This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:11] Michael Callahan: Welcome back to Generations.

[0:13] T.J. Newton: I'm T.J. Newton.

[0:14] Michael Callahan: And I'm Michael Callahan. This is episode two and part two of our conversation about auditioning. Please welcome back Alicia Albright, Keely Bierne, Lance Roberts, Jack Sippel, and Maddy Trumble.

[0:26] Maddy Trumble: We want to hop to our next question. When we do get an audition from our agents or on Actors Access, sometimes the material we're given is a lot. What is your process in terms of breaking down the material you're given? If you've got a week to get this audition in, what do you focus on first? I'm honestly a procrastinator and work best under pressure, even though I'm certain that's not the way to go. But for certain things, I'm like, I'll put it off all the way to the end. Even though if I've been, if it's a song, you know, I've been listening to it all week. Like I like to let things marinate. I'll like, if it's lines, sometimes I'll just do that. There's an app so that you can like play it back, just so I just like have a sense of things.

And then for a dance, it's completely different. We were talking about the self-tape thing. I actually don't like them, especially for dance, because it's hard for me to just learn a combination from a video. Like it takes that process takes me so much longer, whereas usually you are in a room, so you can like, you know, you're like following other people, you're absorbing other energy. You get like more, I don't know, it's just easier for you to pick up the combination. So if it's a group, like dance audition that I know other people are doing, I'm like, hey, grab a buddy. Can we learn it together, please? Please can we learn it together? Because then it just makes it faster. I'm so wacky with the dance audition.

What I do is I'll count how many counts of eight there are, and then I'll be like, okay, you need to learn the first four counts of eight today. And then tomorrow you can do the next four, and then the next day you can put them all together. But as someone who comes from more of a mover background first, singer actor first, I do enjoy getting some time to process the material and what how I'm supposed to look. Because some we know sometimes auditions that are run in New York sometimes they don't even teach the dance combinations anymore, and they expect you to learn it and know it perfectly before you even walk in, and they just walk through it once. And that works for some people, but for me personally, that's never worked for me, and that causes me stress.

But if I have some extra time to like really focus on myself or have a friend and say, Hey, can you help me with this? I feel so much better about what I'm presenting to the casting team. After I do a dance call, I go back home and I record myself doing the dance, even if I'm just talking it through, because when you go to that next callback, like we just kind of mentioned, you're sometimes expected to know the dance already, you're not gonna have time to relearn it, so it's just another refresher. I don't stress about that. But I remember before the holidays, I was in Funnel Call X for two shows at the same time on the same day, and between the two shows, I had 58 pages of material to do on the same day, and so just to walk in, like it starts at 9 a.m., there's a work session, and it goes until 6:30 p.m. You're at the crazy Pearl Studios, we all know and love, right?

I have to prep myself early in situations like that, especially when I know it's happening all at the same time, but I just gotta get it in myself early, and then I just keep talking to myself and hearing myself and build that conversation.

[3:29] Jack Sippel: Jack, I love that you just brought that up because I was there with you that day, and actually that experience sitting next to you and catching up is what is actually leading to our next question. So I'm so glad that you literally segue for us, and that's how much material and/or time do you think is appropriate for an audition process to receive? You know, Jack and I were part of a process in December where people received 60 pages with four days to learn a 60-page packet. That's an extreme. I think we can all agree that's too much. But you know, where does it time off? I mean, like Alicia, you mentioned 12 callbacks for a Broadway show. What are your thoughts on what is appropriate time and material-wise?

[4:12] Alicia Albright: 12 callbacks is aggressive. I've done 11 before, and it's one of those where you keep walking in the room and it's the same people behind the table, and you're doing the same combinations, and I'm singing my same 32-bar cut. At that point, there's no excuse why this isn't over, right? You know what you saw, maybe twice. You know, I think if it's for the same people, and it's so confusing because you also do processes where you film one tape, you get brought in for that final callback, and it's over. And you're like, absolutely, that's what you need. Like if you don't come into a room as a creative, and I feel like I can say this because I've been on this side of it, is if you don't come in with a goal of knowing what you're really looking for, you're not ready to have the audition.

Yes, there can be spaces where you're like, Oh, I get inspiration, and this is where I want to go with the show or the character 100%, but you have to have some type of roadmap, or else you're just wasting their time and your own time. So, how much material? I think you know, a good two songs from a show and maybe a side or a contrasting side.

[5:14] Lance Roberts: I agree with Jack, you know, a scene, maybe a contrasting scene, two songs at the most from the show. But there's something, two things. It's like one, as a director choreographer, I did a lot of that. I am famous for having very long auditions, so I won't have a bunch, but they'll be very long. But what I do after I call the group back in, I make it very clear why it's going to be long. And I say, I will go through the day and explain what I'm looking for. And if I see like a kernel, that's why you're here. So that people are their brains are always working as artists, and I give out descriptive phrases and words, or maybe I reference an old movie or an old show, said that again, their brains.

I said, This is a working day, and I said, I understand your time is very valuable, but that's what I'm doing today. And if you do need to leave, I have a shorthand, you know, and I'll offer you that. Now, as an actor, I haven't really done a lot of callbacks in a long time, but mostly because of you know where the world is now, and they're never gonna call me in 11 times to be a dancer. That's never gonna happen. So, but um, so I really like I'm upset that anyone ever has to go through that. But if it does go beyond two or three, even three callbacks, then I ask my agents, because there was a great line in the movie Mommy Dearest when Faye Dunaway is playing Joan Crawford, and she has to go in to audition.

And the little girl says, Oh, mommy, why do you have to go to audition? She goes, 'Well, when they have you audition, it means you're not sure whether they want you or not.' And so I think about that all the time. It's like, oh, if they're calling me back all this many times, they're not sure whether they want me. So then I ask my agents, what do they want this time? Because that's what I'm going to give this time. I'm not going to worry about my fears about you know being too tall, too short, too guinea, too fat, too old, too young. I'm not gonna worry about that. I'm just gonna give them what they want. Make them come up with something so that you can be focused and book the job.

[7:34] Maddy Trumble: I will say my favorite thing is when you get multiple packets. When you get that first audition, you get an audition packet and then a callback packet, because then you're like, okay, they're respecting my time. Because I'm fine learning a scene and a song or two scenes for the first audition. First audition should not be 60 pages. So much, I think, of the decision is made in a moment. Like the moment you start, the moment you walk in the room, just because I've been a reader for so many auditions for so many years, and I don't know that I've ever seen the person who is best get the role. It's always like a feeling or like a vibe. It's hard to even explain, but like there's been so many times where I'm like, wait, you're not gonna give that person a callback?

They were amazing. But it's like he had blonde hair, and the guy they want had, you know, brown hair. So anyway, it's all so feels arbitrary and it's all so subjective. I don't think it's fair to give more than one or two things to do. But yeah, maybe by the 12th callback, I'd be okay doing 60 pages, but that also is just absurd. I've never gone in for something that much, but I will say, at least it was for like a Broadway show because I the most auditions I've ever had for stuff has been like regional that pays like $400 a week. I'm like, you need to see me a fourth time for this. At least I got it after the 12. If I hadn't gotten it, I would really be the rest.

[8:59] T.J. Newton: In the spirit of these auditions, what you bring in, what you prepare. I think Michael and I can say this is one of our favorite questions we had prepped for you guys. So I'm really curious to see what you say. What is the difference between audition technique and performance technique?

[9:12] Alicia Albright: Auditioning is a very interesting specific art because there are just so many outside factors that go into it and the way that you feel it feels super inorganic. Whereas if I know that I've secured the job and I'm performing and living my truth, like I, you know, like there's so much confidence in that. You have to enter an audition with the confidence of I've this is my I'm performing it now. I mean, I do so many things to feel that way for myself. You know, there's breathing techniques and all the things, but I always think because like I was a dancer first, and it took me a really long time to feel confident singing alone. But then I started like anchoring myself when I sang, so I didn't feel so like high vibrational and like shaky and nervous.

I'm like, okay, put the weight in your heels, like connect with the ground, take a breath, like connect with the people in the room and just like feeling secure in myself as though I booked the job has just made it easier to just like put myself in a different sense and make it make it make sense because it just is really inorganic to be like doing an audition.

[10:23] Alicia Albright: It's the weirdest situation you could put yourself in. But um, we have to do it in order to get the job. I'm a documentary gal and I love um every little step. I've like watched it a million times. It's the best. But I watched it like at the height of the 2020 pandemic, like in the summer, I watched it and I was like, it's okay that auditions aren't happening right now. They're hard. But in that uh movie, Jay Binder is the casting director who is or was my very favorite. Like I've never felt so much love in the room as I did when I would go in for him. And I know he was like a big champion of mine. Love him. He's the casting director, and he says something, I can't remember the exact quote, but he says, We're looking for the person who is opening night ready.

They could open tomorrow. And I always thought that was really interesting because you're not, you know, you're gonna have like months of rehearsals, weeks, weeks, months of rehearsal. So in a weird way, I think we cannot think about auditions in a different way, even though yeah, you're not on a stage and you're in a little room, and depending on the room, the sound quality is really bad. Well, I always took that to heart and thought, I'm gonna I have to treat this like I am acting on stage. Got the part already, and here I am, I can open tomorrow. The first question we had, what I talked about when it made a difference for me is when I changed my perspective of it. When you're performing, gosh, it just for me, it just feels like my heart is bursting out of my chest, and just my heart wants to touch everybody out there.

Like that's the most important thing I want you to see is my heart when I act or sing or dance or anything. And I found it really hard because I you know, and I used to go and I would be so weird and it would make otter hands, and I would just, you know, especially when singing, like to so to do techniques that helped ground me and not have crazy eyes. You know, when you go to an in-person audition, everyone's got crazy eyes because they're so nervous, then you're everywhere but inside yourself. So, how can you authentically be showing of yourself? Because you're so everywhere from like comparing to someone else and to worrying what they're thinking about you to I don't know, to feeling good to not feeling good.

So for me, it's it's like trying to match the things that I do to prepare for performance for auditions so that yeah, so that you can show up again feeling the best you could, whether you consider that opening night ready or just like today ready. And for me, it's so necessary now to do it mind body spirit, because if I'm just doing one part, a huge part of me is missing, and I want to do all of me in everything I do, but if I don't do the work first, in every sense of the word work, like work on the material, warming my body, work on my voice, work on my spirit, work on my heart, it's all a package deal. And if I don't do all the work before an audition, it's not gonna go as well from inside myself.

[13:15] Maddy Trumble: I love what you just said, Alicia, about being today ready, and I think that's something that a perspective that has changed over the last few years when we were stuck inside and learning to accept that where we are currently physically, mentally, emotionally is super important, and we have to allow ourselves to live there because often I feel like what you said, you know, have you have to be ready right today, but realistically, that's not that's just not how we as humans in whether it's in theater or whether you know we're a doctor or whether we're a teacher, the world isn't work like that. So I think acknowledging that you know I'm gonna be my my best version of myself today is so important, and I feel like going into the audition with that vibe is only gonna make you better.

It's like going into the audition knowing you're enough. Because so often we're wanting someone to give us the job so we feel better about ourselves, you know, like that we matter, that we our talent is enough, and what if we walked into every room knowing we were? And all we gotta do is get out of our own way to be all that we already are, and then the right people see that. If it's not the right person, you don't work for them anyways, because it guaranteed if you do, they're probably gonna make you feel like poop on a stick most of the time. You know, but even if they do, how do I not believe those words? Talking about the differences of auditioning versus when we have the role, uh, there's one thing that is present in both, and that's ourselves.

And so my first thing is when uh I go into an audition, I make sure I bring myself myself is someone who I love the theater. I like television because it's also storytelling. So I bring that into the room. You cannot take that away from me at all. You that will never ever happen. This is my job, but I'm also a huge fan, and that's why I like to go see everything. I like to like experience things, good, bad, and different, what have you, so that when I'm coming in there, I'm with other people who I assume love telling stories and being part of this crazy business together.

[15:26] Lance Roberts: So talk about community. We're already on the same page because we're here to do this together. When I'm in the waiting room, yes, I'm there to get a job, so I will be prepping, but once I start and I walk through the door, that's my entrance. The play has begun, and I am there to like show you the play. Now, here's the other thing that we have when we're performing, we've rehearsed, so we have information. When we're auditioning, we usually we may have our sides, we may have our songs, we may have our dances, but we still don't have enough information. And that's where the art comes in. And that's where we have to be the people who come up with, and I call them the 100% absolutes. So even if you're going in for an ensemble role, if you know the time period, it's an absolute.

If you know the age of your character, it's an absolute. The ethnicity, it's an absolute. Whether your character loves or hates someone, these are absolutes. So you take those into the room with you because those are things, whether they're correct or not, they are choices, they are strong, and people can see that you can do the work. So it may not be what you're going to do on opening night, but like Alicia said, tonight is opening night. This audition is opening night. So these are my choices tonight. And so if you have those to stand on, and it's sort of similar to like what uh you know, Beyonce does. When she's performing, if you've ever met her, she's very shy in real life. She is very, very shy.

But on stage, we see she is not shy. And she'll tell you because she's Sasha Fierce, that is another person. That is another person with other desires. She's not the mom, she's not the wife, she is Sasha Fierce on the stage. And so all of us need to figure out who is our Sasha Fierce when we walk into the room. Someone once told me to go into the room with the question, how can I help you? Not how can you help me? And if you honor the character that you're playing, like truly honor them, honor what they desire and not what you desire. Because wanting a job, we can get a job anywhere, anywhere. Any I'm not talking about just show business, we just want to make some money you this Starbucks this this places to make money this what we do which is I always say if I see someone fierce I go pure sorcery um because if you can't you can't figure out why it's so good it just is well so it's like you can't put a dollar on a dollar amount on what we do it's like that's all we just have to do it and give it as a gift I go into every space treating it like a workshop rehearsal so I know I don't have the job yet so there's still that if but also knowing that we're all in it together like we're all gonna learn it together we're all doing this together like we're all here to be here for each other um and Jeff Whiting always says your job in in an audition is not to book the job it's to make a fan so you're not focused on wow the material wow the story I mean yes that is a priority but that's not the hardcore but then the performance technique is how am I gonna keep watching you when we do prom stuff and I host auditions for prom I can't teach you style right I want to see what you can do with it and I'll mold that and I can see oh wow I can grow with that person so you don't need to have everything perfectly but how can I keep molding you and how I'm gonna keep watching you in that time to grab you along.

[17:41] T.J. Newton: All right friends one quick lightning round if there's one show on Broadway right now that you could audition for what would it be?

[19:01] Maddy Trumble: And Juliet in a heartbeat.

[19:01] Jack Sippel: Same thing for right now same let's do it literally it's time to literally say okay Maddie Jack let's do it that's my dream role yeah I love it want to do it.

[19:15] Alicia Albright: I'm obsessed with that show. Honestly, I'm really, really content at having a job right now, and I love working there. So, everyone else audition, please. People who do not have jobs, please get one. I'm good. I'm fine. I'm chilling. There may be a dream show one day, and it's not written yet. How about that?

[19:33] Lance Roberts: Well, I'm excited about the new Broadway show that I'm starting next week, and that's a really great part. But I do have to say that, and I always feel like a nerd when I say this, but I just love Wicked. And I just saw it again. I'm not gonna tell you how many times, but I just saw it again, and I always thought I wanted to be Dr. Gilman because I love his politics, you know, about losing his voice and that whole thing. But something about the wizard got me. I don't know because he's an older person and because I'm older or something, and you know, and as performers, we we have those what do you call it, imposter complexes, and I'm like, oh, that's who the wizard is. I love that guy. I love him. So I I'm putting it out there that you know, by the 25th anniversary of Wicked on Broadway, I'm gonna be the wizard.

[20:28] Maddy Trumble: You'd be wonderful.

[20:29] Lance Roberts: I was the dance captain for seven years. I would love to put you in the show.

[20:32] Alicia Albright: Yeah. Um I kind of feel like Keely, I just I love everything, but I also I'm craving being a part only I only once have I been able to be a part of a brand new show, which was Frozen, and I love the creation process of a new show.

[20:49] Maddy Trumble: I think right now what I'm really craving and putting out into the universe is I want to be from the ground up for another show again because it's such an honor to witness it and to see it grow. And I learned so much watching how it grows from all the departments. So I think for me, I don't know what it is, but I really want to be in the creation process of a new show.

[21:08] T.J. Newton: Thank you so much to all our guests for joining our conversation. Please stick around for a post-show discussion with Michael and I.

[21:21] Michael Callahan: Wow. That was such a wonderful conversation. It went in a direction that I actually didn't expect because auditions really they suck and we people get up like upset and mad about them. And I was it was really refreshing to watch a group of artists kind of take a positive spin on it. I really loved when we asked, can you tell us a fun audition story, whether it's good or bad? And everyone picked a positive experience.

[21:45] T.J. Newton: Yeah. And that, like what you just said, Michael, that is like an example of I guess the vibe of our this podcast. We want it always to be, you know, positive in the way that we look at the theater and because we love it so much. Like we love theater. And even though we might criticize it, you know, in certain topics, that's only because we love it and we want the very best for it and the best for our fellow artists.

[22:08] Michael Callahan: Yeah, and I really felt like the conversation we had was optimistic without sacrificing realism, right? Like no one was saying that it's not difficult and hard, but we were saying that in order to make it work, this is how I have to view it. More than even what the material is and how you do it, the mental state in which you go in is the most important. If you're not in the right headspace, like there's really no point.

[22:32] T.J. Newton: Right. But and like we can say that all day, like be in the right headspace, but please, I have been in a millions of auditions where like I'm in a great headspace, and one thing happens and immediately it's like turn of a switch and I'm a disaster human in the room.

[22:45] Maddy Trumble: Fully, fully, fully. And then I come out in Eighth Avenue and I'm sobbing on the on the phone to my mom.

[22:50] T.J. Newton: Yeah. But I think something that was brought up continuously is making sure that we take care of our mental and emotional health.

[22:55] Alicia Albright: Yes. And that should come first before any material, before any packet, before any callback. And that is actually what makes your packet, your material better.

[23:05] Maddy Trumble: Oh, 100%, because then you're able to put more of yourself into it. Your authentic self.

[23:09] T.J. Newton: Maybe I didn't want to hear it, but I'm really glad I did hear it. Was trying to switch gears on how we view these self-tapes from hell.

[23:21] Jack Sippel: I actually like them.

[23:23] Alicia Albright: Oh no, like you're a masochist.

[23:25] Jack Sippel: I cannot do.

[23:27] Maddy Trumble: I think, yeah, it's hard for me to watch myself.

[23:30] T.J. Newton: Well, you also, as part of your job to like stare at your computer and like like that is true. I do not do that as much.

[23:39] Jack Sippel: So I do like them, but I know I'm in the minority there, but they've been good to me.

[23:46] Alicia Albright: Good. They have not been good to me.

[23:49] T.J. Newton: I'm gonna knock on wood because I'll never book from it again. But I have I have booked from them and I and I I think I figured it out.

[23:56] Maddy Trumble: I think that's important, yeah. So really quick though, TJ, what's your most memorable audition story?

[24:03] T.J. Newton: Oh my god, it's traumatic. See, everyone did something positive, and I did something really I'm gonna do something that was really traumatic. Okay, so this was the Glee Project season two. I went to the open call, I did great, and then I got called back to do to film, to film for like the producers on a set. And they gave me um uh I'm yours by Jason Moraz. So I knew this song already, so I went in and I go, Well, you done done me and you bet I felt it I'm so sorry. Can I start again? I completely blanked on the words, and I've never done that before. So then I start again. Well, you done done me and you better felt it up. I am so sorry. I I don't I don't know these words. And the judges that were on the show, like were in the room and said, Why don't you just just sing something else?

And I was like, damn it, I I did not book this, and I walked out and I just like knew I didn't get it. But I was so upset because I walked out and I said, Well, you done done me and you better felt it. I'm trying to be chill, but you're so hot that I'm melted. I knew it right away. But like when I was in the room with the cameras on me and the lights on me, and you know what psyched me out was right before I walked into the room, I passed another room with all the producers and all a million TV screens, and that right before I went into went in, and it fully psyched me out because I was like, oh my god, I'm gonna be on TV.

[25:26] Maddy Trumble: Yeah. And I did not make the cut, of course, but that how about yours?

[25:30] Jack Sippel: Wait, wait, you know what I love is that you tell me that you went in singing I'm yours by doing some wrestling now, you know exactly what year you're it like takes me to a place in our adolescence. I'm like, oh I know exactly who you were, exactly what age you were for that.

[25:42] T.J. Newton: Fully, like 2011, 2012.

[25:44] Jack Sippel: Yeah, yep, that's it.

[25:46] Maddy Trumble: Oh, wait, okay, tell me yours.

[25:48] Alicia Albright: So actually, mine is a job I didn't book, which I'm really proud of, saying that it was probably one of the most amazing auditions I've ever had, and I didn't book it. I was in for um a show that is on Broadway right now. Uh it's about dancing.

[26:03] T.J. Newton: Oh, and is there is there dancing in it?

[26:08] Alicia Albright: I think there might be dancing in it.

[26:09] Jack Sippel: Oh wow.

[26:10] Alicia Albright: Um but okay, so like a little history. Like, I went to a performing arts high school, and my mentor at the high school, and really like through my teenage years was Gail Benedict, who was the original dance captain on Dancing. So I learned this show like as a child. A lot of it, not all of it, but a lot of it. And she was really generous with like, you know, helping me understand how the show works and um the style of dance. And I by no means think that I'm a master at it, but I really enjoy it and like I know it in a very like intimate way. So I got called in to be one of the standby understudies. Wayne Salento did this amazing thing where he brought seven of us in, and it was a three-hour workshop.

It was kind of informal, where all seven of us came in. There was no holding room, we're all just kind of hanging out in this room together, and he, you know, everyone's chatting, and then they're like, Albright, let's start. And we over the course of those three hours we learn three different dances. Wayne Celento, who you know, I I've played Mike in a chorus line like literally my entire life, is in the room looking at me, being like, hey, good job, but do this this way, and like getting notes from him directly, and there were no cuts made, it was just the seven of us kind of workshopping. It wasn't even, you know, like line up in groups and do it. It was just kind of like, hey, can we split the room in half?

Alright, you guys, you guys go, you guys go. Alright, cool, let's move on to the next dance. It was like had this really informal workshop feel to it. I was honored to be in that room with those men. And the men I was auditioning with were incredible, and some of them were in the first Broadway shows I ever saw. And I was like, it was one of those moments where like you look at your career and you're like, oh my god, this is what I've always dreamed of being. And I didn't even book it, and I still look, I'm like, that was the best day of my little dance in life.

[27:41] T.J. Newton: That's incredible. I mean, I grew up like before I even knew like choreographers and choreography history, like I wicked was my favorite show. So I've known like of Wayne's name and Wayne's choreography and Wayne's style since like 2003, before I really learned about I'll even say like Bob Fossey, like before like when I got to college. I was still, you know, in high school, I was like learning about these choreographers. So, like, Wayne was an OG.

[28:06] Alicia Albright: Oh my gosh, how exciting.

[28:07] T.J. Newton: It was so cool. It felt like a movie because like we were working. I mean, I was sweating. You're like, you know, we're all like running to get water in between learning stuff. It was so much fun. And I felt like a Broadway dancer at that day. Like, it was one of the moments I felt like, oh my god, Michael, you're a Broadway dancer.

[28:25] Maddy Trumble: You are a Broadway dancer.

[28:27] T.J. Newton: Yeah, it was really cool. It was a really cool day.

[28:29] Alicia Albright: I'm so happy for you.

[28:30] T.J. Newton: Thanks. I didn't get it yet. The reason I'm really happy to be back at auditions in person is because I love performers. I love what we do. And it's so cool to be in a room and watch people be amazing next to you. Like, if you can get out of your head and out of your own ego and like experience other dancers while you're in an audition, man, there are some talented folks in this city. And it is cool that we get to all dance together. Whoever, I'm not even gonna say the best person in the room gets a job because that's not always true. Whoever is right for the job is gonna get it despite how competitive you are. Do you know what I mean? Like, or despite how you the energy you give to the other people in the room. Like the best person or the person who's gonna get it is gonna get it.

[29:14] Maddy Trumble: Right.

[29:14] T.J. Newton: And one thing that has been really wonderful for me as a Latinx man is that I see the same group of people at most auditions in the Heights or West Side Story or Ivita or Hamilton, and I you I know most of them. And sometimes I book the job, and then sometimes I don't, and my other peers do. And it's a small circle of us that have been doing this since like 2015, I'll say, since I graduated college, and I know them all and I love them dearly. And it's just like one day I'll win and you'll win the next day. Like, and it's and I think it's there's room for everybody to win.

[29:50] Alicia Albright: Can I tell you the last thing?

[29:51] T.J. Newton: Yeah, my audition goal.

[29:53] Alicia Albright: Yeah, I go in with like maybe not cool. I go in with like I have like a list of rules for auditions to keep myself in a good headspace. I have to give an honest compliment to one other person at the end of every audition. It can't be like some bullshit. Like I have to literally watch and see someone that does this destiny. I think it's amazing and make sure I tell them that they were great before I leave.

[30:14] Maddy Trumble: I'm gonna start.

[30:15] T.J. Newton: I mean, I think I try and do that anyways, but I I'm gonna make a mental note that's wonderful.

[30:19] Alicia Albright: Yeah, it just gets me out of my head a little bit.

[30:21] T.J. Newton: Yeah, and also it spreads the love, and because we have we know, we know when we get that compliment from another person, it how wonderful it feels too.

[30:28] Maddy Trumble: Yeah.

[30:29] T.J. Newton: What a great way to end the episode.

[30:31] Michael Callahan: Oh my god, I love that. I hope everyone, everyone listening, do that too.

[30:35] T.J. Newton: Yeah. Spread the love.

[30:36] Michael Callahan: Spread the love. And we want to spread our love again to our five amazing guests who shared their stories here on Generations. Thanks so much for tuning in to our first two episodes, our first conversation about auditioning. And with that, I guess this is goodbye, old pal. Till next time.

[30:52] T.J. Newton: Thanks for listening to Generations.