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[0:07] BRIAN SEDITA: Hey everyone and welcome back to Page to Stage. A conversation with theater makers. We're your hosts. That's Brian. That's Mary. To put it simply, we're both theater nerds. So let's pull back the curtain and get a glimpse at the artist's process while creating their art.

[0:28] Misha Osherovich: Hi, I'm Misha Osherovich. I'm an actor, producer, filmmaker, and activist. Thanks for coming on the podcast.

[0:36] BRIAN SEDITA: Thanks for having me.

[0:39] Mary Dina: Um, we were just talking about before that um that you guys ended up knowing each other.

[0:43] Misha Osherovich: Yeah.

[0:44] Mary Dina: Slightly?

[0:44] Misha Osherovich: We've worked on we've worked on a production together.

[0:47] Mary Dina: Yeah, I have. Um, at Montclair when I was a grad student, I was the assistant director and dramaturg for Pride and Prejudice.

[0:47] Misha Osherovich: Pride and Prejudice.

[0:54] Mary Dina: And then Misha and I were in the same acting program. So that's how we know each other.

[0:57] Misha Osherovich: Yeah, all the connections.

[0:58] Mary Dina: I actually remember, sorry, I actually remember your audition, like, and no one else's for some reason.

[1:02] Misha Osherovich: For Pride and Prejudice.

[1:03] Mary Dina: Yes, I do.

[1:04] Misha Osherovich: Was I good?

[1:05] Mary Dina: Yes.

[1:07] Misha Osherovich: I think you were just, I don't know. I think your take on the role is just like so out there.

[1:11] Mary Dina: Oh, I just remember doing that in the world. It was such a good it's such a good role, I think.

[1:14] Misha Osherovich: It was fun. I got to be slimy.

[1:17] Mary Dina: That was fine. I got to be like a smarmy, slimy individual, and that was probably why I was just outlandish in that audition.

[1:24] Misha Osherovich: I played Mr. Collins.

[1:25] Mary Dina: Yes, I did. While we were at Montclair together, uh, you had a reputation for seeking out a lot of on-camera experiences. So what drew you to film acting when you were in a program that was so heavily based in stage technique?

[1:40] Misha Osherovich: I don't rightfully know that at the time I really uh had a grasp on why I was so interested in film. I think there's an inherent glamour aspect to film and TV, which I think draws a lot of young people to it initially. What I've been learning as I've been working in both stage and film since leaving Montclair is that film and TV, I always say this to a lot of, especially first-time uh directors that I work with for the first time on either a stage production or a film and TV production. I have the training and know-how to be on a stage. That's where a lot of my background comes from. I believe that a lot of actors should have stage training, and I know how to hold my own. However, I feel like I understand a set more.

I'm more curious about sets. I, because I'm now branching into producing, so I want to know about what the line producer over there is doing and what that PA's job is. The whole process fascinates me. So even in the hurry up and wait aspect of TV and film, I'm never bored. Um, and not to say that I'm bored during um working on a play, but I feel much more involved and curious and kind of integrated into the TV and film process where on a stage I spend much of my energy figuring out how I'm going to take up space on such a big stage with an audience 300 seats or more big.

[2:58] Mary Dina: Well, that's so interesting because uh in opposition, how I feel with stage and film, I feel like film is something that's so lonely and very secluded as an actor. Whereas in theater it just feels like a family and it feels like that communal process. Do you that relate?

[3:16] Misha Osherovich: No, that absolutely relates. And even the last show that I did, I was reminded of that because the last play that I did, it was my first time on a stage professionally in two years. It's been TV film all the way up until that. So, yes, that's one beautiful thing. And actually, with this last play, I found that that communal aspect pushed me to be better at stage at being on a stage with other actors, which was something that I was um admittedly a little rusty at. But I mean, every process has their pros and cons. There's some amazing things about being on a stage. I think that my brain, very much like some people say, like right brain and left brain for different things, like my brain understands and is just like I said, a bit more curious about the inner workings of a set.

Um, I think the smaller scale of what's appreciated with like more subtle movements with all the different options that you have with different takes, that really appeals to me as I'm learning, both as an actor and a producer, like working with actors that I've hired. It's really fascinating to me.

[4:19] Mary Dina: What types of work do you look for? Like what kind of stories do you want to tell?

[4:23] Misha Osherovich: That's a really good question. And are you still figuring it out?

[4:27] Misha Osherovich: I am still figuring it out. Um, I uh, you know, everybody, especially actors that are starting out, and I consider myself still one of those humans very much. I'm still navigating the beginnings of an acting career. We uh admittedly take what we can get. That's that's just the truth. But also I feel like when I look at projects, I look at two things. I look at is this something I can be strong at? Even if it's challenging, is this something that I can do well? Because I always want to do my job well. The other thing I look at is does this serve the life that I'm building? Because we were saying even a little bit before we started recording, I am all those hyphenates. I'm the actor, the producer, the filmmaker, the activist. Those are all things that are very important to me quite equally. I would hesitate to take on a project if I felt like it would distract me from or prevent me from building that multi-platform career that I want.

[5:24] Misha Osherovich: So, whatever that means, whether it's a project that takes me way out of town to the middle of nowhere when I want to be in New York or LA, or if it's a project that doesn't have a message that I support that I'm starting to think that way a little bit more. A little more strategic.

[5:38] Mary Dina: Yeah. And do you find that your agents I'm sorry, your um, you have agents too?

[5:43] Misha Osherovich: Agent and manager.

[5:43] Mary Dina: Agent and manager. Do you do you find that your team uh responds to that?

[5:48] Misha Osherovich: They do. They do. And I've um, I've had very few conversations with them about that, but as they've come up, I even I remember once I um got a really dope audition for this play that I'm really into, but um it was a smaller production, it was still in New York, and it was a standby with no guaranteed show dates for me to ever go on, and it was right in the middle of a pretty intense uh pilot season type audition time for me. And my reps and I made the call that it wasn't smart to be locked into a six, seven month thing that I was never guaranteed stage time and possibly miss out on some other opportunities. I will say that I don't love the idea of always I do think better is the enemy of good.

I think that's a pretty universal thing in life. That's not just for acting. An opportunity is an opportunity, and you I personally learned something from every single project that I work on in any capacity. And I know that I would have if I went ahead and really tried to get this play, but it felt important to me and at the time my reps, to see where our traction was in TV and film. And that's the call we made.

[6:58] BRIAN SEDITA: So you were always somebody in college that would always seek outside work and opportunities, and which is so much in line with you know who you are as a person and uh that type A as all like that um that motivation and drive. And so how do you think that that prepared you for when you got out of school and started working professionally?

[7:18] Misha Osherovich: Two things. I looking back, and I want to say this from the conservatory training aspect, looking back, there are not holes in my training, but definitely times when I could have put more mental energy into enjoying what it meant to be in a four-year conservatory style program because I don't I think it's not just showing up to classes and doing the work. Acting is and being an acting school or theater school is so much about absorption. You absorb how other people work, you absorb how your teachers watch you grow. It's um, it's almost like plants growing together in a garden. A healthy garden will help all the other plants in it grow. And I missed out a little bit on that because I'm that type A human that was going to, I was rushing to New York on a bus right after class to go audition for some god knows what black box show downtown that nobody was gonna see.

But on the flip, I ended up going to a university near Manhattan for a reason to experience Manhattan as a market as soon as possible. Could I have balanced it a little bit better and a little less neurotically? Yes. But I'm very I hope my professors are listening. Um, but I am very happy that I got to know New York as a market and as a as a competition space before I launched myself into living here right after graduation. I think it was incredibly helpful for me.

[8:41] Mary Dina: Your first success out of school was A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, right?

[8:45] Misha Osherovich: Would you say that that's your first success?

[8:48] Misha Osherovich: I had a I listen, I loved the Shakespeare festivals that I did every summer.

[8:53] Mary Dina: I meant after college.

[8:54] Misha Osherovich: Sure.

[8:55] Mary Dina: Because you did you did Shakespeare Festivals.

[8:57] Misha Osherovich: Virginia, right?

[8:58] Misha Osherovich: And Marin.

[8:59] Mary Dina: Yeah, Marin.

[9:01] Misha Osherovich: Oh god.

[9:02] Mary Dina: That's fine.

[9:02] Misha Osherovich: I love that, bro.

[9:03] Mary Dina: No, no, no. I literally, I think in my first conversation landing, nobody had told me how it was said, and I went up to the artistic director and said Meren and was corrected swiftly.

[9:11] Misha Osherovich: Oh yeah, so you're fine.

[9:13] Mary Dina: So I guess I'll never have to make that same mistake. Thank you.

[9:16] Misha Osherovich: You always were that person for me in school. You were always the person to help me on set when we did a film together.

[9:22] Misha Osherovich: That was my first film, actually. And you were very good.

[9:24] Mary Dina: I remember you were very good.

[9:26] Misha Osherovich: Oh stop.

[9:27] Mary Dina: Okay. But um, but yeah, anyways, your first success after school, after school was booking A CLOCKWORK ORANGE off Broadway, right?

[9:36] Misha Osherovich: Yes.

[9:37] Mary Dina: Yes. And you booked that from an open call.

[9:40] Misha Osherovich: I did.

[9:40] Mary Dina: Oh my goodness. Can you tell us a little bit about that casting process and how maybe that was unique from other things? And specifically because it was such a physical show, and we had so much physical training in our program at Montclair.

[9:53] Misha Osherovich: You really did. How did that help you in the audition room?

[9:56] Misha Osherovich: Sure. Um, so that was one of those shows that every young man and their mother was trying to get seen for. Um, and you know, I was I was very new to my agents, and I love them, and they're so good to me, and I know that they pushed to have me seen for that show. But ultimately, I'm that neurotically proactive human, and I went and did a Shakespeare monologue at the open call, and lo and behold, that got the ball rolling um with this audition process. And I I have two things that I want to say about that audition process. Um yes, the movement training we had from school definitely prepared me for that. Not just physically, physical endurance wise, because it was circuit training for half of that intense callback process, but also um something that Montclair really did prepare us for was how to maintain your acting skills and acting technique while being pushed to physical limits.

We had so much experimental theater training and Suzuki training and stuff where you are uh intentionally pushing your body to a limit and then executing very um precise acting technique and I really appreciated that about Montclair, even more so when that skill set came right up in this callback process. So that helped me a lot. But I will say, and this is just my little like success slash scary as all mother whatever story, I had a day job. I was financially independent when I moved to New York.

[11:20] Mary Dina: Yeah.

[11:20] Misha Osherovich: And I got essentially fired from my day job just at my two and a half month old day job, just to go to the fourth or fifth or sixth callback for A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Um, and it was a risk I had to take. I literally I it was my third or fourth time walking out on my boss in the middle of the day, and he said to me, Misha, I need an assistant. If you leave, I'm gonna have to find a new one because you're never here. And I understand you want this play, but like you need to do your job. And I had to look at my boss and say, Okay, I understand. Walked out, did the final callback, and was told after booking it later on, if I hadn't showed up to that final callback, I would not have booked it. I I wouldn't have. So I've always been the person then to take those kind of risks. Sometimes to my detriment, sometimes to uh my credit. Um, but yeah, the movement training from Montclair definitely prepared me, at least at a base level for holding my own in that show.

[12:18] Misha Osherovich: So because it was such a physical show, how did that affect your body and your prep, your maintenance for an eight-show week? Because when I came to see that show, I saw it pretty early in the run. I was like, oh my god, how are you gonna do this? Because you guys were slated for like four or five months. Yeah. Eight times a week, honestly, and you were such a specific piece to the puzzle with your physical abilities. They made you dye your hair blonde. Yes, they did. You know, it was something that if you weren't on that stage doing it, uh, you know, I don't think the swing or understudy was doing that exact track. No, no, no, no. It was an incredible, it was a very puzzle piece type show, and that rehearsal process was so much about finding and pushing everybody's physical limits to how we can make the show the most impressive.

We had an incredible director, and she um is so in tune with how actors' bodies work, and she'd been with this show abroad um in the UK and elsewhere for years. So she understood how to build that puzzle each time. She's really smart. Alexandra Spencer Jones, you are an incredible human. What happened was this show pushed everybody so hard, and there was such an enthusiasm around this show that I think it took everybody, me included, a second to realize the nature of what this was doing to our bodies over time. For me, I can only speak from my experience. I was a 21-year-old just out of school, first gig actor. I was so excited to be there that I pretty willfully ignored some signs of wear and tear on my body that and you know this, that ultimately ultimately resulted in some pretty serious injuries.

And it was and I mean this, it was absolutely nobody's fault. It was absolute and you know, other castmates of mine had, you know, similar physical struggles, and we were all trying to kind of support each other through what ended up being a lot like going to war every day and being each other's kind of you know brothers and comrades in this very demanding show. For me, it was just a lot of lessons. I learned that as a a a then union actor how what it meant to take care of myself and advocate for myself. If you don't tell anybody that you're injured, or if you don't vocalize what you need to stay well and healthy and maybe recover, nobody's gonna give it to you because they don't know. And that was something that was a little lost on me.

I had never been in a physically demanding situation where it was my job and truly only my job to say when I was not doing well or when I needed support or when I needed to re-choreograph or whatever the situation was. So I learned a lot and the show was such a growing experience in that way. It wasn't just my first big thing, it wasn't just the first platform that I had, it was a giant learning experience in that sense. And now I know how to take care of myself in and out of a show physically much better.

[15:16] Misha Osherovich: This production came from London, correct? Yes. So how what did your role look like? Or was it even did it even exist? Absolutely. So we definitely looked blonde. Yeah, yeah, very blonde. Yes, platinum blonde was a thing, and I'm glad I got to try it, and I'm so happy I had a nice set of headshots with it. Yes, I do. It worked out. Yeah, it worked out. No, none of us are complaining about Misha being blonde for six months. It was great. Um I uh so it came from London and the show was built in a very ensemble fashion. So over the first few years, and I believe it was five before it even came to the US, it um really gelled and the tracks of these characters and the multiple characters that they played, um really kind of cemented, and it was just puzzle piecing different new actors as they added them in and out of the show in its different iterations.

So it was really interesting because our director had this play that had uh kind of these uh tracks of characters very much written into it, and I was filling in a role that many other men had played, and yet it we did have the opportunity to make it our own, both as a company and as individuals. That's not something that I've experienced before. It's usually one or the other. Usually you're slotted in and you feel kind of trapped by being slotted in to somebody else's creation, or you're creating the role from scratch, which is both terrifying and awesome. This was a really healthy combination of both. So that was really cool.

[16:43] Misha Osherovich: So for the physical part of preparing for the role, I'm curious as to what your journey looked like through using your background from school through the audition process, and then continuing through all your basically with with the other guys in the in the company. Sure. Creating the role. Like how what was that journey like for you? It was a lot of learning and even learning on the spot, like what you can and cannot do eight times a day in like a six, seven, eight-hour rehearsal. Um, how to pace myself, how to not you know what I learned, and everybody's different in this way, but um, I learned that it is just as much about what you do outside of the show as in the show. It doesn't do you any credit to sleep all day and get quote unquote as much rest as possible and just show up at the theater and do the thing.

I there's an element of teaching your body mentally, physically, and yes, spiritually, what it's going to be doing every day for the next six months. So, how do you do your yoga, do your stretches, do your strategic gym exercises, go to your physical therapy to prepare yourself in every way for what is your job. Your job is to physically, mentally, and spiritually be ready to take on this character every night. That's your job description. So it's your job as the performer to figure out how to best ready yourself. So I think a lot of it was just being and staying ready to do this thing to the best of my ability every night.

[18:06] Misha Osherovich: Was that something that you picked up just from being within the presence of everybody else, or was that something that was kind of instilled from one or two or a few people? Um it was definitely a cast culture thing. We all realized the challenge ahead of us, and so we definitely had a a group mentality of keeping each other healthy, I would say, and we had you know a physical warm-up before the show, and um our our lead John O had been with the show for almost its inception. So he had a really good handle on what it meant to be living this show. So I looked up to him a lot. If it was one person, it was John O who really led the charge in so many ways of um preparing us for doing this thing for a few months.

You know, a lot of people, at least what I've seen recently are opening up a dialogue for the fact that artists can get injured and they're not damaged goods just because they're injured. And um And you know that everybody's body is is gonna take on something differently and and you've gotta you've gotta take care of yourself eight times a week, and there's there's been a stigma about it.

[19:14] Misha Osherovich: I think so. And you said you weren't very vocal. Not at the time. At the time, not nearly a good idea. And maybe that's because it was your first, you know, I think that was almost entirely. I mean, you don't want to sound like a a baby crying about an injury. And also it makes sense Even though it was something so serious. Of course. And it also it makes you second guess yourself. Am I good enough, strong enough, um, able enough to do this thing that everybody around me seems to be doing very well? Uh so it um can I curse on this part? You could curse. Okay. It fucks with your head a little bit. It really does. It's it's a bit of a mind fuck to like feel that you've been given a job that there's a potential you might not be able to do as well anymore because of something that's happened to your body.

And uh, and we were again talking about this a little bit before we started recording. The next play that I did, which was quite a while after clockwork, it was a good break. Um, and I approached it, no questions asked, an equally physical play. I approached it in a very different way. I have changed. I now know what my body can and cannot do, where I can and should push myself, and where I need to raise my hand in rehearsal and say, let's find an alternative because this shoulder doesn't do this anymore. This part of my back does this. There's always an alternative. There are incredibly professional, beautiful, amazing people that work on stage combat and choreography that make any possible combination of things look beautiful.

I think artists advocating for themselves and their safety is something that I learned later in my career, certainly after school training. Uh like as in like it came working in a professional setting and not in a school setting. And I'm very happy that I learned it. I don't necessarily know that I lament any of my injuries because they've taught me so much about my body, and I don't think I've been in a bet in a better place in terms of being able to check in with my body, especially in a rehearsal process. That they taught me so much.

[21:11] Misha Osherovich: So I'd love to talk about the artist advocacy, self-advocacy, even. Because I was gonna ask you, who do you think is responsible? And I use that word lightly to have that conversation. You know, in a company setting, do you think it's someone on the creative team to be checking in? I mean, obviously you have to know yourself, and that's something that's a journey that only you can go on. But for someone new, like where you were for CLOCKWORK ORANGE, you know, you you figure it out because you went through it. Right. But the next person might not realize it right away. Right. So the the wonderful thing about theater, like Brian just brought up recently, um, recently, what, 20 minutes ago, 15 minutes ago?

Okay. The wonderful thing about theater is that it is a community, and I don't necessarily think you can avoid that. Even if you're closer to or not as close to people within the company and the production team and your creative team and your cast, you are working in close quarters, you're aware of each other, you all you do in some way have to support each other. So I think it's an even mix of that and trusting that there are systems like equity, like your stage manager, like your director, your producers. There are people you can and should be able to go to. And then if that's either not successful or you're feeling timid, or you're too or something is stopping you, find a person in your company that you trust, talk to them about it.

Maybe they're a more seasoned actor, maybe it's your assistant stage manager, and find the most comfortable way to advocate for yourself. I don't think that is different in any other field, in my opinion. You have to be able to know what your needs are and how they can be met in a respectful way. Because there's always a way, it's just a matter of finding the right avenue and honoring that your fears and your complaints are valid. They wouldn't be bothering you and eating away at your insides if they weren't valid.

[23:08] Misha Osherovich: So finding a way to speak up for yourself that makes you feel comfortable and is respectful. If we're going to your next really big project, was that the Goldfinch? Um was it? Yeah, the Goldfinch came. Yes, the Goldfinch came after. But um, you know, it just premiered at Toronto International Film Festival. Can you talk to us a little bit about that casting process? Sure. Um switching gears entirely. Entirely and if I remember correctly, did knowing Russian help you in that process? Okay. Being bilingual was huge for that one. So my character Which is so interesting. Have you seen it yet? I have I just saw it. Okay, I saw it too. It it was great, good job. Thank you, thank you. But it's so interesting because you didn't speak Russian.

Did you in so yes, in in some of the original scenes that I shot, yes, I did speak Russian. Um, and uh and and that m that movie had a very interesting editing process. Oh yeah, very long and drawn out editing post-production. Yes, yes. Yes, and for a myriad of reasons, but I'm I'm very happy with how it came out. I'm very happy that I have my you know little scene thing that I think very affecting movie. I I yeah felt things watching it. And honestly, I went with one of our friends Juliana and we both I looked at her right before I started uh before the movie started, and I said, you know, I just want to feel something.

[24:37] Misha Osherovich: Cause I felt like all the movies last year just didn't do that for me.

[24:41] Mary Dina: No, and I definitely felt something because it's such a beautiful story.

[24:50] Misha Osherovich: I love the tagline to the movie.

[24:52] Mary Dina: Yeah.

[24:52] Misha Osherovich: The story of a stolen life.

[24:54] Mary Dina: Mm-hmm.

[24:54] Misha Osherovich: It's heart-wrenching.

[24:56] Mary Dina: It is, and I mean it comes from an amazing book.

[24:59] Misha Osherovich: Um, and my character actually does exist in the book too, and he's described as such, which is a really good example of where being ready is important because the character in the book, Shirley T, is a young, baby-faced, bright-eyed, mischievous, Russian-speaking, super curly-haired, short guy that looks innocent but ends up being extremely violent.

[25:23] Mary Dina: So you were very prepared for that.

[25:25] Misha Osherovich: Very physically prepared for that.

[25:27] Mary Dina: Sure.

[25:27] Misha Osherovich: And that's a type thing. We all know that TV and film hinge much more on type than stage, arguably.

[25:35] Misha Osherovich: But also I grew up speaking Russian at home, but then I went to, you know, American high schools and boarding schools, and yeah, my Russian is certainly nowhere near the level of my parents. I kept up with it in school. I took Russian in school. I regularly see a Russian tutor here in the city purely to keep up my Russian skills.

[25:54] Misha Osherovich: And lo and behold, when this audition came around and they asked me to improv in Russian, and they asked me my heritage and where I come from, it was one of those moments where I'm glad I kept up a skill that could have gone to the wayside and I could have kind of let it go, but I kept up a skill that was the nail in the wonderful coffin that was me getting cast in this film.

[26:17] Misha Osherovich: So yeah, I mean, that casting process was me walking in the room, knowing, having sped read that book like a motherfucker.

[26:24] Mary Dina: Oh my goodness.

[26:25] Misha Osherovich: Long book.

[26:25] Mary Dina: It is eight hundred and forty-five pages, if I'm not mistaken.

[26:28] Misha Osherovich: It is up there. It's up there.

[26:30] Misha Osherovich: Um, with the knowledge that I did type out for this role incredibly well, I was ready to show a skill off. I was ready to speak my Russian. I was ready to do it in a well-researched Russian dialect.

[26:42] Misha Osherovich: Um, Russian accent. Dialect is for other, um, I'm sorry, my dialect coaches, um, Russian accent.

[26:50] Misha Osherovich: And yeah, it was one of those things where I fit.

[26:54] Mary Dina: Great, that's amazing.

[26:55] Misha Osherovich: Then it was time to go do a good job.

[26:57] Misha Osherovich: And that's what intimidated me. We shot for three weeks in Amsterdam. We had gun training and physical training and a couple of interior shoots here in New York before I left. I was working with a lot of very high-level people.

[27:10] Misha Osherovich: We had an Oscar-winning cinematographer, an Oscar-nominated director.

[27:13] Mary Dina: Um, cast.

[27:15] Misha Osherovich: Yeah, the cast is incredible.

[27:16] Mary Dina: Yeah.

[27:17] Misha Osherovich: And they're all professionals. So it was my job to step up to the plate. And that was my next learning experience was what does it mean to be on a big set, hold my own, and have the wherewithal to sit and learn.

[27:31] Misha Osherovich: So I didn't sit in my trailer a lot. I was hanging around on set. I made friends with the PAs and the production folk, and I did all the things that are kind of nerdy-ass actor teachers tell us to do, and it worked.

[27:46] Mary Dina: I yeah, but you know what? That kind of that may explain why you have a different experience on a set than what I've had where I feel so lonely.

[27:55] Misha Osherovich: Sure.

[27:56] Misha Osherovich: You know, sure, sure, sure. Also, it could be the character that you're playing that I think feeds into what mental state you want to be in.

[28:03] Mary Dina: Right?

[28:03] Misha Osherovich: Yeah.

[28:03] Misha Osherovich: And this was not a very, like, you know, secluded person.

[28:07] Mary Dina: No, I am not sh— it was action-packed.

[28:10] Misha Osherovich: Yeah, yeah. For those of you that have not or will not see the film, I am not a chill character, just so we're all aware.

[28:16] Mary Dina: Um, was this the first film on a bigger set, would you say that you worked on at this point in your career?

[28:22] Misha Osherovich: Definitely.

[28:23] Mary Dina: What going into it? Did you have any uncertainties or were I guess were there anything that was there anything that you were assuming was going to happen or play out that maybe didn't?

[28:33] Misha Osherovich: Eight thousand percent. I had a lot of uncertainties. I had so many questions. All I had done was student films or very, very low budget or no budget indie films, and they were all informative in their own way in terms of my process and my acting, but being on a big set, I think a big responsibility you have as an actor is to remember that you are not the most important person.

[28:58] Misha Osherovich: Nobody is in a way, but especially on a big set with many people working on it. Your job is to in fact show up and do your job. Show up on time, know your lines, be ready to play because you've done your homework, and then be ready to go when they call action. That's your job.

[29:16] Misha Osherovich: So I actually met up with an acting coach of mine at the time who's worked on some big sets on the production and acting side, and I just said, Lay it on me. What should I be prepared for?

[29:27] Misha Osherovich: And some of the, some, if not all, of the things she laid on me were really helpful. She talked to me about how to walk onto that set like I wasn't, and not shitting on anybody big or small, because there's no bigger small roles on a production, but how to make sure I didn't get accidentally herded into the extras holding room where because I would look like I don't know what I'm doing and I might not have a trailer. Who knows what my situation's going to be?

[29:34] Misha Osherovich: How to make sure that I navigate the set properly, what people playing what roles, both on production and in the creative side were people I should ask questions to. Where I'm gonna find my food. Like these are things that I just did not know.

[30:08] Mary Dina: You're in another country too.

[30:10] Misha Osherovich: I'm in another country and most of the crew is Dutch.

[30:13] Mary Dina: So yeah.

[30:15] Misha Osherovich: So that was incredibly helpful. That was arguably more helpful than any of the nerdy acting work that I did.

[30:21] Mary Dina: Well, I'd also think those are things that aren't those three things that you just touched on are things are probably not covered in your acting classes.

[30:26] Misha Osherovich: No, never. I mean, no shade to your teachers, but like those are just things that are not on the forefront of minds in educational settings.

[30:33] Misha Osherovich: And to be fair, why would they be?

[30:35] Mary Dina: Yeah.

[30:35] Misha Osherovich: Because they want you to be good at your craft.

[30:37] Misha Osherovich: Yeah, but it goes even beyond business for the actor because business for the actor is us marketing ourselves as a singular entity. This is about respecting the professionals that you're working alongside that you might not know a damn thing about what they do—etiquette.

[30:52] Mary Dina: Yeah, etiquette, that's a good way to put it.

[30:52] Misha Osherovich: Etiquette, yeah. So I met up with her and we chatted about that before I flew off to Amsterdam.

[30:59] Misha Osherovich: Yikes, and it was fun. I mean, it was so fun.

[31:01] Misha Osherovich: It was so fun and I learned so much. That that's become, I know everybody says this in a very cheesy way, but it's become a very real thing for me and you know this about me, I'm very open, but coming from a recovery background personally as well, I learn something from every experience, even the incredibly negative ones, and Goldfinch was by no means negative, but it's important to me to learn something that I keep with me.

[31:28] Misha Osherovich: Uh, recently, and I didn't even know this had aired already, it Nosferatu.

[31:34] Mary Dina: I did not know that it aired, but it's a TV show that's on AMC.

[31:37] Misha Osherovich: And um, you were recently in a couple episodes of that.

[31:41] Mary Dina: Yes, I was.

[31:41] Misha Osherovich: Can you compare the difference, um, the audition process and even your process on set, uh, from a television show and a film?

[31:50] Misha Osherovich: Sure. Wildly different for me.

[31:54] Misha Osherovich: Acting for the camera, sure, there's some like tried and true techniques. What I—my favorite story about this is the audition came through, and it was right around the time when auditions were picking up for me.

[32:06] Misha Osherovich: So I got—you have to think and make decisions about your choices very quickly. Um, you sometimes have a day or two, and I think this was in fact a day to prep for this audition.

[32:16] Misha Osherovich: And the breakdowns come through, and the breakdowns are quite informative about what your character is supposed to be or say or act like, and then you get your scene.

[32:26] Misha Osherovich: And my roommate and I, Jacob Raquel, I adore you, and one of the people that I will credit to this day as someone one of the best acting coaches I've ever worked with. He's really incredible.

[32:35] Misha Osherovich: Um, he and I like to play showrunner a bit, especially with TV where they have a journey of episodes ahead of them. They're planning their plot points.

[32:47] Misha Osherovich: You don't usually get—I mean, at this time I wasn't getting scripts for the TV or films that I was auditioning for. So we play showrunner.

[32:56] Misha Osherovich: We try to do a little detective work and figure out who this character is inside the arc of these episodes.

[33:03] Misha Osherovich: And I'm so glad we did that because this character, to sound a little crass, was written in the breakdown as sassy and attitude-y and all kinds of adjectives that were indicative of, in my opinion, possibly a queer character.

[33:20] Misha Osherovich: Um, and that was never necessarily clarified, even in the first season of this show. But lo and behold, a lot of my queer actor friends were lined up outside this auditioning audition room, ready to do their audition for this role.

[33:35] Misha Osherovich: And something told me that it doesn't say gay or queer in the breakdown, so that's not the most important, for whatever reason, aspect of this character.

[33:45] Misha Osherovich: I go in there, I do my thing, I play it quite, for lack of a better word, straight, or you know, kind of less flamboyant and more grounded, and like he's a high schooler, he has other things to worry about.

[33:58] Misha Osherovich: I don't think being queer is at the top of his brain. And I believe the reason that my audition went well for that is because I did what the breakdown was asking me to do.

[34:09] Misha Osherovich: It might have been a part of his character, but it certainly wasn't the forefront of it. So don't play it as such.

[34:15] Misha Osherovich: And I felt very smart and very accomplished for being able to put my brain inside the showrunner, the writer of the show's brain for a second, and give them my version of what I believe they were hoping to see, what they wanted to see in these auditions.

[34:30] Misha Osherovich: And that was really gratifying when I had some conversations on set about it, and yeah, it felt like the really right decision.

[34:37] Mary Dina: So I like that as we move through these auditions as actors, we start to understand what the writers might be looking for, what the directors might be thinking, and we can get on the same page with them before we even walk in the room.

[34:50] Misha Osherovich: I feel like that's a level of preparation I'm still learning, but that's really important as we continue to audition.

[34:57] Mary Dina: And then what was the, you know, process like on set?

[34:59] Misha Osherovich: It's different. TV is fast.

[35:01] Misha Osherovich: TV is fast. That's true.

[35:03] Misha Osherovich: And you have to do your homework and you have to be ready with those choices because you're gonna get one, two, maybe three takes.

[35:09] Misha Osherovich: And if you're not—first, I mean, they say this all the time in acting school. If you're not first on the call sheet, you are lucky if you get two takes.

[35:15] Misha Osherovich: Uh, so, and I was ready for that. I was ready to show them what I got in my first few takes, and then they were gonna move on.

[35:24] Misha Osherovich: And that's how TV works.

[35:26] Misha Osherovich: Um, I met some incredible people on set. I am still friends with a lot of them.

[35:30] Misha Osherovich: Uh, one of my castmates from Nosferatu is actually in The Goldfinch, so that was a really cool connect.

[35:36] Mary Dina: And were you guys on set in Goldfinch together?

[35:39] Misha Osherovich: And the New York unit.

[35:40] Misha Osherovich: Uh, sh— Ashley might have been on set in the New York unit, but like I never met her on set.

[35:45] Misha Osherovich: But we realized it once we got on set for Nosferatu.

[35:48] Mary Dina: Oh my goodness, you were in the same film.

[35:50] Misha Osherovich: Yeah.

[35:51] Misha Osherovich: Wow.

[35:52] Misha Osherovich: Um, but no, it was another learning experience. I learned how to hold my own on the type of set TV where people aren't always looking out for you because it's not their job to.

[36:06] Misha Osherovich: You're a trained actor, right? You're supposed to know your lines and hit your mark and say the thing the first, second, or third, maybe time.

[36:12] Misha Osherovich: Nobody's gonna hold your hand through that. And I learned that, and I feel like it was really valuable for me to learn that from a TV show like this.

[36:20] Mary Dina: So I want to talk about one of your other hats, if you will, which is activism.

[36:25] Misha Osherovich: Yes.

[36:25] Mary Dina: So I'd love to know if you can, and however you want to talk about it, your journey and what specifically you're focused on.

[36:33] Misha Osherovich: Sure. So, in a very truncated way, I did not always know that I wanted to be an actor or even an artist. Um, pretty early on in life, I struggled with both an eating disorder and drug addiction.

[36:45] Misha Osherovich: Um, and I ended up spending most of my high school career in rehabilitation facilities.

[36:50] Misha Osherovich: I ended up by a lot of happenstances in acting school in New Jersey, and that was truly quite random. Um, and from there I discovered how much I love this industry and acting, and it really became my everything. But as I started to build my acting career and as recovery became more of a solid and daily part of my life, I realized, especially on the eating disorder front, that I did not see my job as a storyteller, right? And I wasn't seeing, nor did I see when I was going through active treatment, stories that represented what I was going through. So that's where it started. I wanted to start talking about and telling stories that felt more organic and grounded and messy about this very real and very underdiscussed disease and disorder that has to do with the distorted relationship with food and our bodies.

And then the added challenge of having those eating disorder thoughts and behaviors permeate your life when you are in the entertainment industry where visual appearance and presentation is, you know, it's an important part of what we do for better or for worse. One of the first things people see. Literally.

[38:09] Misha Osherovich: Literally. And we're used to being picked apart, and we're used to having unfortunately our self-esteem ride on what people think of us visually, often before we open our mouths. So those thoughts started percolating. I met this incredible human in acting school in Jalga, Santiago, she was in my year, and um she and I, through some shared experiences and through some conversations, decided to make a film about eating disorders and hopefully to portray, like I said, a messier, more real, gritty side of this mindset that I we had not seen in the mainstream before.

[38:50] BRIAN SEDITA: What gave you the courage to go out and put yourself on the line like that?

[38:53] Misha Osherovich: Oh, both of you.

[38:54] BRIAN SEDITA: Sure.

[38:55] Misha Osherovich: You know, that's definitely something brave to even just be discussing on a podcast about, you know, but then to go and write something, produce something, and act in it yourself.

[39:06] Misha Osherovich: While you're still in school, right?

[39:07] BRIAN SEDITA: No.

[39:08] Misha Osherovich: So we uh the idea was like a seed that got planted in school, and then it did we did really get down to it after we had graduated and showcased was over and all that. Yeah, but and all those things it it's just very brave to actually do that. Um to s to say you want to do it is one thing, to talk about it is another, and then to actually do it is something in its entirety that that is just very scary, I'm sure, to many people.

[39:35] Misha Osherovich: And it was to me too. Don't get it twisted. It was very scary. Um Thank you. But no, not but I will go back to that before activism in a more fully fleshed out way came into my life, I felt like I had a story in me that I wanted to tell, and it was kind of gnawing at me to tell it. Yes, it was cathartic to make a film that was quite autobiographical about my experience with an eating disorder, but also it felt like I was doing what I love art and making art in service of literally making the world, I hope, a better and more informed place. That was the basis of where Misha's activism has come from.

[40:19] Misha Osherovich: Since then, um, I got we finished the film. I'm very, very proud of it. It had its New York premiere here, it's doing festivals nationally and internationally, and we are um now um hopefully working more closely with the National Eating Disorders Association to bring it to maybe an educational platform, um, to have more talkbacks about mental health and to unpack the film with I hope primarily young people who might be going through eating disorders and body image issues, and it making the film and sending it out artistically opened my eyes to a part of my career that I badly want to expand on.

[41:02] Misha Osherovich: So, activism on both the mental health and now the queer rights and queer issues side of things has been huge for me, and they say all the time find something that's not acting that you love, right? Find something that's not this industry that you love. For the first time in my adult life, pursuing activism and really um finding ways that I can dip my toe or foot or entire fucking leg into it, um has been gratifying in a way that often feels entirely separate from my acting career, and yet I have the privilege of being able to combine the platforms and hopefully make them powerful together, and we were just talking about this again before we started recording.

[41:46] Misha Osherovich: Um, using commercial success in the theatrical world to bring awareness to issues like mental health, like queerness in a modern world that means so much to me, and that I feel like I can help others by talking about. So that's where that was kind of born from, and I'm very excited to see where it goes.

[42:07] BRIAN SEDITA: So, yeah, me too. What would you say for someone who doesn't have the commercial success, but so badly wants to get involved or wants to help spread any message or any word, what are some things that they can do t to dip their toe, their foot, their whole leg in?

[42:25] Misha Osherovich: Hate to sound like a cliche, guys, make your own work. And on top of that, before uh never second guess an idea that you have. Explore it, write about a journal about it, make you know your first shitty film with your friends, Lord knows I did in college, like all these things. But then pretty quickly, I encourage people that want to make their own work, especially surrounding a message or something that's very important to them, an issue that they want to talk about. Take the time to distill your message down.

[42:58] Misha Osherovich: Why is it important to you? What humans and artists do you want around you working on that project and why? And find your voice in your project so that when it gets hard, when it gets too expensive, when it gets difficult and you want to give up, and I promise you will, I wanted to give up on every day, I think 82 and a half times. It was so difficult at times because it was my first time producing a film and not on the smallest of scales. I was working with some incredibly talented filmmakers and we were all working very hard. It was not an easy process much of the time.

[43:35] Misha Osherovich: But if you have an issue that you legitimately care about and that you want to get out into the world to start a conversation, use that fuel to keep you going when your project gets difficult. That's why I encourage people to do a little bit of soul searching before they launch into w a project that, like for me, every day in my film was my baby. Um, it was Angelica and I's baby. It was something that we created from the ground up. I think both Mary and I um have that sense of uh parenting with the podcast too, so we can relate to you in that realm.

[44:09] Misha Osherovich: You want it to grow and you want to see your baby legitimately grow. And when you have a vision for or a message that you want to get across to your audience, um you you really do you really do find it important to yourself to keep on track with what you set out to do originally and stay true to what you what you hoped it would be.

[44:32] Mary Dina: Absolutely.

[44:33] Misha Osherovich: To keep checking in. And it it's I truly guys, like, and this is a recovery journey thing, but I on the daily have to find some kind of affirmations or uh gratitude moments. And recently I had this moment where um, you know, my dating life is kind of all over the place, and that's that does not belong in this podcast. But um, or maybe it does. But I um had this moment of like little mini realization, right, right, right, right. If I don't like myself, if I don't find myself sexy, attractive, interesting, worth having a conversation with, how am I gonna pitch me to other people?

[45:08] Misha Osherovich: And I feel like that's what has to happen with projects you're working on, and it definitely feels like sitting across from you two, what's going on here? You have something you're creating, and you clearly love it, and it's something that you want to see grow, so other people are going to want that for you too. Just stay true to your message and continue to check in about how you can continue to grow it even when it gets arduous and difficult.

[45:30] Mary Dina: Okay, so I'm just gonna go sideways for a second.

[45:33] Misha Osherovich: We love sideways.

[45:33] Mary Dina: So no, because I've I've just been we're we're doing everything after that. So just listening to you talk, okay.

[45:40] Mary Dina: Okay, I'm just gonna give you a little compliment here. You're so wise, and you're very articulate. And I think that I don't and I don't know you will like very very personally, and so this conversation is pretty authentic to me.

[45:52] Misha Osherovich: Sure.

[45:52] Mary Dina: So not to Brian.

[45:54] Misha Osherovich: No, not authentic.

[45:55] Mary Dina: I said to me.

[45:56] Misha Osherovich: To me.

[45:56] Mary Dina: I can't speak for Brian.

[45:58] Misha Osherovich: I will, no I'm kidding.

[46:00] Mary Dina: Um so your journey, I'm sure has taken you to this point where you're able to speak like this. How I guess what was that like for you? How how are you getting to the point you were able you're to like you're able to reflect and be so grounded?

[46:14] Misha Osherovich: First of all, thank you. That is, and I say this I say this with all the sincerity in the world. That is a wildly um amazing compliment. Thank you. Um I'm going to say something kind of cheesy, but I believe it, and it's what my therapist and I talk about a lot. Um acknowledging what you don't know and acknowledging the mistakes that you've made, legitimately wanting to learn from them and being curious about how you can do better.

[46:42] Misha Osherovich: I think that's a big one for me, being curious. We have this incredible opportunity to, as is evident by you guys making a podcast, me making a film, not wait around and in fact create our artistic, spiritual, and personal journeys in this world by way of being artists, by way of wanting to create something out of the norm that hopefully speaks to a large group of people.

[47:08] Misha Osherovich: I think that that involves such a high level of curiosity and such a readiness to fail. And I failed many times in my 24 years of living. Um, in many, many, many ways. Um, and something that I picked up pretty early, and I will say it probably came from my experiences in rehab to a large extent was that if you don't take the time to learn from your mistakes and don't find value in even the shittiest of situations so that you can grow from them.

[47:40] Misha Osherovich: That's where stagnation happens, that's where self-hatred happens. And I have so much of that sometimes. We all have so much of that sometimes. But we are, among other things, professional feelers. So feel the shitty things, feel the amazing things, clock them all, and use them as a bank of amazing emotional knowledge for your future projects, for working with other artists. It doesn't have to just be this hippie dippy acting bullshit.

[48:08] Misha Osherovich: I, as a producer on every day, ran into a lot of situations when I wasn't necessarily listening to people. I wanted my baby to happen so bad that some of the mistakes I made on that project was not honoring that I was working with other artists. Artists want room to create, they need room to breathe, and they're going to do their best work when they have the opportunity to shine for lack of a better word.

[48:34] Misha Osherovich: Breathing down somebody's neck and trying to over edit or over direct or backseat do all these things isn't conducive to supporting those artists. So that was a moment when I realized a lesson I'm learning now is that these artists want space. I should be giving it to them so that we can all make amazing work. It's moments like that that if you're able to clock along your very messy, I'm sure very complex journey towards becoming a better artist, that I think build all of us in a very individual way.

[49:04] Misha Osherovich: That's its own school is learning you as you go.

[49:09] BRIAN SEDITA: Yeah.

[49:10] BRIAN SEDITA: And I think that totally relates to what I wanted to bring up next, which is another venture sideways of your career, right?

[49:22] BRIAN SEDITA: Um, it's if you're scrolling through your Instagram, you see these great artsy conceptual photo shoots that you've been a part of and have had a hand in creating and being um the subject of those photo shoots.

[49:37] BRIAN SEDITA: So I I'm interested to know how do you think that helps you as an artist and how do you think you could use those photo shoots to reflect upon yourself as an artist?

[49:48] Misha Osherovich: I think it's actually pretty singular. Um, I found my love for producing from producing these photo shoots.

[49:58] Misha Osherovich: Seriously. Um, because I begun to do it even before every day in the script for every day was kind of coming together. Instagram and social media is a whole beast and it's a whole monster, and we don't have to get into it necessarily, but it's obviously a tool for self-promotion, and it's also this incredible network of potential collaborators.

[50:23] Misha Osherovich: Yes.

[50:24] Misha Osherovich: And that's what I started to kind of view.

[50:27] Misha Osherovich: I mean as social networking.

[50:29] Misha Osherovich: Literally.

[50:30] Misha Osherovich: Yeah.

[50:30] Misha Osherovich: And we but people forget that.

[50:32] Misha Osherovich: People forget that.

[50:34] Misha Osherovich: And so I found very early on that even some of the first photo shoots I ever kind of put together, worked with one or two uh Montclair alums on, and there was a joy, a genuine, like from my gut, joy that I started to get from watching other artists become better and push themselves because they were surrounded by a team that at that point I had loosely helped to assemble, and I got genuine joy from then seeing them go on and create better photo, video, visual work because they collaborated on a set with me.

[51:07] Misha Osherovich: Then they went off and did their own thing, or like they learned something from a photo shoot that I helped curate and finding joy in bringing other artists together and encouraging them and giving them a space to do their best work.

[51:19] Misha Osherovich: Which is why the photo shoots got more elaborate, and I started to have budgets for them and to pay these artists that I respect so deeply felt so good, and weirdly enough, something that looks unashamedly incredibly vain at times on social media, a photo shoot with just me or one other person in it, was one of the most collaborative and um rewarding on a spiritual level things that I've ever done.

[51:46] BRIAN SEDITA: You know, that's definitely a good point that you bring up about a photo shoot and a model seeming vain, but a film or a theater piece not seeming vain when there's an actor on stage or on camera.

[52:01] Misha Osherovich: Meanwhile, there's a hundred people around them.

[52:03] BRIAN SEDITA: You forget about those other hundred people, you forget about the people backstage off camera.

[52:08] Misha Osherovich: It's a really good point.

[52:09] BRIAN SEDITA: Yeah.

[52:09] BRIAN SEDITA: Just complimenting you.

[52:10] Misha Osherovich: Thank you.

[52:11] Misha Osherovich: Yeah, just stop it, guys.

[52:13] Misha Osherovich: Um, but no, I mean, I also I also had this kind of knack and um sense that I wanted to bring artists onto these photo shoots that I legitimately liked and cared about and believed in.

[52:25] Misha Osherovich: You know, I'll use um, I mean I'll use Edin, who we know from Montclair as this incredible designer, makeup artist, set designer, costume designer, everything.

[52:35] Misha Osherovich: She is everything.

[52:37] Misha Osherovich: She's incredible, and she has a joy for learning all aspects of her work.

[52:40] Misha Osherovich: And I love having her on set because she and her work ethic not only shows up every time, but encourages a lot of the people she's working with, whether it be the assistant I find for her or the photographer we're working with to then do their best work.

[52:54] Misha Osherovich: It's watching other people grow and knowing that we are all growing together.

[52:59] Misha Osherovich: I get such an artistic heart on from knowing that I'm working with people at this level, whatever this level is that I will be exorbitantly proud of when they XYZ make it, when we XYZ work on a project 10 years down the line on a much higher scale.

[53:15] Misha Osherovich: That's what excites me, and that's how I kind of figured out that I love producing, uh, in especially in the artistic side of producing.

[53:22] BRIAN SEDITA: So I'm curious as to what's next for you.

[53:25] Misha Osherovich: Well, actually, we already know what's next for you because we've just talked about it before we started recording.

[53:29] BRIAN SEDITA: Sure.

[53:29] Misha Osherovich: But if we could just talk about it again.

[53:31] BRIAN SEDITA: Sure.

[53:31] Misha Osherovich: Um, so from what I can say about it, sure.

[53:35] Misha Osherovich: Um, it's this has been a long year of auditioning for me.

[53:38] Misha Osherovich: Um, after Nosferatu finished, I um, I'm very lucky and blessed to have a good set of reps right now that are really behind me and support me, and um, they're really kind of pushing for my career to go a certain direction, and TV film is what I love.

[53:52] Misha Osherovich: So it's been a lot of TV film auditions.

[53:54] Misha Osherovich: I've been getting to know what it means to do callbacks and tests for uh TV shows and films, and it's been incredibly gratifying and really hard work.

[54:03] Misha Osherovich: There are times when you are being asked to do 10 to 12 pages of very intense sides for an audition in two days, and you have to be good because everybody's good.

[54:14] Misha Osherovich: So I, through one of those auditions quite recently, found out that I've booked a project.

[54:21] Misha Osherovich: Um, it's my biggest role in a TV and film project that I've booked to date, and I am nothing but two things: intimidated and wildly excited.

[54:35] Misha Osherovich: What I love about it is that I'm going to be going out of town to shoot for a few months, and somebody's trusting me with this role.

[54:44] Misha Osherovich: The director and the writer have faith in me that I can carry this role through an entire film and do it well.

[54:51] Misha Osherovich: So that to me means it's homework time, and I have a lot of work ahead of me to do this as well as I believe I can and should do this role.

[55:02] Misha Osherovich: But um, yeah, that's what's next for me, and that's coinciding with the next film that I'm producing only in schedule.

[55:10] Misha Osherovich: So the next film that I'm producing is about is tapping into a different part of my background, um, my Russian background and uh queer identification.

[55:19] Misha Osherovich: It's going to be about I'm writing it with my incredibly talented friend, Tyler Dwiggins.

[55:23] Misha Osherovich: To be clear, he's writing it.

[55:25] Misha Osherovich: He's the incredible playwright.

[55:26] Misha Osherovich: I am producing advising on the Russian aspects and um acting in it.

[55:30] Misha Osherovich: I'm starring in it.

[55:32] Misha Osherovich: And it's about a young, queer uh Russian teen that is outed in Russia and has some pretty tragic consequences because of it, and has to seek asylum in the US, in Trump's America's US.

[55:47] Misha Osherovich: And I'm so excited.

[55:49] Misha Osherovich: I'm so excited to work on a higher scale with producing, to be talking to actors that I've respected and seen their work before and be pitching my film to them.

[55:58] Misha Osherovich: And I love that these different pockets of my career are in a very stepping stone way um starting to come together.

[56:09] Misha Osherovich: So, yeah, it's um I'm very excited for this next, you know, secret little film that I'm about to go shoot.

[56:16] BRIAN SEDITA: And what do you think?

[56:16] BRIAN SEDITA: I'd love to check in with you afterwards, but what do you think you'll miss most about New York besides the MTA?

[56:23] Misha Osherovich: Oh my and I guys, I got my wallet stolen on the subway today.

[56:29] Misha Osherovich: Today so I'm not gonna miss the MTA.

[56:32] Misha Osherovich: Sorry, not sorry.

[56:34] Misha Osherovich: Um, I actually have something to say about New York.

[56:37] Misha Osherovich: I like we talked about in school, I was always in and out of the city trying to get acquainted with and uh be a part of the city as soon as humanly possible.

[56:45] Misha Osherovich: I couldn't wait.

[56:47] Misha Osherovich: And vacation is not something that's often in my vocabulary, nor is a break or sleep.

[56:52] Misha Osherovich: And these are things that bit me in the ass towards the end of my now two-year stint in New York.

[56:59] Misha Osherovich: I love New York.

[57:00] Misha Osherovich: It's an amazing place to meet amazing artists and individuals.

[57:04] Misha Osherovich: I let New York live me for two years.

[57:07] Misha Osherovich: I did not take control of and do enough self-care in New York to live in it, if that makes any sense.

[57:15] Misha Osherovich: So I'm excited for this natural break that's about to come from the city to recharge and to um remind myself what it means to take care of myself because New York has a way of making you forget that.

[57:28] Misha Osherovich: And then I move to LA for a little bit, and that's a bit of a strategic move, and I'm so excited for that.

[57:34] BRIAN SEDITA: And then I come back here.

[57:35] Misha Osherovich: Yeah, you know, you get to go away for the cold weather.

[57:38] BRIAN SEDITA: Yeah, fair.

[57:39] Misha Osherovich: Although I'm Russian, I love the cold weather, so it's but um I I I do feel like I have if I have a moment to impart a little bit of advice to anybody that is moving to New York or living in New York or hustling in New York, take your breaks, take your self-care moments, take your nights to be with you.

[57:57] Misha Osherovich: The city will be there when you wake up in the morning.

[58:00] Misha Osherovich: You're not missing out on too much.

[58:02] Misha Osherovich: Uh, because this city is an incredible place to be, and it's one of the best places to grow as a human and as an artist.

[58:08] Misha Osherovich: Don't let it, don't let it, you know, kind of suck away your energy before you're ready to really enjoy what the city has to offer.

[58:14] BRIAN SEDITA: Well, we always ask our guests this final question.

[58:17] BRIAN SEDITA: Right, which is what is the last great piece of theater that you've seen?

[58:21] Misha Osherovich: I okay, actually, I, you know, I've seen some Broadway and off-Broadway shows recently, but I saw a dance show.

[58:29] Misha Osherovich: Um, and it's called Rubber Band.

[58:31] Misha Osherovich: I know that it's downtown.

[58:33] Misha Osherovich: Um, maybe we can find an insert or you guys can like put it in later, the company.

[58:36] Misha Osherovich: I don't know, the playbill in front of me.

[58:37] Misha Osherovich: But it's called Rubber Band, it's in Chelsea, Chelsea, that's how you say that word.

[58:42] Misha Osherovich: Um, and it was a fully committed troop of dancers that were telling a fucking story.

[58:51] Misha Osherovich: I did not read the playbill, I did not know anything going into this, and they were giving me a full-on human experience with lived in and complex emotions, using their bodies.

[59:02] Misha Osherovich: It was choreographed so beautifully.

[59:04] Misha Osherovich: I, you know, I cried, I got invested, I hated certain characters, and it was a very sobering reminder that anything can be theater if it's telling a story with heart and with technique and with detail.

[59:18] Misha Osherovich: And I left that dance production being jealous of the work ethic and level of commitment that those performers had, even though you could not pay me enough money and put me in enough dance lessons to ever dance to that ability.

[59:33] Misha Osherovich: But it was it was kind of spiritual.

[59:35] Misha Osherovich: I saw these performers at the peak of what it meant to do their craft very well.

[59:42] Misha Osherovich: And so it was just it was nothing short of inspiring for me to watch that.

[59:46] BRIAN SEDITA: So where can our listeners find you online?

[59:49] Misha Osherovich: Oh well.

[59:50] Misha Osherovich: Uh, my name is Misha Osherovich.

[59:53] Misha Osherovich: Uh, I'm at Misha Osherovich on Instagram.

[59:56] Misha Osherovich: I'm not gonna spell that out for you, or should I?

[59:58] Misha Osherovich: I don't know.

[59:59] Misha Osherovich: Well, your name will be the episode that type of.

[1:00:02] Misha Osherovich: Oh, great, great.

[1:00:02] Misha Osherovich: Look at that, look at that.

[1:00:03] Misha Osherovich: Um, but at Misha Rov at Misha Osherovich on Instagram.

[1:00:08] Misha Osherovich: Um, you can check me out there for updates on your website.

[1:00:11] Misha Osherovich: And my website, Misha Osherovich.com.

[1:00:13] Misha Osherovich: I'm very singular.

[1:00:14] Misha Osherovich: Like I have a it's very easy.

[1:00:16] Misha Osherovich: You have a brand.

[1:00:17] Misha Osherovich: I have well, I am the only me too.

[1:00:20] Misha Osherovich: Um, I'm I mean I'm the only Misha Osherovich in existence in the world as far as I know, which is kind of cool.

[1:00:25] Misha Osherovich: Um, but uh yeah, uh I feel like uh social media is definitely a good place to keep up with what I'm doing, and both on the activist front, I'm gonna be working more with the National Eating Disorders Association, hopefully in the future.

[1:00:36] Misha Osherovich: So some events that I'm working on with them, my film, my next film, and also like drop a line and say hey, because I love collaborating and meeting new artists.

[1:00:44] BRIAN SEDITA: So you're gonna have some nice travels.

[1:00:46] Misha Osherovich: Yes.

[1:00:47] Misha Osherovich: I'm going to see.

[1:00:48] BRIAN SEDITA: Yeah.

[1:00:49] Misha Osherovich: No, it's gonna be great.

[1:00:50] BRIAN SEDITA: Thank you so much.

[1:00:52] Misha Osherovich: Thank you.

[1:00:52] Misha Osherovich: Bye.

[1:00:53] BRIAN SEDITA: Bye.

[1:00:55] Mary Dina: Thanks everyone for listening to this episode of Page to Stage.

[1:00:59] Mary Dina: To keep up with us, you can find us on Instagram and Facebook at Page2Stage Podcast.

[1:01:03] Mary Dina: And if you're enjoying these conversations, we would really appreciate it if you could take a couple minutes to rate and review us wherever you're listening to this podcast.

[1:01:11] Mary Dina: Until next time.

[1:01:12] Mary Dina: That's Brian.

[1:01:13] Mary Dina: That's Mary.

[1:01:14] Mary Dina: We'll see you later.

[1:01:15] Mary Dina: Bye.