like me in a production office or a general management office is still working with commercial producers on shows that have nothing to do with each other by virtue of, you know, maybe we're having a gala and we need to do fundraising.

And so their company is going to come perform with us or, you know, we need to launch a new ad campaign. And so we're going to go over to this agency and work with these teams. And for all the different things happening and all the different shows and companies playing and, you know, working on projects, everything is so centralized in and of itself within this industry specifically, you know, between all the work that's being done at the Broadway League and, you know, which is quite literally the trade organization that represents all these producers, but, you know, also the theater landlords and the, you know, the producers and the general management offices, it's all just, it all just meshes together in such a centralized and fascinating manner.

And I really do think that there's, I just love seeing how the work that I'm doing interfaces with so many other people who are just so equally passionate about the shows that they're working on and the work that they're doing and just getting to be a part of that, you know, to kind of put a cap on that. I just find it to be such a motivating and fascinating mechanism in that sense. And it oftentimes leave you, leaves you solving problems and troubleshooting things at the end of the day and just creating theater that you wouldn't have ever dreamed to be possible in maybe other more conventional business models and scales, just depending on where you grew up and what kind of theater you grew up doing and how you learned about the industry.

[14:26] Carson Lambert: I mean, I think about the fact that, like, I literally spent the week of the Tony Awards running around Manhattan so that I could, like, delivering Daryl Roth and all these other board members, you know, their Tony Awards tickets by hand, which is just, like, kind of the most ridiculous thing ever. But it's also so very, like, only New York, only Broadway, right? And it's just so stereotypically New York, in turn. And it's like, I wouldn't trade that experience for the world, but it is right. It's just it makes my heart warm. And so I think there's something to be said about kind of the joys of the way that that all melds together and kind of everything that there is to learn from that. I love it.

I love it. And I know that your experience at MTC this past summer of 22 in New York was just incredible. So I want to ask you, how would you summarize your journey in the industry? Because you've had internships across different companies, across different organizations. So how would you summarize it?

[15:32] Carson Lambert: Yeah, of course. And so I think the biggest contingency that I can add to this, especially just relative to when I think about the fact that so much of my journey, you know, the day that I walked into my career office and started college and was like, I want to intern on Broadway. I want to work on Broadway full time when I graduate. The pandemic definitely threw a bit of a wrench in things, not just for me, but for everybody. And, you know, that's not a mutually exclusive experience. And so navigating that, of course, was something that I didn't foresee doing. But it totally gave me the chance to embrace lots of opportunities that I otherwise might not have had and that have fueled me and helped me in doing my job this summer and my current job the very best that I can in ways that I hadn't even thought I would ever use or need.

Yeah, and so my journey in academia hasn't been super conventional just because I feel like there's not a huge theater admin pipeline, at least where I'm based. And so having charted so much of that myself and having learned to take as much agency over that as I have, I love to talk about, you know, everything that I did in my internships and how I stumbled upon them and the journey and path that I took. Because they're all wildly different from one another, but like I said, it's become a staple of the work that I'm doing now and what I want to continue to do. And especially just thinking about, you know, having laid the foundation for all these things here that I want to do when I'm growing up and learning about the industry in Austin, working for, you know, a small two to three person theater company to working on Broadway. Scope is scope really changes things. But to say that I learned the most from that would be an understatement.

[17:24] Carson Lambert: And so heading into the beginning years of undergrad, you know, I knew that I wanted to be in New York. And so spanning my other internships and nonprofit work, I've, you know, I've tackled a whole range of day-to-day administrative and clerical and general management related things from running auditions to digital branding, to grant writing, to, you know, helping find board members for like a startup organization. And so a lot of, between all those different things and those different facets and corners, or between all those different specializations, I was spending a lot of undergrad just kind of building my resume. And so the very best that I could. And so I actually started at a, the summer before my freshman year of college, I started with two internships.

One of which was at a small community theater based outside of Austin called the Palace. And this was like really my first ever internship, internship. And I was like, literally, it was very unpaid. And I was just, you know, sitting in our community theater, like, like one of their little offices. I guess the closest thing that I could say I was doing was company management or production management, if you could even call it that. But like, I did my first union contract here and I was helping, you know, fill out like a equity, like guest artist contract. And I'm just like, whoa, like this is so neat. Like there, like there's so many like line items, things that you need to be thinking about and considerate of.

And it's like, I don't know what this means, but like, I want to know what it means. And then if not the fact that there's 30 other versions of that same contract that have been ratified over the years and have changed because of, you know, certain industry standards changing and shifting. And that was, it was definitely like kind of like an introduction, kind of again, an aha moment of like learning about these mechanisms that exist and that they exist for a reason. And they totally shaped, you know, the work that I'm doing, if not the work that is being done just all over the country already.

[19:35] Carson Lambert: Yeah, and then from there, I went to go intern at one of our roadhouses here in Austin called the Long Center, where I actually helped out with a lot of their education programs and their internal programming. And that was like far and above the biggest company that I had ever worked for until MTC. And definitely kind of helped to me identify that I have, you know, a really good grasp on working with large scale theaters and projects. And I think that that's more so the scope that I enjoy doing things on because I just like interfacing with more people and with, you know, larger systems. And I think the problem solving that you have to do that comes with that is just so fascinating. And it really does feel so much of it, it really does feel so much of it for me.

And so as far as that goes, I was doing a lot of, you know, fundraising and kind of entry level general management for their summer stock program that they had in residence. And then I also got looped into administration for their, they have like a Jimmy Award style, like high school musical theater awards program called the Heller Awards. And so, of course, this is four years ago and I was doing all the back end administrative stuff. But I mean, I was literally doing it as a high schooler back my senior year of high school when I first started doing theater. Like, I literally went to go to this award ceremony and I'm like, this is the coolest thing ever. And lo and behold, I, you know, a year after that, I actually started helping run it. And then actually, I actually came back this year now that I'm back in Austin for my senior year. And I'm kind of helping adjudicate it now, which is just like the most full circle moment ever.

[21:29] Martín Acuña: We love a full circle moment.

[21:30] Carson Lambert: Yes. And so going from there, that was kind of right around when the pandemic hit. And then I ended up going to a small company here in Austin called Tilt Performance Group. And it's a small performing arts company of maybe somewhere, I want to say maybe 25 to 30 people at any given time. And the entire community is made up of deaf and disabled and hard of hearing people. And so that kind of is a catalyst for basically all of the work that they do. And I did a lot of grant writing there. But also, I was just able to learn so much about what accessibility actually looks like in theater and what it should look like. Both within the scope of theater production, but also theater marketing and theater administration.

And you know, when I'm doing like a social media campaign, like, you know, you need to add alt text to your images. And if you're, you know, uploading a video, it's like this needs to have captioning. And you need to make sure that your SEO is accessible. And like all these things that I hadn't even realized existed. And that is totally something that, I mean, it changed my life. And I've absolutely carried it through all the work that I do from there on up until this point. And I just learned so much from that.

[22:46] Carson Lambert: And then from there, I actually went to, also during the pandemic, a lot of these theater producers here in Austin who ran their own companies and ran their own venues were having just these kind of remote Zoom meetings. Like, what are we going to do? You know, everything is shut down. And it kind of spiraled into a bit of a coalition, which I also ended up becoming involved in and helping launch. Which was interesting because I had never really worked for a company that wasn't actually producing its own theater, but was rather an entity maybe adjacent to that. And given that that's how so much of the theater industry in New York works. You know, if you're working in a general management office, or you're working in an ad agency, or you're working for the Broadway League.

It's so much of the work that you're doing is adjacent to other shows and productions and companies. And that's kind of how everything comes together. And so that was the first time that I had ever really worked in a capacity like that. And so we launched a new Austin-based coalition called ATX Theater. And so I was scoping out a lot of board members and kind of connecting companies to each other. And it's now made up of well over 80 companies in the Austin theater scene. And basically every major company here is represented. And it's just developed into just like a network for both audiences and artists and producers who are looking for resources and are looking for help with producing their shows.

And to say that that wouldn't have been successful had the pandemic not happened. I don't think that's entirely untrue. But it certainly served as a launching off point. That I think, you know, it taught me so much about the virtues of being adaptable and responding to the situation at hand and doing just the very best work that you can to help those around you.

[24:50] Carson Lambert: And that kind of led me to this past spring. Where I then started scoping out. I was, you know, it's the summer between my junior and senior year. And I was like, okay, I'm going to go to New York. I'm going to make it happen this summer. I don't know how it's going to happen. Maybe I won't get an internship and I'll just be there for five weeks and just go sit and have coffee dates with people and go see as many shows as I can. And great. Or maybe I'll get an internship. And I applied for as many as I possibly could. And to have landed at MTC was a dream. And so to put a cap on it. So much of that kind of undergrad journey was above all else. Just laying the foundation for that. But it taught me so much. And it's nothing short of who I am today. And I'm very grateful for that.

[25:38] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. And I am so happy that you landed that internship. Because it was the opportunity for us to meet in New York.

[25:46] Carson Lambert: Yes.

[25:51] Martín Acuña: In July. And I know that you grew a lot, a lot during that internship. My last question for you is which are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[26:04] Carson Lambert: Okay. So anyways, off the top of my head, in no particular order. I'm going to go with Company. Because I just resonate so much with and love the idea of like a concept musical. And just these realism driven shows. And especially the recent Marianne Elliott West End revival that just played at the Jacobs. It was truly magical. And I love it so much. I saw it three times. I saw the final performance of it. Which is just like the most wild thing ever. And Patti LuPone got a five minute long standing ovation. And it was just like unlike anything I've ever experienced in my life. Also, I'm going to go with Mean Girls. Totally 100% one of my gateway musicals. If not my favorite movie of all time.

It's a really good movie. And it's a really good musical. Yes. I'm also going to go with Matilda. Kind of the same thing. I totally love the movie. And it's maybe my favorite book of all time. And love the musical. And oh, I'm so excited for the movie. It's funny. And then She Loves Me is just a gem. And then number five. I'm going to go with A Strange Loop. I saw A Strange Loop three times this summer. It's just such a great and authentic show. And it just does such a good job at authentically representing BIPOC and LGBTQIA stories in a way that other shows have never done before. It's just so blunt. And I think it's something that's needed. And I just think it's fantastic. But was that five? I think that's five.

[27:43] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I think so.

[27:44] Carson Lambert: Yes? Okay, great. Well, Carson, my friend, thank you so much for coming to Backstage Talk. I know that a lot of upcoming artists, upcoming arts administration students and general managers, future people working in the industry will look up to this episode. Thank you so much for being here. You know, I love you with all my heart. And yeah, thank you. I really enjoyed this.

[28:10] Carson Lambert: That means the world to me. Thank you. I love you, too. Totally, if anybody is listening to this, wants to connect, my social handles are Carson C. Lambert on all platforms. I'm so grateful to have to be here and to be able to talk. It's been a dream. And you are amazing. So thank you.

[28:32] Martín Acuña: Thanks, everyone, for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Backstage Talk Podcast.