This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Eli Tokash: Hey everyone and welcome or welcome back to Take A Bow Podcast.

[0:06] Sydney Lucas: I'm Sydney Lucas.

[0:08] Eli Tokash: Oh wow. Um and today, guys, everyone, we have four people on this podcast today, basically.

[0:18] Sydney Lucas: I know.

[0:19] Eli Tokash: This is insane. So this is a special, special episode for Take A Bow.

[0:24] Sydney Lucas: I know we always say each episode is very special, but this one is because this is our first duo guest.

[0:31] Eli Tokash: So we have two hosts and two guests this episode, and they're an amazing Broadway married couple, and they are the best, and they've been in a bunch of Broadway shows, 14 combined actually, and they've been Yeah, and now they have their own headshot company, and you'll learn all about this in the episode. And yeah.

[0:53] Sydney Lucas: Right. So today we have on Curtis Holbrook and Cortney Wolfson, and they are like the epitome of couple goals. Um they're so funny, and um they talk a lot, they talk a lot about first of all, what it's like being in a combined 14 Broadway shows, and also what it's like to run a headshot company and everything that goes into headshots and why headshots are important. So without further ado, Curtis and Cort, curtain up.

[1:43] Eli Tokash: Today, Take A Bow has two guests on the podcast.

[1:47] Sydney Lucas: Yes, that's right. Double the specialness.

[1:50] Eli Tokash: I don't know. Um, so between these two guests, they've uh conquered the industry and have a combined 14 Broadway shows. They've both been in TV shows and movies. They've dabbled in directing and other parts of the industry. And they also have their own headshot company. Everyone, welcome to the podcast Cortney Wolfson and Curtis Holbrook.

[2:15] Curtis Holbrook: Welcome.

[2:21] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah you guys sound good right thanks for that intro.

[2:25] Curtis Holbrook: Those people sound awesome. 14 credits then that they leave it to them to decide who's with who's and they'll think maybe that I had more you do you do.

[2:35] Cortney Wolfson: They tell me like Curtis your mother actually owned a dance studio in San Antonio Texas.

[2:44] Curtis Holbrook: And then Cortney got her start in the show choir in Indiana.

[2:49] Cortney Wolfson: And then you got uh Cortney went to college for musical theater and Curtis just took a shot in LA. So what was it like like moving from these like small towns to big big states and like booking your first big theater jobs.

[3:06] Curtis Holbrook: Man you did your research backstory. It's awesome. You know coming from Texas I I moved to LA just like on a whim. I originally wanted to be a Britney Spears dancer like that was my goal.

[3:20] Cortney Wolfson: Yes.

[3:21] Curtis Holbrook: Brittany Spears I never had Broadway like in in my mind really at all. Um oh wow and then I auditioned for Footloose the musical in Los Angeles took me to New York, and it all happened so quickly. I was 17 years old, and um I remember thinking, Wow, I have no friends. Oh, I literally like moved here and I know nobody, you know. And so like it was it was kind of wild being in this city that had so many people around. I was riding the train with people and around people all the time and didn't know anyone. You know, to be like that in that kind of close contact with people was was wild. And it took a while to like build my tribe and and um you know learn like to talk faster because everybody in New York talks really fast. So those are the I would say those are the big things for me.

[4:15] Cortney Wolfson: Did you actually ever have an accent?

[4:17] Curtis Holbrook: Either of you San Antonio is like such a big city that it's if I talk to my dad on the phone and starts to come back.

[4:24] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, your dad.

[4:25] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, I'll like start swallowing my R's more and like saying y'all and stuff like that.

[4:30] Cortney Wolfson: Y'all, yeah.

[4:31] Curtis Holbrook: Interesting.

[4:32] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, yeah.

[4:32] Curtis Holbrook: What about you, Cortney?

[4:34] Cortney Wolfson: Well, I had college as sort of my like segue from Podunk, Indiana to New York. I think that had I I mean we've told clients this over the years so many times, because you know, we have kids asking, Well, should I go to college, or if I don't get anywhere I want to go, should I just move to New York and give it a shot? Um, but our experiences were just so different.

[4:56] Cortney Wolfson: And I think had I done what Curtis did, I would have fallen flat on my face. Like I was not ready to move to the city and dive in when I graduated high school. Um I'm from, yeah, just like a little, I mean, it's a college town in Indiana, but like you said, my experience and my um like exposure to the business, the music theater business was Show Choir, and we did selections from the wild party.

[5:20] Cortney Wolfson: Like I didn't know what I was doing, and I auditioned for colleges. The only reason I even really knew where to audition was because my high school boyfriend, 900 years ago was also majoring in music theater and he was a year above me. And so I was like, oh, he's auditioning at like CCN and da-da-da-da. And I was like, I'm gonna, I'm I'm gonna get him a shot too. If he can do it, hopefully I can. So I auditioned at Michigan, not even like really realizing that it was what it is.

[5:49] Cortney Wolfson: And I remember just being like, I have to be here. Like this is my place, these are my people. And then I knew I truly knew nothing about what I was doing. Like I knew I loved to sing. I had just done um like a scholarship competition, aka pageant. And I was like, I really liked that, so I'll rather. And then I remember when I was auditioning for schools, they this kid who was in my in my show choir was like, I've I just I've heard that if you're an audition for music theater programs, like the big no-no is don't sing sound time, and I was like, okay, okay.

[6:24] Cortney Wolfson: And I went home and I was like, what's a sondheim? I had never heard that word, like I didn't know it was a thing. And then I got to school, and like the first week we were doing like essays on how to like biographies on famous Broadway people, and my professor was like, We're gonna start out with one that everybody knows, Audrey McDonald. And everyone was like, Yeah, and I had literally never heard her name before.

[6:49] Cortney Wolfson: So I was just like, Yeah. So my transition was slow. By the time I actually got to New York, I was ready. I full force, and I unlike Curtis, had my whole tribe from my uh college friends who are also my best friends, but I was definitely um a little out of my league when I left to do it.

[7:10] Eli Tokash: Wow. Curtis, did you um crash the invited call for Footloose?

[7:15] Curtis Holbrook: Yes, so I did. So I I crashed the invited call for Footloose. Um so I grew up primarily as a dancer or pretty much only a dancer. I didn't really sing or act. Um in the summers, I would go to Los Angeles and take class, take dance class like five hours a day, like for a month solid. And I was there um the year between my junior and senior year of high school, and one of the teachers came up to me and was like, There's this audition, they're looking for kids who can like dance their butts off, um, who look like you.

[7:49] Curtis Holbrook: And I was like, Okay, cool, what do I do? And she was like, Here's the address, like show up with a headshot resume and just walk in. And I was like, Okay. So I showed up again. So I went into I didn't know these exist anymore, but like the the like photo booth to like get your passport photo taken.

[8:09] Curtis Holbrook: Oh, okay. Like went to one of those, I was like, oh, that'll be my headshot. No way. I've never heard this. So I walk in and I I got like a postcard, like one of those white postcards, and wrote down like my high school like theater credits of like the shows that I had danced in, and I stapled my little like two-inch passport photo to the card, and I walk in and I hand for the casting director, who was um Julie uh Julie Hughes of Hughes Moss at that time, who were huge.

[8:37] Curtis Holbrook: They they cast everything at that time. Um I she just kind of like smiled at me and laughed. And it was, you know, it was Los Angeles, so not many people at that time were auditioning for Broadway shows out there because of the the music video scene was really big out there, and um, so it wasn't you know, it was it invited calls like 30 people or something, and you know, they start teaching the choreography, and it's older dancers, they didn't really get the style, and I could see that I was like the only young person in the room, and I was like, I think I have a shot at this.

[9:11] Curtis Holbrook: I think this might happen. Um so they start calling people out like five at a time to to dance, and she's like going through the headshots, right, and like flipping through, and mine falls on the floor. Uh Curtis Holbrook. Um dance, I made it through the dance dance cut, and then they had me sing, and I brought in a cut of Love Potion number nine.

[9:38] Cortney Wolfson: What is that?

[9:39] Curtis Holbrook: I don't know why.

[9:40] Cortney Wolfson: Potion number nine.

[9:42] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, from Smoky Joe's Cafe. You know that.

[9:44] Cortney Wolfson: Oh, okay, okay.

[9:46] Curtis Holbrook: It's for us oldies. So that's my song that I sang. I I finished singing, and the director, Walter Bobby, looks at me and he goes, You're a fantastic dancer. Learn how to sing.

[9:56] Cortney Wolfson: Oh and I was like, Oh, great, cool. I guess I didn't get this job.

[10:05] Curtis Holbrook: Um two weeks later I got a phone call from um my agent at the time who that same teacher set me up with in Los Angeles saying that she was like, Are you sitting down? And I was like, Yes, it's 7 a.m. I just woke up, so I'm having to go to bed.

[10:21] Curtis Holbrook: Um, and she was like, You got you got the job. And the rest is that's pretty awesome.

[10:30] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, but yeah, it was, you know, when looking back on it, it was great to just be naive, have no idea what an open call, invited call, any of those things were. I just went, you know.

[10:43] Eli Tokash: Yeah, I'm I'm fascinated because I I find it so ironic that you had this little passport photo and now you have a headshot company.

[10:54] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, I mean that's I think that's hilarious.

[10:56] Cortney Wolfson: Is that kind of like what got you into like doing headshots and stuff?

[11:00] Curtis Holbrook: Oh, passport photos?

[11:02] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, yeah.

[11:03] Curtis Holbrook: You should see our son Ziggy's passport photo.

[11:06] Cortney Wolfson: He has like the best.

[11:08] Curtis Holbrook: An amazing passport photo. He's wearing like a mock turtleneck, anything.

[11:12] Cortney Wolfson: Because we had to take them home.

[11:13] Curtis Holbrook: So we we took his head shots.

[11:14] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah.

[11:15] Curtis Holbrook: Right.

[11:15] Cortney Wolfson: Oh my god.

[11:16] Curtis Holbrook: We did a full white setup and you know.

[11:18] Cortney Wolfson: It's so outrageous.

[11:19] Curtis Holbrook: Um, I wouldn't say who would say passport photos, Got me.

[11:24] Cortney Wolfson: No, but like that, like that instance, I guess.

[11:27] Curtis Holbrook: Like that, like just the fact that you had like a little passport photo and everyone else had these like great headshots.

[11:37] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah.

[11:38] Curtis Holbrook: That should be part of our website.

[11:39] Cortney Wolfson: It's actually all makes sense though. My first headshot was my passport photo.

[11:43] Curtis Holbrook: I still got the job, so uh I'm not saying headshots aren't important, they are.

[11:53] Cortney Wolfson: My first big theater audition, I think it was for yeah, for Legally Blonde.

[12:00] Curtis Holbrook: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[12:01] Cortney Wolfson: Because I gone to like an open call for uh Pittsburgh CLO, but then I went to uh on Broadway, but I was coming from the St. Louis Muni.

[12:12] Curtis Holbrook: I was working SummerStock where I got my equity card.

[12:16] Cortney Wolfson: Oh wow.

[12:16] Curtis Holbrook: And they called me for the audition because Telsey Company knew me from this like crazy reality show I did in college called um uh CBS My Broadway debut.

[12:31] Cortney Wolfson: Oh my god.

[12:34] Curtis Holbrook: Where Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was on Broadway, and it was like they took five college kids leading up to the Tonies or ten college kids five days leading up to the Tonies, and they would have the college kids like pit against each other on CBS.

[12:46] Cortney Wolfson: They flew us all to New York from Indiana on one summer, and we're like sing a song from a show that's on Broadway.

[12:52] Curtis Holbrook: So I sang from Rent, and then Bernie Telsey was there, lol, like coaching me in a room.

[12:58] Cortney Wolfson: And I didn't, you know, we didn't like really know, like I didn't know Telsey yet. I was in college.

[13:02] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah.

[13:02] Cortney Wolfson: I didn't know I'd be like, that was the beginning of my beautiful relationship with this man who gave me like every job in my life.

[13:09] Curtis Holbrook: For those of you who don't know, Bernie Telsey is like a huge, huge, huge casting director.

[13:14] Cortney Wolfson: And maybe he's the best.

[13:15] Curtis Holbrook: And I was so green, but like from that, I guess he had submitted me or whatever, gave my information to uh Craig Burns and Justin Huff, and so they brought me in, and Rachel Hoffman at the time too, all kinds of directors.

[13:15] Curtis Holbrook: They brought me in for Legally Blonde on Broadway, and I was like, I'm gonna fly from the St. Louis Muni and go to this audition.

[13:33] Cortney Wolfson: And I got out of rehearsal, it was like a huge deal for them to let me out, and I got to the Chicago airport and my flight was delayed, so I called Telsey Company, and I was like, I'm running late for my big audition, and they were like, It's next week.

[13:49] Cortney Wolfson: Oh my god.

[13:51] Curtis Holbrook: No, what I was like, I'm sorry, what I flew back to St. Louis from Chicago, didn't get this.

[14:02] Cortney Wolfson: You don't know the story.

[14:04] Curtis Holbrook: So much about each other today.

[14:06] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, really?

[14:07] Curtis Holbrook: I'm remembering the story.

[14:09] Cortney Wolfson: This is so you guys, this was uh 20 almost 20 years ago.

[14:13] Curtis Holbrook: No, is that crazy?

[14:15] Cortney Wolfson: I don't know. I feel like I'm really showing my age, but this is a long time ago.

[14:18] Curtis Holbrook: Not years ago.

[14:20] Cortney Wolfson: But like we call this, we call this BC before Curtis.

[14:25] Curtis Holbrook: But I flew back to St. Louis, and then I somehow bamboozled the Muni to let me go back again for the actual audition, and then I went in, and I just remember saying to Jerry Mitchell, you you know my college roommate.

[14:40] Cortney Wolfson: And he was like, What? But my college roommate's mom was his best friend in high school, and she's a haircut picture. It was so crazy. Anyway, I'm sure it was terrible. I don't, I mean, I didn't get it, obviously. Well, then you worked for Jerry Mitchell in Kinky Boots.

[14:55] Curtis Holbrook: So that's why I ended up doing Lily Lee Von tour.

[14:58] Cortney Wolfson: Oh, okay. Years later. But that was my first thing with actual Broadway audition. It was so banana, banana banana cake. I don't know what I was thinking. I had the date wrong. It was like cell phones were just invented. It was so crazy. Oh my god.

[15:15] Eli Tokash: So you guys met doing The Addams Family on Broadway, right? And you guys met because a cast member broke their hand, and Curtis, you had to be called in to be like this immediate replacement. Uh Curtis, what was it like being in that position to have to like come in with super short notice and just take over?

[15:36] Curtis Holbrook: Um, it was kind of crazy. Um I come from the days, oh god, an assembly. I but when I first started, like so my when I was a replacement at Footloose, I had five days to go into the show. Um and then my the show I did after that was Fosse, and I had four days to go into the show.

[15:53] Cortney Wolfson: Oh my god.

[15:53] Curtis Holbrook: Oh, so you were like a pro by then. So that's like I actually prefer it that way. I love I hate when I have like three weeks to learn a show and then go in. It's just it's too much. I would rather it like you know, build up to that moment. So yeah, it was Adam's Family though, it was weird though, because it was like Bebe Neuwirth, and I had like some stuff that I had to do with her. Not anything like crazy, but you know, like she's a little bit more than a lot of things.

[16:21] Cortney Wolfson: What did you have to do with Bebe?

[16:23] Curtis Holbrook: There was like one lift lift. Oh yeah. That we had to like have lift call. Yeah, yeah. Like things like that, you know. So it's like I couldn't just like do the show I was taught. I affected other people around me, which is which is true of like ninety nine percent of shows. But well, when you have someone of that caliber, like you want to make sure that they're really careful when she's singing her solo and you you have, you know.

[16:51] Cortney Wolfson: Um so that that was I would say the most nerve-wracking part of The Addams.

[16:56] Curtis Holbrook: I would imagine.

[16:57] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah. And how many days did you have to like prepare before your first show?

[17:02] Curtis Holbrook: For The Addams Family? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um I had three weeks to learn The Addams Family. Um, that's kind of crazy because Mo had broken his hand, and um I thought I need to get into the show quickly. But I what I've learned was I was also covering the Wesley Taylor role, Lucas Beinecke, who played opposite Wednesday. And there was gonna be a specific time during that three weeks that there was gonna be no cover in the building due to the and and personal days and stuff like that. So I actually came in and learned that I learned Lucas before I learned the track that I was going into on stage.

[17:41] Cortney Wolfson: Oh, interesting.

[17:42] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, it was kind of crazy. Um I spent the first week learning Lucas, second week learning uh puffy pants, they call them puppy pants.

[17:50] Cortney Wolfson: The conquistador.

[17:51] Curtis Holbrook: Yes. Um and then I was supposed to have one more week before I went in, but Stage Manager called me on a Sunday afternoon and was like, hey, we have so many people out of the show this morning. Could you go in today? And I was like, heck yes, let's do this.

[18:06] Cortney Wolfson: So wow, you had two weeks basically to learn two roles. That's crazy.

[18:10] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, yeah. Unreal. That's pretty cool though. And on Broadway, you two only did you only have um ten total performances together on Broadway?

[18:20] Cortney Wolfson: Total performances, yes. And we really didn't spend any time in those tracks together. I honestly barely remember Curtis.

[18:30] Curtis Holbrook: You're not you're not rememberable.

[18:32] Cortney Wolfson: I have two memories of him from those ten days. I remember it the morning that they called us all to be like, hey, we have so many people out, we're gonna have to run the opening because Curtis is going in early. And I was like, oh, that new kid's coming in, and we were like dance person. So I remember doing that, and then I remember we had one understudy rehearsal together. And other than that, I legitimately don't remember him until he came to the tour like a year and a half later.

[19:02] Curtis Holbrook: But I remember we would get our wigs on at the same time right next to each other.

[19:07] Cortney Wolfson: Oh boy.

[19:08] Curtis Holbrook: I was sitting there getting my wig on, and he would be like like chatting with um whoever put her wig on at that time, and I would just listen to everything she said. He said complain about my boyfriend.

[19:20] Cortney Wolfson: I wasn't gonna say that because we're all into this.

[19:25] Curtis Holbrook: I said people.

[19:26] Cortney Wolfson: Oh my god. Yeah, so I used to live in there and complain about our boyfriend, and I was like, I want to be her boyfriend.

[19:32] Curtis Holbrook: That's so cute.

[19:34] Cortney Wolfson: I don't remember. And then my contract was up and we didn't see each other for another. We didn't even say goodbye. Didn't even say goodbye. This is insane. So and then it was b it your relationships ship seems like more and more like fate because then in the same show, you guys went on tour together, and this time you guys were playing opposite of each other, and like I I mean that was crazy. Did you guys like during the tour, did you guys ever feel like the chemistry that was kind of like there?

[20:03] Curtis Holbrook: You know, it's funny because the guy who pla who Curtis He's like testing me. The guy who Curtis replaced was um like my gay best friend. So I will say as soon as Curtis came in, like the dynamic was very different because I had spent, you know, I was out on on tour at that point for a year and and change before Curtis joined. So by the like from the time that Curtis left the Broadway company to this point now is going on a year and a half, even more maybe. It had been so long since I'd seen him, and I just remember that like we had a put in for him. It was so weird how it worked. We had a put in for Curtis, and then we had a three-week hiatus.

[20:47] Cortney Wolfson: Six weeks.

[20:48] Curtis Holbrook: Six week hiatus. So I did my put-in, six weeks off, and then they were like, Okay, good luck. But so they brought in it was like the year contract had just ended, so we had a handful of people leave, and we played Lucas was one of them. So Curtis and some other castmates were coming in at that time, and they were like, So we're gonna do the put-in in Atlanta, send everybody home for six weeks, then everyone's gonna reconvene in Dallas six weeks later, and we'll do some brush-ups, and then we'll start the the show again, but with this new company, with like you know, with the rem the whoever was left from the original company and then these new people. And um, I remember doing the marriage scene or whatever it was, some scene where we had a kiss at the end of the show, and Curtis Don't tell us, yeah.

I'm telling it, I'm telling it. I was like, who's this guy think he is? Like, we're just acting, like, get over yourself. Oh my god. I was such a brat about it. But looking back, like we had six weeks before he was gonna have to really do the show, and he was like, Like, why go through this right now? Basically, we were complete strangers.

[21:52] Cortney Wolfson: I mean, totally, and it was like built into the bows, it wasn't the only thing. It was so awkward and so weird, and like on a six count of it was so strange. I was just trying to be respectful. He was trying to be a gentleman, and I agree, but then he ended up leaving early too. He got another job, so he didn't even finish out his contract.

[22:09] Curtis Holbrook: Oh wow, so like looking back on it, like, yes, um, we definitely had chemistry, and it was definitely different than you when I was smooching my gay bestie. We were so blindsided by how quick everything was, and you know, we both were going through. I had been on the road by that time almost two years, so I was just like ready to get home and like going through my own thing, and but we became such good friends. I do remember that. I remember telling one of my girlfriends at home, like, oh my gosh, I finally have this like great friend from the outside who hasn't been stuck in this bubble with me, and that was super refreshing. And it just started the foundation for like you know, everything we didn't know.

[22:49] Cortney Wolfson: So, wait, did you remember like Curtis from like the Broadway production when he came in?

[22:54] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, okay.

[22:55] Cortney Wolfson: For sure, because I and I think I sent you a Facebook message. Welcoming you. I believe I sent you a Facebook message.

[23:02] Curtis Holbrook: Oh, maybe.

[23:03] Cortney Wolfson: Oh welcoming your I remember being like, oh, this is great that they brought out this guy who has all these Broadway credits, who I knew who I went, who I was like, yeah, he was nice. I remember thinking like Curtis legitimized what we were doing because we had lost you know touch with New York and reality from being out on the road for some.

[23:23] Curtis Holbrook: Well the show had gone through changes as well because it you know it had its bumps in New York that they wanted to kind of figure out, so they rewrote a portion of the show on the road too. So they're bringing this Broadway guy out, and I I was super excited about that, and super excited that I knew who you were and knew you, which was it was nice. But yeah, by the time he came out, we were all so ready to go home that we were like, bye.

[23:47] Eli Tokash: That's awesome. It is so crazy that you guys have a combined 14 Broadway shows. That's just that's crazy. You guys are couple goals. I don't mean to like age anyone here, but I'm gonna say that one of you uh had been in three Broadway shows before Sydney and I were born. I mean that in the most respectful way possible.

[24:15] Curtis Holbrook: That is the quote of the monk.

[24:18] Cortney Wolfson: No funny. I won't I won't say who you guys can do research if you want.

[24:26] Curtis Holbrook: No, but I'm with Curtis Holbrook.

[24:33] Eli Tokash: But most recently, uh, Curtis, you were in SpongeBob and you were in the ensemble, you also understudied SpongeBob. And Cortney, you understudied uh Lena Hall, who played Nicola in Kinky Boots, and then you eventually took over for the role. Um in Cortney's case, what what did you learn most from being an understudy and then like having to take over and and like stepping into the role?

[24:58] Cortney Wolfson: Um, and also I I and this is something we've talked about on the podcast like a lot of times. Understudy, in my opinion, is like one of the hardest, all-time hardest roles in theater period.

[25:10] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, for sure. I I 100% can to uh can attest to that. My all three Broadway shows that I was in, I understudied, and I think it's so difficult. I mean it's amazing, but it's it it's equally as exciting as it is stress inducing, I think. Something I learned from now having understudies and being an understudy and taking over for Lena is like like a per the perfect understudy is somebody who of course finds their own reason for doing things as the character, but also takes into account the work that the person who originated the role already did. And I've I've learned that from both sides, and it was something that I really think came with years of doing it and having people cover me, seeing them cover me, what like watching them try to do the work from scratch, and then me trying to do work from scratch that the person I was covering had already done for me.

And I think especially in comedy, um, it's the the person who originated the role nine times out of ten, like really worked on that craft with their director and and and tried all this stuff and failed. And then by the time it opened on Broadway and then into the run, figured out those intricacies of like what makes something funny or what makes something land or what makes something work with their partner. I just think that um really like if if you ever are taking over, if you ever are understudying, really giving uh the respect to the person that you're you're covering and finding out like do they step on their left foot from the wing on the count of eight for a reason? You know what I mean?

Like that stuff, and having people take over from me and like and watching it all unfold was has been such a learning experience for me. But it makes me have the utmost respect for anybody who's in that position because it is super stress inducing. I mean, Curtis can attest to it, uh going on for Ethan 900 times and and during the Tonys and everything that was happening. It's a tough role, it's amazing, and it's a great way to like build your your career and your resume, I think. Because you know, as you're too young or you're inexperienced to be cast as the roles, it's I have nothing but but love for what I've done in my career in those situations, but it's definitely hard. And honestly, if I never did it again, I would be fine with that. Because it's really hard, it's too much stress.

[27:30] Curtis Holbrook: It is, it is. Did you find like because a lot of times, like people only like sometimes you know, you just go into a show like replacing someone, like, did you find it helpful uh the fact that you like started as an understudy and then got to like well, especially in that role, like something that I talked about a lot in that company.

[27:54] Cortney Wolfson: Well, first of all, that company, the people in Kinky Boots are like the best people ever. Like most fun I've had with a company, they are so wacky and so crazy, and that role is very isolated. You know, that role used to be very different in Chicago and in previews, and and the role got cut down a lot as the writers came to realize like what the audience needed to focus on. And I think that since she made I think it was like seven entrances in the show, and she was an antagonist in many ways. She she didn't get to like be arm in arm with other characters in the show. I think had I not started out in the ensemble, I would have felt very lonely in the building in a show that has a lot of um amazing relationships and camaraderie backstage.

And I think that moving from the ensemble gondola into my own dressing room, my ended up magnetizing and becoming like the chicken coop, you know, like people come in and we chat and do our thing and like let the drama spawn and have a blast backstage. And it made it totally enriched my life because I already had those off-stage relationships, and it made my transition into that role just so much easier. I think it's hard also when you walk into a company and you play the butthole that, oh geez, here I am being mean, I'm gonna leave. I don't know anybody. So I was really lucky that I had friends first before in the thing.

[29:19] Curtis Holbrook: That's interesting. The something that surprised me about doing theater and doing Broadway is it wasn't necessarily going on, you know, doing the actual show that was most memorable for me. It was the times that I experienced backstage with the person. Yeah, making your tribe. Yeah, people like-minded people with, you know, same values and interests and loves. It's like it's super powerful. I've always said that that stage door closes behind you, and it's like you're in a whole new world. It is like a whole alternate universe from reality that is like so, you know. I do I miss that the most, I think. Yeah, just right now, you know, it's times. Curtis, I want to hear your stories about understudying Spongebob.

[30:07] Cortney Wolfson: Oh my god.

[30:10] Curtis Holbrook: Where do so here's the thing. I was never so I I started with SpongeBob six years before the show opened on Broadway. Um I had worked with Tina before Tina Landau, our director before, and um she was just assembling people together to try to figure out like could SpongeBob be a musical exist on stage without, you know, big mascot foam character costumes. The untitled Tina Landau project. Yes. So I two thousand and thirteen. So I got to be a part of it like from the very first draft of the script and from songs being like she would literally be like, Oh, I know who should write this, like panic at the disco, and she would like email Nickelodeon's like music guy, and he would reach out and the next day we'd have a song.

Like it was That's insane. It was so crazy. That's so cool. The whole that whole process. So I got to really like I I've always said I could never have done the role. I could have never played the role if it wasn't for Ethan. And what Ethan what Ethan explored and what Ethan created and the reason that I went back to that that time is that I never thought I'd be a SpongeBob understudy. I never thought I like I just didn't see myself doing that. I I saw myself doing other things in the show that that I ended up doing and creating. Um, but I just never saw that happen. She came to me and she was like, I need you to do this because you've been there to see what Ethan's done every step of the way.

She was like, you know, you you get it, you get the DNA of the show. She's like, I trust you. Um, and so I was like, okay, I guess I'm doing this. And to be honest with you, I didn't know how it could ever be done. Um because I didn't get the SpongeBob boot camp that you know Ethan got in creating this role through workshops and and all these things. So I just tried to be as prepared as I possibly could be. And man, when I first had to go on, it was just kind of like, here we go. I hope I can do this. I hope I didn't get to build the stamina up for it. It was something that had to come through just like doing shows.

[32:26] Cortney Wolfson: You lost like weight when you were going on.

[32:28] Curtis Holbrook: I lost like 15 pounds. I was out of town. Oh my god. I was at a town doing a show in Chicago, and when Curtis called me, he was going on. By the time I got home from Chicago, my husband was like a different man. Oh my god. Who are you? Like he was so skinny. Wow. Like a different, I mean it was crazy. Just because it's a freakish.

[32:51] Curtis Holbrook: I would imagine it. It it's so much in like endurance. Yeah. Endurance. Um, you know, I think my dance background, like, if I didn't have that, there's no way that it would have happened. For sure. Um, and you know, it it was just one of those things where, like what Cortney was saying, I'm a big believer as well as like Ethan figured it out, you know, and not to say I'm gonna just copy what Ethan does, I have to make it, you know, truthful for myself, or no one will believe what I'm doing on stage. So I have to find that. But you can't just do your own show, you're gonna screw up the show for everyone else on that stage. Especially in an ensemble show like that. So you know, my approach to it in the beginning was I can do like Ethan's show, and then after like my eighth show, I can start to find my own things.

Um and it was really cool. It was I remember two of the biggest compliments that I got just backstage from some of my castmates were like as I was going on, somebody said to me, like, the show doesn't feel different now. Like it doesn't feel different from when Ethan's on or you're on. Like it just feels like well that was like part part way through me going on, and then somebody said to me, it started to shift where it was like, Oh, Curtis is on. Okay, we know this the Curtis show. Like there was a there was an Ethan show and there was a Curtis show. So like I was able to eventually, you know, play with with everyone around me on stage, and um it was so awesome. It was wild, it was such an awesome show.

Crazy thing to do. And the biggest thing with SpongeBob was you know, I didn't grow up watching Spongebob, so I I had to like get to know what the heck this this thing was all about. I had literally never we I'd never seen it. Yeah, really. I'm gonna see maybe like two episodes now that you that you did the show, but we I never saw we're like just just too old to like have really delved into ORKs. So like the biggest responsibility that I felt like I had was that I didn't want one person in that theater to be able to say that's not Spongebob. You know, so that was that was the big the ultimate goal.

[35:09] Curtis Holbrook: I find it really fascinating that like your first audition in Footloose, like the guy just told you the director told you that you needed to work on singing and then you were playing SpongeBob and like singing songs from like John Legend and Steven Tyler and the discount. Like the fact that someone said that to him, somebody who's like held in the highest human business. I don't know, maybe you were having a bad day. I don't know. It's funny.

[35:35] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, that's crazy to me.

[35:37] Curtis Holbrook: You didn't sing at that time.

[35:38] Cortney Wolfson: Um to be perfectly honest with you. Like I, you know, I think growing up a dancer and being a dancer, dancers always tell themselves they can't sing.

[35:48] Curtis Holbrook: Oh yeah.

[35:49] Cortney Wolfson: I have that.

[35:50] Curtis Holbrook: I have that.

[35:51] Cortney Wolfson: It's always in the back of my head.

[35:53] Curtis Holbrook: It's like, hey, you're a great singer, babe.

[35:55] Cortney Wolfson: Hey, thanks, babe. I love you.

[35:57] Curtis Holbrook: But no, I but I definitely like, you know, I’m so I I got started so young that by the time I think I was like 23 or something, I was like, I need to start working on my voice. So I I definitely like worked on it, and I always had kind of like a rock sensibility, naturally. So you know the Spongebob thing kind of like it was great because my voice naturally lives very high.

[36:24] Cortney Wolfson: Higher than I can.

[36:25] Curtis Holbrook: That's not true. He can like scrout higher than I can. But I find I find when not thinking that as physical as Spongebob, something like that, that singing high is just easier at that moment. So bringing it all together just worked for me, you know.

[36:41] Cortney Wolfson: Wow.

[36:42] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah. So cut to okay, after being in 11 Broadway shows, um, not a big deal. Um you you assembled a group of incredible artists like uh Gabby Pizzolo, Max Von Essen, Rebecca Lucer, and even your wife, Cortney Wilson. Um then you did a benefit production of the actor uh for the actors fun of Secret Garden, and that was your directorial debut, right?

[37:17] Cortney Wolfson: That was my second show I directed with that company.

[37:21] Curtis Holbrook: What is it like being on the other side? And like honestly, like Cortney, you can talk about it too because you were practically the assistant director of the Secret Garden. Um do you like that side? Like, do you have like a preference? Do you like being on stage? Do you like directing? Like, I wanna I'm curious.

[37:41] Cortney Wolfson: Good question.

[37:43] Curtis Holbrook: Oh, Eli, if I knew that I'd you know, I'd be doing one thing. I here's my thing. Like, I'm happy as long as I'm being creative in some way. It changes all the time. There have been like how many times since we've been dating that I'm like, I quit being an actor, I'm done. I just and then he's like, oh, I heard about this thing. I really want to do this. That could be my last show.

[38:15] Cortney Wolfson: Oh yeah, yeah, it's never allowed.

[38:19] Curtis Holbrook: So I don't I I mean, I love directing. It was it was such an amazing experience. It was a really eye-opening experience to to it was really helpful to be on that side of the the table to to know what as an actor to know what my director is dealing with. There have been What are you trying to say about your cast?

[38:38] Cortney Wolfson: Because there are two of us sitting right here.

[38:40] Curtis Holbrook: Well, what I'm saying is I'm saying for me as an actor when I'm I because actors get insecure and you think like oh they don't like what I'm or they they haven't talked to me in a while so they must not like me or but directors literally like hire people who they trust in the room to play these roles and they have so much other stuff that they're dealing with behind the scenes um they're looking at the overall picture they're looking at the sets and the costumes they're trying to make sure Rebecca Lucre doesn't fall in the dark yes no gosh let's not talk about that um so um you know it it gave me just perspective in that way to know that it's not all about us actors yeah right it's you know also like when a director gives a note a lot of times actors are like I did it wrong or they you know they get like super insecure about themselves and it's definitely nice to have that um other other just side perspective being like no no no it's no this is this is why I do what I do this is the other side this is interesting too because because Rebecca Liber's in it and we're all like so obsessed with her and the fact that she agreed to do this show and this role it was just so interesting because Curtis obviously like still had to be a director but we wanted to he was we're like whatever you do is perfect yes you can do no wrong and isn't it and she did it on Broadway like you know she's like she's literally perfect.

[40:16] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah freezing out I just feel like our jaw was on the floor the whole time just why but she was so incredible. I mean, every single day she would come up to me and be like, is there anything that you any thoughts you have? Anything I can do differently. She was dead. That's awesome. Everyone in that whole experience. Well, the thing about Friends and Theater Company that was really cool, and I Eli, I think you can agree and attest to this, is you know, n no one was there for any other reason than to raise money for Make a Wish. Right. And ultimately, I think it's really cool to, you know, with the when when a show becomes your job, it just there's something that shifts, you know. And this was not a job.

This was we're all there for a common reason that's really positive. And um I think, you know, it brings acting back to just being like a hobby. Right. Or storytelling being a hobby. And I think it opens up um, you know, the the world of possibilities. Because when you get into commercial theater, like it kind of it does narrow and it's hard to like, you know, keep that scope open to like what could could be. So the fact that everyone, Rebecca Lucker included Cam and Max von Essen, like everyone was so amazing coming in and just being like, yeah, what do you got?

[41:35] Cortney Wolfson: Like, everyone could have just come in and said, you know what, I'm gonna do it.

[41:38] Curtis Holbrook: I'm obsessed with that, Kaz.

[41:39] Cortney Wolfson: We actually had Max and Allie on.

[41:43] Curtis Holbrook: We actually had Ali on last week and Max a couple like one of our first episodes. I we love them so much. Max and Allie and I what was my Brahmin debut, it was working with those two. And I had the most love for them. I just the whole that whole company was such a special. And it's the other thing too about the Secret Garden production is like we were all in shows. Like we were all like, this was really, like you said, like our hobby was this show. Like, because we just love to do it so much. And it was interesting because Allie was actually saying, like doing Secret Garden just like made her appreciate the other show she was doing more. Like you know, like she was like she said something off that night. I took a because we did two performances, right? I took a show off from King Boots to do it. I remember that. And but it was like yes, so it was like playing. Right. Like, you know, the way that it used to feel that way. That was so awesome.

[42:38] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, it was a ton of fun.

[42:40] Eli Tokash: Yeah, but I mean, like, you guys have so many creative talents. Uh so I don't think you have to choose. You I mean, you guys with your our like your triple threats and your photography and and you being a makeup artist, Cortney. Um it's it's pretty incredible how many how many just creative talents you have. Um, but I do have a question for you real quick before we start talking about like the headshot business. I wanna know if you could be in another show together, which one would you want to be in?

[43:12] Cortney Wolfson: We don't really talk about that, do we?

[43:13] Curtis Holbrook: A show together.

[43:14] Cortney Wolfson: The last I that would be your last one, don't worry.

[43:20] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, Curtis, what do you want your last show ever?

[43:25] Curtis Holbrook: Okay, okay. Um I don't know. Our last show together. I've always said um You're in town would be a great show for us.

[43:34] Cortney Wolfson: I don't want to be that you'd be so good.

[43:36] Curtis Holbrook: Let's hope.

[43:37] Cortney Wolfson: That's not really my role, honey.

[43:40] Curtis Holbrook: Alright, fine. I said last five years, but they hate each other most of the time.

[43:44] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah.

[43:45] Curtis Holbrook: Ooh.

[43:46] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah.

[43:47] Curtis Holbrook: I don't know. Well we always we have our dream production of Aida that we wanna but Curtis wants to direct and Corey Rapit.

[43:54] Cortney Wolfson: Oh, that's amazing.

[43:56] Curtis Holbrook: We've cast it like all we cast it in it on the subway, the car wherever we are.

[44:01] Eli Tokash: I love it. We've been talking about it from since Secret Garden. We're like the next one's Aida, and this is how it's gonna go. Think about this. Jalen Josie as Aida.

[44:13] Curtis Holbrook: Well that's pretty good.

[44:15] Eli Tokash: I'm not gonna tell you.

[44:24] Cortney Wolfson: Do you know who John Arthur Green is?

[44:26] Curtis Holbrook: Yes.

[44:27] Cortney Wolfson: Jag.

[44:29] Curtis Holbrook: Yes!

[44:30] Cortney Wolfson: Oh my god. So I love Jag. Jalen, Jag, and this one starring in Aida. How about that?

[44:35] Eli Tokash: Okay. What are you? Are you gonna be directing?

[44:37] Curtis Holbrook: I'll direct.

[44:39] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, hold your head.

[44:40] Eli Tokash: Oh perfect. Yeah. Alright. There it is. It's gotta happen. Whoever's you're directing, casting, like all of it.

[44:48] Curtis Holbrook: It's a done deal. This is our casting call for Aida. We don't know where or when, but it's like give me a passport so now if you want.

[44:57] Cortney Wolfson: That's so funny. Free headshots for all who show up at the cast.

[45:04] Eli Tokash: Um wait, so uh just quickly I have one more question before we go to headshots. Um You guys have obviously been in a bunch of shows, like we said, and you guys have actually learned a lot of activities through the shows that you guys have been in. Like for example, like Curtis for Xana do and Spongebob, you had to like roller ski and stuff like that. Like what's been your like favorite activity you've learned from a show that you like still incorporate in your life?

[45:33] Cortney Wolfson: Oh, I don't mind. Yeah, go for it. Well, I haven't done it in a long time, but uh I played Brooke Wyndham on the Lily Blonde Tour for a while, and I had I learned to like killer jump rope.

[45:44] Eli Tokash: No way.

[45:46] Cortney Wolfson: And I haven't done it not like that. I used to do the routine all the time to like see if I still knew it, but that was crazy. And it was just like such a fun like activity to have. I'm not sure if I can still do it, but put it on the resume. Accents too, like doing like doing secret garden and just like British accents for days and kinky boots my whole life. And I did Romeo Michelle and had to do like a really weird like Mirror Servino LA weird voice, which I still do, but like imitating voices and accents is like my favorite thing in the world.

[46:24] Eli Tokash: Nice.

[46:25] Curtis Holbrook: Well, roller skating, obviously. That's been so much fun. Um in fact, I still have my Spongebob roller skates, and I do break them out occasionally.

[46:35] Cortney Wolfson: Oh wow.

[46:35] Curtis Holbrook: Oh yeah. Um but so in Footloose, I got to do something called Spanish web.

[46:42] Eli Tokash: You can still do the Spanish web. What is that?

[46:45] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah. Um so it's it's where you climb a rope and you hang on the rope by one arm, and then they spin you, and you're kind of like parallel.

[46:53] Eli Tokash: Oh, no way.

[46:55] Curtis Holbrook: Epic. Yeah, it was awesome. Um so at the end of uh act one, there was this big like gym gym number that we did where we like bounce balls and jumping rope, and then the end of it I would like climb the rope and they would spin me, and then you'd go to a blackout, and it was crazy.

[47:12] Cortney Wolfson: That sounds so much fun.

[47:14] Curtis Holbrook: But that and then for Oklahoma, I had to learn how to trick rope.

[47:18] Eli Tokash: Last uh what's that? For us later.

[47:21] Curtis Holbrook: Oh, oh, okay. Yeah, so last sewing. So doing like wedding rings and jumping in and out of the loop, and um, I never thought like go like growing up in Texas and going to rodeos and stuff like that. Like trick roping didn't look that difficult.

[47:35] Cortney Wolfson: It is so hard.

[47:36] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah. Yeah. It's I always thought the rope was just kind of fixed into like its shape, but you create the shape, and then you like, yeah, you you make it happen. And you have to spin the rope in your hand while you're while the rope is orbiting around, you have to spin the rope in your hand.

[47:55] Cortney Wolfson: Um wow.

[47:57] Curtis Holbrook: Right. So it's like a lot of different things happening at once. But once you figure it out, it's so fun.

[48:03] Cortney Wolfson: That's awesome. That's been a really cool one. Good party trick. And being you know, being cats in, I figure I have to have like one Texan thing about me. So now I do.

[48:11] Eli Tokash: Made your dad proud, right?

[48:14] Curtis Holbrook: If the cowboys can't make me proud or Texans proud, then my trick rope.

[48:21] Eli Tokash: Okay. Well, we I mean, we gotta talk about your your headshot um business, your headshot company. Um, you started a headshot, you were both um as a duo, we love duos here, uh started a headshot company called Curtis and Cort Photography. What inspired you to create a business together? And where did you get the idea to do headshots?

[48:41] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, so it's been a kind of a long road. I I um I had a string of Broadway shows closed back to back to back. Um yeah, uh what were they?

[48:51] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, Taboo, Boy from Oz, and all shook up like back to back to back.

[48:58] Curtis Holbrook: And so I had been living in New York at that time seven years, I think it was, and I was like, I just need another creative outlet. I was like, because I'm just I'm going to dance class, I'm going to auditions, and the business was just feeling kind of rough at that time. Um, and so I just wanted to learn something new. And since I didn't go to college and I did I didn't continue my education in something else, I just thought, why not like you know learn some something new? So I picked up a camera.

[49:28] Cortney Wolfson: Um, I learned on film. I went to this like nine-week intensive at a place called Photo Manhattan in New York.

[49:36] Curtis Holbrook: Oh wow. Um, and we had different assignments twice a week that we had to do. We had to like, you know, like shoot a roll of film and then go get it developed and then bring it in, and it was like a really cool process. My last assignment was self-portraits, and so I went around the city and I set up my camera and did all these portraits, and they ended up looking like like kick-ass headshots.

[49:59] Cortney Wolfson: And I was like, I started using some, and some of them were getting work. Friends started asking if I would take their picture, and I was like, sure, yeah, let's do it. Um, so it sort of became something that was like started to become an idea of like, okay, maybe this could be a side hustle. Because I feel like you know, all actors these days have some kind of a side hustle, um, just to keep you going.

[50:22] Curtis Holbrook: Um, and so it was something I would do like in between gigs, or you know, I was charging like 99 for headshots. So think back on. Um, and then uh then I had a couple shows that were a little more successful because I kind of put it away for a little bit while I was doing West Side Story.

[50:40] Cortney Wolfson: Um, I didn't really shoot, and then Cortney and I met, and to be perfectly honest with you, I didn't even think like, oh, let's create a business together. I was just like, oh, Curtis and Court. That's a good name. What the fuck? What can we do together? Isn't that ridiculous? It was like two weeks into dating, right? And we I was like, let's make a business.

[51:06] Cortney Wolfson: Oh, the relationship works out. Granted, two weeks into dating, we like knew we were getting married too. So we were like, so sure. Like I I told my therapist, I'm done dating. I've met him. And so we sort of like we started talking about it, and I was shooting still a little bit off and on then, and her agents actually sent me, sent her. Wait, this is so funny. I found the email the other day by accident. I didn't know you typed something in your email and it says like the 40 people who were named that. And something I I must have typed your name in. I don't know what I was doing. Anyway, it said it was an uh email from my agent. I had just gotten off the Adam Feminine tour and I needed new headshots because I had just gotten bangs.

[51:46] Curtis Holbrook: As you do.

[51:49] Cortney Wolfson: And I was like, need some new shots. And she was like, she listed a bunch of people and she said Curtis. And Curtis and I weren't dating yet. But I was like, I know him. That's like, I don't know, it's some weird. Which goes to show that I like in my the back of my brain, like obviously had sort of some sort of affection for him. So I'm like guarding his eyes for two hours.

[52:09] Curtis Holbrook: And I was like, I'm not going to that dude.

[52:18] Cortney Wolfson: People could be free. But so I got new head jobs. And then I just remember being like, oh yeah, Curtis is a photographer, right? But then we started dating, and I had been kicking around the idea of so the tour was just ending. I didn't know about kinky boots get, which was my next gig. And I, you know, like whenever a a great gig ends, you know there's gonna be usually some time off and the where you spend all the money that you saved um so I was like you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna put myself in makeup school because I'm super interested in it and I always had done like wacky stuff with my makeup and shows especially if there were like you know no makeup artists to tell us don't be crazy.

[52:59] Curtis Holbrook: So every night for Legally Blonde I had like some wackado makeup because I was just like experimenting and trying and like spending my money and different every night yeah I did just like whatever. Like no one ever told me what to or to not do. So it was like sort of a running joke like in legally blonde like what my makeup would look like every night. Sometimes it was great sometimes it wasn't.

[53:22] Cortney Wolfson: But I was super obsessed with it and I was like maybe I should figure out how to do this for real thinking I'll freelance as like you know a a wedding makeup artist or something. So I had like tossed that idea out and Curtis was like I work with freelance makeup artists and he was like there's always this like I'm getting to know my client but I'm also getting to know my makeup artist and I guess you can talk more on that about yeah so we I mean it was like that dynamic was always kind of you know one that I didn't necessarily want to have I want to focus on the client you know and so you know with her style being amazing as you can see um being interested in makeup and all these things I was like why why not offer a like a complete package of makeup styling you know photography um and also what I found really interesting too is having different perspectives like having like we we will look at a shot together and find different reasons like why it's great or why it's not and we'll we'll she'll see something that I did not see.

[54:28] Cortney Wolfson: You know, so it's it's been interesting to to have that perspective for sure.

[54:35] Eli Tokash: Okay, yeah. So for those listening what okay so like obviously like headshots are one of the most important things when you're auditioning.

[54:46] Cortney Wolfson: Like headshots are the first things that casting directors in the creative team sees.

[54:50] Eli Tokash: Um before you even walk into the room they'll have your headshot and they'll be like oh yeah like we'll see him and he can come audition and he looks like something that we're or they're they look like that um there's something that they're interested in.

[55:03] Curtis Holbrook: Um so explain what um like what are expected from headshots like what are like I don't know like what you guys do for to get like the best shot.

[55:17] Curtis Holbrook: Well here's the thing every casting director that we've ever talked to about headshots they want the head shot to look like what walks in the room. You know that is like the most important thing and I think you know it's very tempting to get to want to get creative with lights and flex and filters and things like that but ultimately we would be doing a disservice to our client.

[55:46] Cortney Wolfson: So my goal is to represent our client in the best way possible and to make sure that they're getting a shot that represents them. You know in terms of not only what they're wearing but like in getting to know them, like, do they need more of a dramatically lit shot? Do they need something brighter? Do they need something cheery? Do they need something just like kind of serious but kind of accessible? You know, that there's there's a whole like process that we go through to figure out what that is for the person.

[56:16] Curtis Holbrook: So definitely just like making sure that the shot looks like them, and then that person walking in the room feels so kick-ass handshot to that person. Because we all know what that feels like.

[56:29] Cortney Wolfson: Just hand in a headshot and like kind of like apologize for it, like feels feels terrible. Um those are our ultimate goals.

[56:38] Curtis Holbrook: Um, all the while also still feeling like we're getting to create at the same time, but not pushing the boundary too much. But then also headshots are always evolving, you know, we're always seeing what there's like a trend, you know.

[56:52] Cortney Wolfson: So always trying to kind of like stay ahead of what that trend is, um, hopefully set some trends, which I I think that we we do, um, and without getting too crazy, you know, right to where a casting agent or or an agent goes, I can't use this.

[57:10] Curtis Holbrook: I think that you know, our Curtis and my job, and one of the reasons that we like so much what we do, we found that owning a headshot business, like I always say if you would ask me 10 years ago if I would be doing this for a living, I would think that you're crazy.

[57:23] Cortney Wolfson: Like I never saw how this could be part of my life, but I think that our goal in a pressure cooker situation where we have limited time because you know, our time with our clients is based on the time that we pay for at the studio.

[57:38] Curtis Holbrook: So obviously, people are set into certain amount of times when we shoot. We're not photographers who say we have all day, we're just shooting one person, and you know, it's 17 hours, and however it goes, it goes.

[57:49] Cortney Wolfson: Like, our job is to give you a product within a certain amount of time. And Curtis and I have learned like the importance of somebody walking in the room and really getting to know them and not just what color is do you like?

[58:03] Curtis Holbrook: Like getting to know them on an actor level, on a personal level.

[58:07] Cortney Wolfson: It's one of the reasons I like doing makeup so much. I enjoy obviously like the quote unquote beautification process. But what I like is being able to talk to people and getting to know their life story.

[58:19] Curtis Holbrook: And I feel like when I get to do full makeup on my clients, like you know, we're face to face as much as you can be in the time of COVID, but you're getting a full life story. Like I hear about their careers, I hear about their partners, I hear about their families, and getting to take what we learn from these people in those first 30 to 90 minutes and figuring out what makes them tick, what makes them unique, how they want to be represented, and like and bringing out all that stuff in them and getting them to a place that's comfortable so that headshots aren't miserable.

[58:53] Cortney Wolfson: Like I've, you know, Curtis and I over the years, my god, I've had so many headshots taken, you know, by professionals, by non-professionals. Oh, you need something where I look like this in this outfit, and you make your friend take that photo of you so you can submit it for that one thing. Like, we've been through the ringer of headshots, and I've had good experiences, and I've had bad experiences, and our aim is just for the headshot experience to not be miserable because we know that leading up to your session, there's so much pressure and so much anxiety surrounding it because it's a lot of money and on something that has to be, you know, a product that's really product oriented, and so we love what we do because a, we don't let people leave until we know there's a great product, and B, nine point nine nine nine.999 repeated times out of 10, people are like, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be.

[59:45] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah.

[59:46] Cortney Wolfson: Sigh of relief. You're like, listen, we get it. We have both been on the other side of that camera. We know what to sit there and be vulnerable and to try to like spill the beans about everything that you need out of this session because like you've saved for this. So I think that um we really value that. We really respect what people spend time-wise and financially on headshots, and especially if they just come from someone and they now they have to get in a new session with a new person because their agents didn't like it. Like we get all that. We really really do. So we like it because we get to work together and try to make you know the actor life just a little bit easier because it's tough. It's tough out there.

[1:00:27] Cortney Wolfson: It's very similar to um Curtis, you talking about what you know what it was like being on the other side being a director and being able to talk to actors. You both being actors and having to go through that. That that's definitely um a way you can empathize with the people and it honestly helps. I can imagine it would help the people who are getting the headshots to feel a lot more like understood.

[1:00:52] Curtis Holbrook: For sure.

[1:00:53] Cortney Wolfson: And I've also learned too that through taking someone's picture and capturing them, I get to turn my director brain on there as well. And I get to, I mean, because the worst thing I think too is like someone lifting up a camera and being like, alright, do something. Like, okay, what do I do? Or being silent, you know, like not hearing anything. My favorite question that we get from our clients is what do I do with my hands?

[1:01:20] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, yeah.

[1:01:21] Cortney Wolfson: And I'm like, I get it, girl. Like, listen. I and I always say, I promise you, Curtis will guide you through it. We will not, he will not lift that camera and not tell you physically what you should be doing mentally emotionally like we'll get there he's not gonna leave you hanging because I've been in that situation when they're like and go oh no yeah and you're like am I smiling bear that's that's actually something that I was gonna say like I've never when I moved to New York I was like nine years old or no I was like 11 so I moved to New York and like I had no clue what was going on with like headshots and I didn't even know what they were and like when I heard that I had to like take a headshot I was like what is what is going on and then like thankfully like my manager guided me to you guys um and then like I I don't I won't remember like or I won't forget um how nervous I was like going in and I was like I don't like being photographed like I it's not like I don't it's so awkward just me like I don't know like I don't take photos of just me and like I'll never forget like with you guys I was so worried like my mom was like don't force your smile because I was like I I know mom like I I get it and like I'll never forget like I come in with you and like I'm like this nervous little kid like just like walking in and you're you guys were like super like welcoming and like super like and when we took the photos they're like I was like genuinely laughing at in my photos like I wasn't even like smiling like you guys know exactly like what to do and how to get like the best out of people.

[1:03:05] Curtis Holbrook: It's crazy.

[1:03:06] Cortney Wolfson: When you left, I said to Curtis, I want to adopt him.

[1:03:10] Curtis Holbrook: That's right.

[1:03:12] Cortney Wolfson: Oh my god. We really dug.

[1:03:24] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah.

[1:03:25] Cortney Wolfson: It was those cheeks, man.

[1:03:26] Curtis Holbrook: And the dimple.

[1:03:28] Cortney Wolfson: That your family were like, can we keep all of them? We love them.

[1:03:33] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah.

[1:03:34] Cortney Wolfson: But seriously, like I I won't forget like how nervous I was, and I was like, this is gonna be so awkward, like someone's just gonna some random person's gonna take like a photo of just me. Like that doesn't like happen. Yeah, and like I'm doing it to get jobs.

[1:03:52] Curtis Holbrook: Like this is what's gonna get me my next job.

[1:03:56] Cortney Wolfson: It only gets worse as you get older. Like I it I think a few times maybe we've had people who are like, uh I've done this enough times, like I'm fine. But I nine times out of ten, I think that you know, we pile that stuff on for years, and so like the older you get some like for me personally, I always say to Curtis, like I wouldn't want me as a client because I have you know years of my that own stuff going through our heads as we all know a little like imposter syndrome or whatever, whatever your your flavor is as an actor of insecurity. And so like we we really get it. Like I mean, some of the stories that we hear and experiences people have had, and you know, we hear about agents and managers and casting directors and moms and dads and the pressure, and we really do get it. What I've learned that I really pride uh us on, um, is that I used to think being a photographer was about taking pictures, and now I feel like that's like 10% of my job.

[1:04:55] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah.

[1:04:56] Cortney Wolfson: Like the biggest part is is the person in front of me. I'm like getting to know them and dissecting them and and then capturing that. And as if we can do if we can make someone feel comfortable, and we can we've like kind of become therapists too to our clients. And and trying to like get them to be as relaxed as possible. We can do all that, then I don't have to take as many pictures because they're all gonna be amazing. And then self-slay this crazy kind of flip of like I used to take like a thousand pictures to get like a a hundred great ones, and now I don't shoot nearly as much. I just we just get better moments.

[1:05:32] Eli Tokash: From our first photo shoot.

[1:05:35] Cortney Wolfson: Um we um I remember like being there for like for a few hours, and like there were so many shots, and I remember my last time going just a few months ago before hit. This kid knows what it's just yeah, like it was super quick. I don't even know if it was an hour. I was like, wait, we're done already. Can I just stay and talk to you guys? Like and meet Ziggy. I was like, what?

[1:06:09] Curtis Holbrook: We feel that way.

[1:06:10] Cortney Wolfson: Like we've watched so many kids, I mean, specifically kids, young adults too, but a lot of kids grow up, like probably kids who are like you, you know, your age when you started, and now our teenagers who are going off to college and like living their lives, and we've gotten to know you know, another part of the community, another part of our tribe are now our clients too, and we just we love it. It's like that same that same feeling that you get backstage as you're surrounded by like-minded people who care about the same thing, have similar interests and ideals, and we now have like an entire you know, even when Broadway is shut down, and even when we're not in shows, we still have that essence of being like connected to people who are like us in one way or another, which we love.

[1:06:53] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[1:06:54] Cortney Wolfson: And one more question before we go. Um we want to know what is it like balancing, obviously, your headshot business and your performing careers, along with making sure that you get enough quality time together as a married couple.

[1:07:14] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah.

[1:07:15] Cortney Wolfson: And hand raising, yeah.

[1:07:19] Curtis Holbrook: Uh well, it is that is the always the question, you know, is I think it just we need a date night. Well, we we're I think you know, the what I've learned about relationships and the the advice that I always give someone who's like in a new relationship or getting married, is that I've learned this from owning a business together. Like you have to treat your relationship like a company that you run for. And it just happens to be like a your own little tiny company, but you still do have to to make sure that you know what the the rules of the relationship are and what the boundaries are, and you know, those things that you do with a coworker, it's just more more interesting. Who owns 51% and who owes 49%?

That's in all aspects of our agreement. That we do. But no, that I think running the business together, you know, we get to spend a lot of time together, and we we're terrible about this, but it's also what we're passionate about. If we go on a date or we do something that doesn't involve our business, we end up talking about our business.

[1:08:26] Cortney Wolfson: Well, you said like when we first started out, we had a rule that was like we're not talking about the business for an hour, but it was like impossible, and it is our you know, it's our life, it's not only our life, but it's like we it's what we care about. So we I think that instead of like finding a balance of like turning certain parts of our life off or you know, trying to do that, we we spend a ton of time together because we run this company together. Um and we just love being around each other.

[1:08:52] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, we're lucky enough.

[1:08:55] Cortney Wolfson: Um that we I don't think we've really had that challenge to be honest, of like how quality time together. It's more been how do we find balance to make sure that we take care of ourselves, right? We're rested, that we're like the best working out if we got an audition tomorrow. Like, are we gonna be ready for that? That challenge, um, those kinds of things making sure that we find the balance in all aspects of our lives. And to be honest, as far as performing goes, like we, you know, we our business really started to take off when I was doing Kinky Boots, and we would kind of switch off and on who was in charge of the majority of the postwork. Like anytime our galleries and our retouch images go out, it has to hit both sets of our eyes before we send it out. Like we have a motto that like we are Curtis Core. Even if I'm with Ziggy and we have a sub-makeup artist in, I still see everything like comes through my computer before it goes out to our clients.

[1:09:52] Cortney Wolfson: Um I don't even really know where I was going with that story, but it's we basically like since we enjoy working together, it it's never like, oh god, I gotta get off work like to go hang out with my husband. Like, we still like find ways to enjoy it. Like we'll just like go grocery shopping and we'll be like, we're on a date oh and I was date oh we have podcasts we're we love we love a grocery store food selling yeah yeah it's it's a lot and also managing your head head shot business with performing with oh that's what I was gonna say is that we never really got well like basically I had Ziggy and then obviously I took some time off to like figure out how to have a baby right and then we started shooting again but then I didn't really start auditioning again and working again until right before the city shut down so we the interesting thing is we figured out how to balance like Curtis and Court and Kinky Boots and then Curtis and Court and SpongeBob and then Curtis and Court with me being in and out of town on jobs and then being pregnant and stuff but then like w we were never really doing all of them with Ziggy being in the world with our child being like in the world the the balancing act of figuring out like how to child care daycare and because he had just started daycare like what a week and a half three days of daycare before before yeah New York did the stay at home order.

But and I was supposed I was like kind of losing our minds because Curtis was still traveling um judging dance competitions which is something he does every year and he travels almost every weekend in the spring. Oh and then we shoot during the week and then if one of or both of us isn't a show we still do our shows at night. It's just you know, we take on less clients and blah blah blah. And then we had Ziggy, so it was like all the same. He was traveling. We just started daycare, we were shooting, and I had just I was just getting ready to start. We'd just been to LA to do uh Romy and Michelle uh reading in LA, and then we were getting ready to do the New York reading for it to come in, and he found out last minute he was gonna be traveling the same weekend that I was doing Romy and Michelle, and we had clients the week before it we didn't have child care, it was like bananas, and then all of a sudden Cuomo was like just kidding.

So the reading didn't happen. He did his flight got canceled. It was crazy, but we were like revving up to the point where we would have had an answer to the question. But honestly, we haven't been in the thick of it yet. Because then obviously, when you know phase four happened, we started reopening our business back in uh late July, early August. So we've been able to like slowly figure out how to do life again, but it also gave us um a chunk of months to like really have some serious family quality time and real breather, and it was a really good reset for us, I think. So yeah, I hope that that it gave us a chance to like stop for a second, and yeah, you know, because we were just moving at a million miles a minute. We moved studios, we took the time to you know move into a commercial space, which has just been like a life changer for us. So it was oh it's it's great.

[1:13:19] Curtis Holbrook: That's so exciting.

[1:13:21] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, so we're out, we're out of our the promotion in the apartment.

[1:13:24] Curtis Holbrook: Oh my god, no way.

[1:13:26] Cortney Wolfson: I loved your little roof though.

[1:13:28] Curtis Holbrook: The room was great.

[1:13:29] Cortney Wolfson: This room is really cool, though.

[1:13:32] Curtis Holbrook: And distance, and like you know, it take into account all the protocols so everyone feels safe, and then we we're not worried about like mixing client and family life, which has helped us big time to just like that's good, you know.

[1:13:47] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, compartmentalize a little bit.

[1:13:49] Curtis Holbrook: But we just sang on a like an online concert thing the other night, and it was the first time I learned in a hundred years.

[1:13:57] Cortney Wolfson: Yes.

[1:13:58] Curtis Holbrook: The Addams Family, right?

[1:13:59] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah.

[1:14:00] Curtis Holbrook: It's coming full circle, man.

[1:14:02] Cortney Wolfson: There it is.

[1:14:04] Curtis Holbrook: But so good.

[1:14:05] Cortney Wolfson: I was like, oh right, singing, remember.

[1:14:11] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah.

[1:14:12] Cortney Wolfson: That's awesome.

[1:14:14] Eli Tokash: I didn't when uh my first shot with like session with you guys, weren't you in Kinky Boots and then Curtis, you were in If/Then that sounds right.

[1:14:27] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, yeah.

[1:14:28] Cortney Wolfson: So like the fact that like both of you like are in shows and then like doing this like at night, like during the day, and then shows at night, and then like it's it's madness that I can't like I can't believe you guys like figure out how to do it.

[1:14:44] Curtis Holbrook: It's crazy.

[1:14:45] Cortney Wolfson: I have your last three shoots on my calendar.

[1:14:47] Curtis Holbrook: Your first one's on my old one, though.

[1:14:48] Cortney Wolfson: I think it must have been 2016 or 205.

[1:14:52] Curtis Holbrook: Oh, wait, we met you right when we right before we got married, so it was 2015.

[1:14:59] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, yeah, it was when I was in Pippin.

[1:15:02] Curtis Holbrook: And then we did the second one when we were in Finding Neverland.

[1:15:05] Cortney Wolfson: That was that's crazy.

[1:15:06] Curtis Holbrook: That was five years ago.

[1:15:15] Cortney Wolfson: Oh my god.

[1:15:16] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, but yeah, you guys are the best, and we're very we're very happy that we uh got to talk to you and got to learn a little bit about you.

[1:15:25] Cortney Wolfson: Obviously, you two learned a little bit about each other as well.

[1:15:28] Eli Tokash: So that was great.

[1:15:31] Eli Tokash: Um and then yeah, just like to give our audience like an inside scoop of what headshots are and w how they help in the business and stuff like that.

[1:15:41] Cortney Wolfson: It's all been great.

[1:15:42] Eli Tokash: So we appreciate you guys coming on and talking to us.

[1:15:45] Eli Tokash: And thank you for being our first like duo.

[1:15:47] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah.

[1:15:48] Curtis Holbrook: Oh my gosh, thank you for having us.

[1:15:49] Cortney Wolfson: We're so happy to be here and to like see human beings.

[1:15:52] Curtis Holbrook: It's we always say that.

[1:15:55] Cortney Wolfson: We're always like, thank God we have this because it gives us like an more people to talk to outside of our family.

[1:16:01] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, seriously.

[1:16:03] Cortney Wolfson: And thank God for you know, the internet and social media and all the things that we can do and like stay connected.

[1:16:09] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, yeah.

[1:16:10] Eli Tokash: What we'd be doing if we couldn't.

[1:16:12] Cortney Wolfson: True that.

[1:16:13] Eli Tokash: Well, we appreciate you guys.

[1:16:14] Eli Tokash: Thanks for spreading the good word.

[1:16:16] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, of course.

[1:16:17] Cortney Wolfson: It's fun watching you both grow up into awesome humans.

[1:16:21] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah.

[1:16:22] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, we love you guys.

[1:16:23] Curtis Holbrook: Thank you so much.

[1:16:24] Eli Tokash: Take a bow Curtis and Cort.

[1:16:27] Cortney Wolfson: Woo woo!

[1:16:28] Eli Tokash: Oh my god.

[1:16:29] Eli Tokash: They're literally they're the best.

[1:16:31] Eli Tokash: I was so excited to have them on.

[1:16:34] Eli Tokash: And they actually had some great things to say about doing headshots because honestly, like headshots are more important than a lot of people think.

[1:16:42] Eli Tokash: Like uh obviously, like when you go to a show and you're like, oh, who's in this show?

[1:16:47] Cortney Wolfson: Like the first thing you do is go look for their headshots, you know.

[1:16:51] Eli Tokash: And like true, yeah, right.

[1:16:52] Eli Tokash: And then like when you walk into an audition or before you're even like you even walk into the audition, you have the your agent manager, you know, like they have to submit your photo and your resume to the casting director, and that allows them to be like, oh yeah, sure, we'll we'll we'll have them audition.

[1:17:12] Cortney Wolfson: And so yeah, that photo is representing you.

[1:17:15] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[1:17:15] Eli Tokash: And ultimately it's what gets you into the door which gets you the job.

[1:17:20] Cortney Wolfson: So like it it's crazy.

[1:17:21] Eli Tokash: Yeah, you I didn't realize like how important a headshot was until we actually like digested it with them.

[1:17:27] Cortney Wolfson: So that was pretty cool.

[1:17:29] Eli Tokash: I am so obsessed with his story about how he how he crashed the invited call for Footloose and he went in with a passport photo.

[1:17:38] Cortney Wolfson: And then Eli, you you you uh made the connection between the fact that he started out with a passport photo and now he has his own headshot company.

[1:17:48] Eli Tokash: It's so crazy.

[1:17:50] Eli Tokash: I know I I mean that was such a fun story but like honestly it's so funny because it seems like a um ongoing trend in our guests that like when they started, you know, some of them really just didn't know what was going on and like it reminds me a lot of like how I started out I had no clue what any of it means.

[1:18:10] Cortney Wolfson: I still am learning and and so when Curtis said that like that stuck with me and I I really like that and it just seems like the natural the passion's there but you there's a lot to learn and like there's a lot of stuff that he can be taught and everything.

[1:18:25] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah.

[1:18:26] Cortney Wolfson: You have to learn as you go.

[1:18:27] Eli Tokash: Yeah totally and I I think that's just like really really cool and I think that's what sticks with people a lot and makes you stand out.

[1:18:33] Eli Tokash: It's so interesting 'cause I I took my I took my first headshots when I think I was I think I was six when I took my first headshot oh wow.

[1:18:42] Eli Tokash: Cause that 'cause that's when I started the the business.

[1:18:44] Eli Tokash: A six or seven.

[1:18:46] Cortney Wolfson: Um, and it's very interesting because uh when you as a child you have to take headshots fairly frequently because you're constantly changing.

[1:18:55] Curtis Holbrook: Um your face is constantly changing.

[1:18:57] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah.

[1:18:57] Eli Tokash: And uh it's interesting to look back at all of my headshots and just see my different headshots through different stages of my life and my career.

[1:19:07] Cortney Wolfson: It's funny too like you never realize how much an outfit can show your personality.

[1:19:14] Eli Tokash: Um true.

[1:19:15] Eli Tokash: I I've never like realized that until like we do like until Curtis in court really like because that was like the first headshot session that I actually remember.

[1:19:25] Cortney Wolfson: And and like you said like we've we literally as as kids, you know, we're always changing and our looks are changing and even now through puberty and stuff like that.

[1:19:34] Curtis Holbrook: And even when you're adult like you know you get headshots once every year or two years at at most two years um I would say and then you so you these are something that are are really important and that are really relevant in in the business.

[1:19:51] Cortney Wolfson: So I thought it was really cool.

[1:19:53] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[1:19:54] Eli Tokash: Um but seriously like there were so many things that we could have talked about and we we didn't unfortunately have enough I I mean I I we could have talked to them for another two hours.

[1:20:03] Eli Tokash: We didn't even talk about If/Then which I love Adina Menzel and you know Cortney with her Legally Blonde tour.

[1:20:11] Eli Tokash: I wanted to hear all about that and then she had an out of town show um that she sort of mentioned but she didn't tell any stories about um so it was just great to have them on and maybe they'll come back and we'll talk a little bit more about their careers because we but we really wanted to talk about the headshots and all of that so I we hope I mean, there was a lot to cover.

[1:20:31] Eli Tokash: They've been in fourteen shows all together.

[1:20:34] Eli Tokash: And fourteen Broadway shows all together.

[1:20:36] Eli Tokash: They've been in in more than that.

[1:20:38] Eli Tokash: Yeah, and then they both been on like tours and stuff like that, and then they're out of town and I wanted to talk about uh Michigan with Cortney because I know how many like t people my age just wanna go to Michigan for musical theater because it's such a highly reputable school for musical theater.

[1:20:54] Eli Tokash: So I mean there was just so much to to talk about.

[1:20:57] Eli Tokash: So but we hope you guys enjoyed what we did we did cover.

[1:21:00] Eli Tokash: Um yeah.

[1:21:02] Eli Tokash: Oh w uh Eli and I we were we were talking before this and um we realized that the performing business has a lot of lingo that may not be known to someone known by someone who is not in the performing business.

[1:21:21] Cortney Wolfson: And so we're we're we're gonna try out a new segment.

[1:21:26] Eli Tokash: We don't actually have a name for it yet, so the very clunky version right now is performing business lingo.

[1:21:34] Cortney Wolfson: I don't know.

[1:21:34] Eli Tokash: Um so um this is something this is something that uh I think both Curtis and Cortney talked about, but a put in rehearsal, um what is a put in rehearsal in theater?

[1:21:48] Eli Tokash: And Curtis, you can you can go ahead and and just explain what a put in rehearsal is.

[1:21:54] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, so um just a little context, during the interview Curtis ha had to fill in really s quickly, um for someone that broke his hand in The Addams Family.

[1:22:06] Eli Tokash: And so all of a sudden he had to learn the show and when you already have a group of people, um you know, it's like whoa, like all of a sudden there's like a new c person here.

[1:22:18] Curtis Holbrook: And the and Curtis was filling in for a main role, so it really affected a lot of people's uh show.

[1:22:25] Eli Tokash: Uh like he kinda said about SpongeBob.

[1:22:27] Curtis Holbrook: And so a put-in rehearsal is when the whole company uh well for let me start here.

[1:22:34] Curtis Holbrook: So a put in uh during rehearsal for a show when you are not a part of the company already and you're joining like midway, or once it's already open, I should say, um you will rehearse by yourself with the dance captain.

[1:22:50] Eli Tokash: So you're you're only with one person and and so you don't have the full company to rehearse with and do these spacing and dancing and all of that with.

[1:22:59] Curtis Holbrook: So your first time doing that is in a put-in rehearsal, and um it's kind of like doing your first show without an audience, and however, you're the only one in costume, or whoever else is put in is doing uh uh there may be multiple people doing a put in with you.

[1:23:17] Eli Tokash: Yeah, but the rest but the rest of the cast is just in normal, normal attire.

[1:23:21] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, and it's usually a couple days before you go on.

[1:23:24] Eli Tokash: So that's usually the time to you know feel it out for yourself to see if you need to adjust anything that you learned because there's spacing issues and stuff like that, or you can ask questions, and that's your time to really just understand your quote unquote track, which is another word that w will add to the library of vocabulary in future episodes.

[1:23:47] Curtis Holbrook: Um and so why it's called a put in is it's basically the cast puts you in to the show the first time.

[1:23:55] Eli Tokash: Um, for those of you who didn't connect the dots.

[1:23:57] Curtis Holbrook: Um but yeah, I mean it it's super fun, and I'll I'll I actually had four put ins for Finding Neverland.

[1:24:05] Eli Tokash: And yeah, 'cause I've covered all four kids.

[1:24:08] Curtis Holbrook: Um, and so and my put in for Michael, which is one of the kids I played for, didn't happen until I already went on for him.

[1:24:16] Eli Tokash: So that was crazy.

[1:24:18] Curtis Holbrook: Yeah, and then they were like, Oh, maybe we should do a put in for him for that role.

[1:24:22] Eli Tokash: Um and I was like, Great, thanks.

[1:24:23] Curtis Holbrook: Um Your f your first show for Michael was technically I guess your put in.

[1:24:27] Eli Tokash: Yeah, right.

[1:24:28] Curtis Holbrook: That's crazy.

[1:24:30] Eli Tokash: Um so yeah, so put ins are you're just your first time doing the show with the whole company and you're and it's really not even the first time doing the show because you're you're you don't have lighting and you don't have an audience and the other people around you are not in costume.

[1:24:44] Cortney Wolfson: So yeah.

[1:24:46] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[1:24:47] Eli Tokash: Um, but before we leave, we wanted to talk about one more thing.

[1:24:52] Cortney Wolfson: Yes.

[1:24:53] Eli Tokash: Um currently as we record this, it is Wednesday, the day before we release the podcast.

[1:25:01] Eli Tokash: Um and the results of the election are not finalized yet.

[1:25:06] Eli Tokash: Honestly, we'll uh what we just wanted to say is no matter who wins, we need to make sure that we hold people accountable for their actions and we need to strive, continue to strive and fight for justice, equality, love and acceptance, no matter what.

[1:25:25] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah, seriously, I mean, y you you summed it up very well.

[1:25:29] Eli Tokash: Um I'm very excited as a future voter to vote in the next election.

[1:25:35] Eli Tokash: Um I'm seventeen so I didn't make the cut this year, but I will definitely be voting next year, even though it's not a presidential election, it's still very important to vote in any election.

[1:25:45] Cortney Wolfson: So if you do have the ability to vote, I hope I hope you definitely took took advantage of that privilege to vote and um fight for your country and for your other your allies and the other people around you.

[1:25:59] Eli Tokash: And no matter what happens, there's gonna be a lot of work that needs to be done.

[1:26:02] Eli Tokash: And I just hope and pray that we all stay with one another and we are all allies to one another.

[1:26:10] Eli Tokash: And you know, we come together and we fight the fight.

[1:26:14] Eli Tokash: And whatever whatever comes next, whatever's next for this, um, we just need to stick together because that's when we're gonna be the strongest.

[1:26:21] Cortney Wolfson: Yeah.

[1:26:23] Eli Tokash: Well, um, we we shall see.

[1:26:27] Cortney Wolfson: We shall see what happens.

[1:26:28] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[1:26:30] Eli Tokash: Anyway, yeah.

[1:26:32] Eli Tokash: Yeah, yeah.

[1:26:33] Eli Tokash: Thank you so much for um joining us this episode, and thank you so much, Curtis and Cortney for um coming on this episode.

[1:26:41] Eli Tokash: We loved having you on.

[1:26:43] Eli Tokash: Uh, we will see you next week.

[1:26:45] Cortney Wolfson: Bye everyone.

[1:26:50] Eli Tokash: Sick beat him, all right.

[1:26:52] Eli Tokash: For our curtain call, we wanted to give a few special thank yous to Nikki Torsha and Corm McCollinon for our amazing music, Giselle Bustos for designing our logo, and Tessie Tokash and Sidney Lucas for editing our episodes.

[1:27:05] Eli Tokash: Feel free to subscribe and leave a review on whatever platform you are currently listening to us from.

[1:27:10] Eli Tokash: This podcast wouldn't be possible without the help of Dory Berenstein, Alan Seals, Brittany Bigelow, and Katie Rosen at the Broadway Podcast Network.

[1:27:19] Eli Tokash: As well as our top patrons, Henry Friedman, Brian Thompson, PCC, and Patrick McNamara.

[1:27:24] Eli Tokash: Speaking of, if you enjoyed this week's episode of Take A Bow, go check us out on Patreon at patreon.com slash T A B and become a patron today.

[1:27:34] Eli Tokash: Through our Patreon, you will form a relationship with us and get an inside book on what goes into this podcast.

[1:27:40] Eli Tokash: To learn more about this podcast, visit BPN.fm forward slash takeabow and follow us on Instagram at takeabow podcast, where you can contact us with any feedback, suggestions, or questions, and keep up with all things take a bow.

[1:27:54] Eli Tokash: See you next week.

[1:27:55] Cortney Wolfson: Bye everyone.