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[0:00] Ken Davenport: Hey everybody, guess who? I told you I'd be back when I had something very important to talk about. And listen, we are debuting right now a very special six-part mini podcast series. Here's what we did. We did a live stream theater maker challenge on Facebook recently called Places Please. What Theater Makers Can Do Right Now to get ready for the rebirth, the renaissance, the reopening, whatever it is you want to call it of the theater. This is a pivotal time of theater going. We need to be ready for it. So we got some fantastic speakers to join us. And all they did was talk about strategies, tips, techniques, hacks, what they are doing right now to get more theater and better theater out there in the world.

That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna do the six-part audio series now, which is ripped straight from this Theater Makers Challenge. You're gonna hear from some fantastic speakers over the next six episodes of this special mini series podcast. And I guarantee you this, you stick it out through the end of this thing, you are going to be ready to make more theater and better theater than you've ever made in your entire theater making career. So, enough of me. This is not about me. This is about these great speakers that are ready to entertain, inspire, and educate you into the rest of 2021 and beyond. So let's get to the Places Please Challenge. It's the Theater Makers Challenge. Places, please, places.

[1:55] Ken Davenport: Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Theater Makers Studio Places Please Challenge. Welcome everyone. So here's what we're gonna do today. We're all very excited that the theater is coming back, of course. Uh, and we want to get you ready for it. Okay. So, first of all, the first thing I want to do is say a huge thank you. I want to say a huge thank you to every single one of you showing up today. And the reason I want to say thank you is because I want to say thank you for your commitment to the theater. Your commitment to the theater. Boy, have we needed it over the last 18 months. And for all the fans, for all the theater makers out there that are still as passionate about this industry and as passionate about this art form than ever before.

And I know that's all of you here. I'm so thankful for that. I'm so thankful for your commitment to the theater, but I'm also thankful for your commitment to yourself as a theater maker. You are literally showing up for yes, another Zoom event, another virtual event. You are here, and the reason you are here is because you are committed to making more theater and better theater and learning how to do just that. So that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna help you with that.

[3:02] Ken Davenport: Now, I will tell you this, a lot of people just, uh, I ran into more people these days. I ran into a very, very, very veteran producer last week. And, uh, they wanted to have lunch this week, and I was like, I can't, I have a challenge. And they were like, I don't know what that is. And I described what it was, and they looked at me and they just said, why? Why are you doing this? And I thought I'd take a moment to answer that question, both for this veteran producer who I hope is watching, and also for every single one of you. Uh, and the very simple answer of why, why I do this is quite simply, I believe the world is a better place if there is more theater in it. That's it. That's what I believe.

I believe the world is a better place if there's more theater in it. And there's only more theater in it if there are people like you making it. That's right. It's because of people like you. You're the reason why I blog and why I podcast, why I host the TheaterMakers Summit, why I founded the studio and why I'm here today on this challenge and why we've assembled all these great speakers here for you this week. Because if it weren't for you, Broadway and the theater would cease to exist, would cease to exist. So I'm so thankful again that all of you are here. But why now? So why are we doing this challenge? Why did I throw this on my team just a few weeks ago and say we got to do a challenge and we got to do it right now?

Uh, and why did they all like sort of roll their eyes but then roll up their sleeves and say, okay, we know why we're doing this? Because the fact is that I also believe that we're about to enter the most exciting era of theater making any of us have ever known. I've been doing this for 25 years now, and I've never seen a more exciting time. We've had a very, very dark time. Now we're gonna have a very, very exciting time. That's right, because as I've said before, the Renaissance is coming. We're gonna scratch that. The Renaissance is here. It's here right now. Right now.

[5:15] Ken Davenport: The fact that we have Broadway shows up and running again from our classics like Wicked and Hamilton to groundbreaking new plays like Passover, this era that we're about to enter into the shutdown worth it. I'm giving you a little preview right now of my keynote that I'm gonna deliver at this year's TheaterMakers Summit, but I'm telling you, it's going to make it worth it. And I'm not the one who is the only one who thinks this. If you remember last year, last year at the TheaterMakers Summit, our keynote speaker Chris Jackson said this. The last time America faced a pandemic, the next 10 years were some of the most productive and fun, foundational years in our art form, not just on Broadway, in our art form.

Whether that's here in the East Village, in the Bronx or in Nova Scotia or Toronto or Switzerland, wherever you are, the theater is about to enter a transformational period. So what does that mean? What does it mean? It means more opportunities for more theater makers, just like each and every one of you. The only question I have is will you be ready for your places call? Will you be ready for it? Now that it's begun, now that we're gearing back up, will you be ready? So if you're worried, I don't want you to worry. We're gonna make sure you are. That's what everything we do is about. Making sure you are ready to accomplish everything you want to accomplish in the theater and more. So if you want to make theater, you are in the right place right now. Pat yourself on the back. You signed up for the right challenge, you are in the right place, and we're gonna help you. So get to it. Let's get to it, okay?

[7:10] Ken Davenport: So, look, this week, this challenge, it's about getting ready and getting ready quickly. So what I've put together is I'm gonna give you three tips to finishing something and fast because I know there was a lot of stuff over the last 15, 16, 17 months that you're like, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna do this. And maybe you didn't quite achieve all those goals yet, right? Maybe it didn't quite get there. Okay, it's okay. We're gonna acknowledge that there was a lot going on. We had moments where there were very good Netflix shows on. There were moments, frankly, where we just had to go buy a big box of Oreos and binge eat them to get through the last year and a half. So I get it, I get it.

But we're gonna give you some tips right now to finishing whatever it is you're working on, whatever project you're on, whether you're writing something new, whether you have to raise a certain amount of money to fund a project, a film, no matter what it is. Here are three tips to finishing something right now and fast. Are we ready? Okay. The first one is I want you to use this method that I've actually studied from others and gleaned for myself that I call the big three. Okay. The big three is that you decide what to do this week and every day. So every Sunday, you're gonna come up with what your big three is. Now, how do you establish your big three? So you're gonna ask yourself, look, what's most important to you?

What dream, what goal, what ambition is most important to you? Acting, writing, producing, painting, whatever it is. Not that makes you the most money to survive, what's most important to you? Okay. And then you're gonna ask yourself what if you finish will have the biggest impact on your life? That's right. What if you complete will have the biggest impact on your life? And I want you to come up with three of them. Those are your big three. You're gonna work on three things in that week. You're gonna identify these three things and you're gonna work on those big three that week and try to accomplish those things.

[9:22] Ken Davenport: Okay? Now, how do we do that? Here's where we get very specific. I want you to calendar time each and every day to make sure you make time for what you want to do. This is the thing. Right now, it's actually a crazy period for us, right? We all have a ton going on. So it's very easy for us to get distracted by all the things we actually don't want to do, especially when those things are easy. How many of you are like this? You've got a big project you want to do, maybe you want to write another, revise an act of a play, start a new musical, and the thought of that is so overwhelming, you're like, I'm just gonna do this small thing. I'm just gonna write this email to this person because I don't take no time.

But that email isn't as important to you as what would happen if you finished that revision of that act or if you started that new musical. We often put off those things that are overwhelming or seem more difficult or more challenging. We focus on these little things. They actually, it's biological. They give us a little, uh, shot of adrenaline, right? They give us that, ooh, I finished something. I'm accomplishing something. But the fact is, you're not accomplishing the big things that actually will have the biggest impact on your life. So that's what the big three is all about. And then what you have to do is schedule time for them. Schedule time, 30 minutes, an hour, squeeze it in wherever you can.

Get up 30 minutes earlier if you can to focus on it. And how I want you to think about this is think of it like a doctor's appointment or a flight to Hawaii. You wouldn't miss that, right? I often say, how come if you, if all of us on this challenge right now, and tell me if you agree with this, if you had a flight for 4:30 a.m. tomorrow morning from JFK, which meant you had to get in a car at like 2:30, but that flight was going to Hawaii to Jakarta to I don't know, wherever your dream vacation is, you'd go. You'd get up. How come we can get up for a trip to Hawaii that's gonna last a week? But we can't get up sometimes to work on something that may change the rest of our life. So think of it like a doctor's appointment or a flight to Hawaii, and I promise you you'll show up.

[11:41] Ken Davenport: Now, last, this is something new that I've just started that's that I'm finding very successful. I want you to use what I'm calling right now the algebra exam method to make sure you finish what you want to accomplish in the time allotted. So often, if you calendar, right, you'll calendar 30 minutes, you'll calendar an hour, you'll calendar a certain part of your day to work on a script or whatever it is you want to work on, raising money, whatever it is, right? And say you give yourself, I want to rewrite a scene in 30 minutes, okay? Here's how you make sure you finish. I want you to butt up something against that writing time, that raising money time, that voice lesson time, whatever that is, butt up something against it that you can't miss, that you can't be late for.

[12:32] Ken Davenport: Another doctor's appointment, a phone call, a meeting with your trainer, whatever it is, something that you can't be late for.

[12:42] Ken Davenport: The start of the new episode of Ted Lasso.

[12:45] Ken Davenport: I mean, I'm not missing that.

[12:46] Ken Davenport: So, whatever that is, but right against.

[12:50] Ken Davenport: Here's what happens.

[12:51] Ken Davenport: You get put on a timer, right?

[12:54] Ken Davenport: That you can't be late for.

[12:56] Ken Davenport: We all finish those algebra exams, right?

[12:59] Ken Davenport: We finished our SATs.

[13:00] Ken Davenport: They told us finish the SATs in the time allotted because it's better that you get to every one and just try to grab an answer somewhere, right?

[13:07] Ken Davenport: Get through it.

[13:08] Ken Davenport: Get through it.

[13:09] Ken Davenport: I want you to get through it.

[13:10] Ken Davenport: Don't worry about being perfect.

[13:13] Ken Davenport: Get through it in the time allotted.

[13:14] Ken Davenport: So you finish.

[13:15] Ken Davenport: And what I'm finding very helpful to me is if I set a lunch date or something where I need to be by a certain time, right before the automatic deadline goes, uh deadline goes on, right?

[13:27] Ken Davenport: And the thing is, we have trouble as human beings as setting artificial deadlines.

[13:33] Ken Davenport: We need external pressure.

[13:35] Ken Davenport: We need someone else.

[13:37] Ken Davenport: We need that accountability, right?

[13:39] Ken Davenport: We need a friend waiting for us somewhere.

[13:42] Ken Davenport: Where is Ken?

[13:43] Ken Davenport: He told me he would be here 15 minutes ago.

[13:45] Ken Davenport: I don't want to let him down.

[13:47] Ken Davenport: I'm gonna rush, rush, rush through whatever I need to get through in order to meet my friend for that coffee.

[13:53] Ken Davenport: So try that method.

[13:54] Ken Davenport: I find it very successful.

[13:56] Ken Davenport: You do these three things, you set the big three, your intention for the big three of the week, and every single day, you calendar those, and then you butt it up against something important.

[14:07] Ken Davenport: You will finish more.

[14:10] Ken Davenport: And when you finish something, that's when you can truly begin.

[14:14] Ken Davenport: I get a lot of people coming to me saying, I have ideas, I have an idea for a show, I have an idea for a play for a musical for an app, right?

[14:22] Ken Davenport: How many people have multiple ideas for things?

[14:25] Ken Davenport: Well, the fact is, an idea gets you nowhere.

[14:29] Ken Davenport: It's only when that idea is realized into the form of a script, in the form of something tangible that you can rehearse that you can put up.

[14:39] Ken Davenport: That's only when our journey to making theater can truly begin.

[14:44] Ken Davenport: So get things finished, get things finished fast.

[14:48] Ken Davenport: This is a challenge, which means you're gonna have some homework.

[14:52] Ken Davenport: So here's your homework, okay.

[14:54] Ken Davenport: Identify your big three for this week.

[14:57] Ken Davenport: What three things could you finish this week that could have the biggest impact on your goals in the theater?

[15:05] Ken Davenport: What three things identify them?

[15:07] Ken Davenport: That's it, won't take long.

[15:09] Ken Davenport: Calendar time to work on each of the three.

[15:12] Ken Davenport: Schedule the time, put it in your calendar, your planner, Google calendar, whatever you use, schedule that time, and then show up to that time like it's a flight to Hawaii.

[15:24] Ken Davenport: That's what I want you to do.

[15:25] Ken Davenport: Show up like it's a flight to Hawaii, or better, show up like your dreams depended on it because they do.

[15:25] Ken Davenport: They do.

[15:35] Ken Davenport: Go get them, everybody.

[15:40] Ken Davenport: All right, hello everyone.

[15:42] Joe Rosko: This is my time now, my 10 to 15 minutes.

[15:45] Joe Rosko: Tough act to follow.

[15:47] Joe Rosko: Tony Award winner, Ken Davenport, but I'm super grateful to be here.

[15:52] Joe Rosko: Um, I'm down here in Miami.

[15:55] Joe Rosko: I wish I could see you all face to face.

[15:57] Joe Rosko: Maybe drop some haze in the comments.

[16:00] Joe Rosko: Um, or yeah, just reach out to me at Bill for the Stage, uh, shoot me a DM to say hi instead of just staring at this green light on my laptop.

[16:10] Joe Rosko: But the cool thing about this is that there are people I saw like from Switzerland or California, you know, places that you're at right now that wouldn't have allowed you perhaps to attend uh this week, this challenge.

[16:24] Joe Rosko: So uh hello to everyone.

[16:26] Joe Rosko: My name is Joe, and I I did play division one football and also majored in musical theater.

[16:33] Joe Rosko: Um, I like to think, and I I looked it up when I was playing that I was the only listed musical theater major in the country uh playing football.

[16:42] Joe Rosko: But that was my life, and uh that's really how Bill for the Stage started.

[16:48] Joe Rosko: So if you're a theater maker out there and you're wondering how is this first speaker or I guess second behind Ken going to relate to me, um, I promise you I think you'll have some uh golden nuggets to take away from this little chat.

[17:01] Joe Rosko: I have five topics that I want to talk to you about.

[17:04] Joe Rosko: Um they will be fitness related, um, but overall theme will be that everything is everything.

[17:12] Joe Rosko: So that's that's the first topic that I'm gonna talk about is everything is everything.

[17:15] Joe Rosko: So when we're talking about fitness or the body, the mind, the spirit, the heart, it's all directly related to that.

[17:23] Joe Rosko: Um, so like Carrie kindly mentioned, um, I I do have the uh gift of training people in over 20 Broadway shows right now, as well as college kids across the country or national tours, or just actors trying to uh to book their next gig or theater makers like you if you're not a performer.

[17:44] Joe Rosko: And what I always tell them is everything is everything.

[17:49] Joe Rosko: So the first thing I wake up, uh the first thing I do when I wake up is I make my bed.

[17:54] Joe Rosko: You probably have heard this famous speech um by someone in the military.

[17:58] Joe Rosko: I believe he was giving a commencement speech for uh a college graduation.

[18:03] Joe Rosko: And it's true, you start your day with accomplishing the simplest of a task, like making your bed, but it sets the tone for your day.

[18:13] Joe Rosko: And honestly, this for me right now has been a bit of a struggle because typically I get up, I journal, I make my bed, I journal, I have my breakfast, and I go straight to my training session to get my workout out of the way.

[18:30] Joe Rosko: Cause for me, it's more so mental therapy than it is for physical exercise.

[18:36] Joe Rosko: But I had to kind of flip-flop my schedule because I knew I had to come speak with y'all, and I was having to fight and suppress that anxiety today.

[18:46] Joe Rosko: So taking deep breaths and just uh trying to re-center myself.

[18:50] Joe Rosko: So I am approaching this as a challenge of my own to step outside of my ritual or my schedule and be here with you all uh the best that I can be.

[19:01] Joe Rosko: And um, I'm grateful for that.

[19:03] Joe Rosko: Ken had mentioned, you know, putting things in your calendar or schedule, huge on that.

[19:08] Joe Rosko: If it's in your calendar, if you're committed to it, if you set the time aside, if you've prioritized it, you're more likely to make it happen than just to kind of you know put it up in your mind somewhere that like, you know, I'm gonna get to it.

[19:23] Joe Rosko: No, we're gonna set out the time and day and actually get it done.

[19:27] Joe Rosko: So back to everything is everything.

[19:30] Joe Rosko: You hear a lot of times like having a messy home or apartment or a room can subconsciously mess with your mind.

[19:39] Joe Rosko: Messy space, messy mind.

[19:41] Joe Rosko: It's the same with our bodies in fitness with working out and trying to uh enhance our level of performance or our well-being.

[19:51] Joe Rosko: Your body is the room, is the house for your heart, for your mind, for your spirit.

[19:58] Joe Rosko: So if you're not cleaning your body, if we're going with that messy room analogy, if you're not taking the time to enhance your performance physically or to just better your well-being physically, that room, that structure that is housing your heart, mind, and spirit, it's going to affect those other things.

[20:23] Joe Rosko: So if you're wanting to write that script, if you're wanting to seek that um that producer for funding, if you're wanting to do all these things and you're busy and you're saying, Joe, I don't have time to work out, or I don't have the motivation, or I just don't want to do it.

[20:38] Joe Rosko: I'm here to tell you that you need to take the time to clean your house, to work on your house, to work on your body.

[20:47] Joe Rosko: And I'm not speaking aesthetically, not haven't mentioned anything about weight loss or looking.

[20:54] Joe Rosko: I'm just talking about your general health and well-being of your physical body.

[21:00] Joe Rosko: Um, so that's all I'm gonna say about that.

[21:02] Joe Rosko: My second thing, we're gonna say just start, just jump.

[21:07] Joe Rosko: So that's our second topic.

[21:09] Joe Rosko: Um, Madison or Mary, one of uh the ladies there can put that up there.

[21:14] Joe Rosko: Just start.

[21:15] Joe Rosko: So y'all out there have aspirations of maybe uh product your own play, or if you're a performer, you know, getting back to auditions after uh this long pandemic, um, or whatever it is that you are artistically um pursuing, you have to just start.

[21:35] Joe Rosko: And if you already have, you just have to keep going.

[21:38] Joe Rosko: Nothing's going to be perfect, nothing's going to be uh permanent as well.

[21:44] Joe Rosko: So many people allow fear and the unknown of what will be to prevent them from even getting started.

[21:53] Joe Rosko: And I said this to Mary.

[21:54] Joe Rosko: Um, she had emailed me about just what's one thing that you would just want people to grab onto, and that would be it would be you have you have people like Ken, you have people like Carrie, you have people in the industry that you look up to, and you probably think, wow, they're so special, wow, they're so unalike me, or uh, I wish I could do that.

[22:16] Joe Rosko: It's just never gonna be in the cards for me.

[22:18] Joe Rosko: But the reality is, yes, Ken Carrie, these people, yes, they're special.

[22:24] Joe Rosko: But the reality is is that they're no different than you.

[22:27] Joe Rosko: And at one point in their life and career, they made the decision to start, to just jump.

[22:35] Joe Rosko: And there's so many things to be discovered and to get better at, but you're gonna get to those things when you get to those things.

[22:45] Joe Rosko: Um, something I say with uh my therapists when we're talking about affirmations.

[22:50] Joe Rosko: I like to say, I'm on my way to where I'm supposed to be.

[22:55] Joe Rosko: And if you don't know where that is, the key point is I'm on my way, and you can't be on your way unless you start.

[23:04] Joe Rosko: And it's the same with fitness that I tell my clients that say, I'll start when I get in better shape.

[23:10] Joe Rosko: Well, how are you gonna start with me as working together to get in better shape unless you start?

[23:16] Joe Rosko: You just have to start, you have to just get going.

[23:19] Joe Rosko: So I'll be a better producer once I know the XYZ on producing a play, or I'll be a better theater maker in regards to uh becoming a costume designer once I maybe hone this craft just a little.

[23:36] Joe Rosko: No, you just get started, and those things will take care of themselves.

[23:41] Joe Rosko: I'll move on to my next point.

[23:42] Joe Rosko: But one story I wanna tell you is about my podcast, Built for the Stage.

[23:42] Joe Rosko: My podcast, Built for the Stage, I started in uh January, first week of January of 2018.

[23:56] Joe Rosko: I had no idea what I was doing, but I listened to podcasts, and some podcasts in particular really inspired me to get this business started, and um I knew that my clients that are on Broadway had special stories to tell, and I wanted to tell them.

[24:16] Joe Rosko: I got a lapel microphone on a splitter, so there's two of them, plugged it into my cell phone, okay, and and got this uh app.

[24:28] Joe Rosko: It's called Anchor.

[24:29] Joe Rosko: If anyone's interested in starting their own podcast, Anchor is a great podcast platform because they do a lot of stuff for you.

[24:36] Joe Rosko: It's very um user-friendly.

[24:40] Joe Rosko: Sit, I have to sit next to my guest, right?

[24:43] Joe Rosko: Like shoulder to shoulder, because we're on these splitter mics, and we do our uh interviews, not in this bougie studio that I now or I used to get to do before the pandemic and hopefully get to return with Broadway Podcast Network.

[25:00] Joe Rosko: But we were on the streets of New York, so you'd be interviewing, I'd be interviewing them talking, and you'd hear like a homeless person screaming like crazy or construction where it was a mess, okay. But I'm now over 130 episodes in, um, which is basically an episode a week, so over two years of doing this now. And if you listen to you know the first couple episodes in comparison to what they are now, it's a world of difference. But if I didn't, if I didn't just get started with those lapel mics into my plugged into my cell phone, I would never have gotten to the place I am now. And going back to looking at amazing people like Carrie and Ken, they didn't just get to the place that they're at now instantly.

They had to start and just rough it and figure it out and Carrie uh work on her voice and acting and and dance and Ken figuring out the industry and how he can uh make different networking connections and angles, and so they didn't just and it's the same for y'all. So if you're just getting started, or if this is slow and uh beginning uh phases of your process, keep going. You can only get there by going there all right hear me on that okay third point I love about what I love about is you see the results in your efforts and what I mean by that is that if you show up consistently and let's just say you know you're lifting some weights overhead and they're five pounds and that's all you can do.

If you keep going and you have a plan eventually those turn into seven and a half or they turn into ten pounds or whatever and you you physically can see the results happening before your eyes when you're putting in the work and sometimes in the arts it's a bit more difficult because you are putting in the work but sometimes there are uh different other variants that are out of your control so fitness for me allows me to center myself and ground myself that hey I'm gonna be disciplined and put in this work and I'm going to in real time see it happening if you are doing the fitness in real time and and you're not seeing it happening then reach out and maybe we just need to uh readjust your plan a bit but if you're doing it the right way you're gonna see it happening and I want to bring this up because in the arts it can be it can be a challenge to keep going.

I'm getting like emotional thinking about either my pursuit in it or clients or whatever. But how fitness has helped me is that it ingrains in me the attitude, the mantra of continuing to show up and knowing that my work will pay off. And how I relate that to the arts is that even though in real time or not as literal, I could see it happening for me. Because of my fitness journey, I am ingrained, I am trained to continue to show up and put in the work. And I'm telling you, eventually, if it hasn't happened for you, haven't seen what you wanted to see out of your career or your pursuit and your projects right now. If you keep showing up, it's gonna happen. If you stop showing up to the plate and stop swinging, you're never gonna hit it.

It's never gonna happen. But just keep showing up to the plate. My fourth thing, it's uh I can do hard things. I can do hard things. Say that to yourself. I can do hard things. In fitness, when I show up and I'm working through a set or I'm doing a tough conditioning piece, I'm proving to myself by finishing those things, by showing up, giving my best that day and finishing those things. I'm proving to myself that I can do hard things. So when I'm about to step into the audition room, I'm about to go into a meeting where I'm trying to pitch uh some investors uh to back my project, or I'm trying to get maybe partners to partner with me to work together on something I'm trying to produce. You will have that confidence in yourself that hey, I can do hard things.

And I can't tell you how many times I go back to myself in my mind when I'm approaching things like this, like this. I'm doing this thing. It's not easy to talk into this green dot on the screen and have no idea what's going on with these people that are listening to me. It's tough. But I've proven to myself through showing up for fitness and other things in my life because of what I've done through fitness, is that I can do it. I've shown up before, I've had doubts, I've had fears, and I've leaned into them. I've approached them with an open mind, with uh a humble mindset, but at the same time, I've had a mantra or a chip on my shoulder that I can do this. So if you show up for yourself in the gym and you really challenge yourself, that's gonna carry over into your career or into your relationships.

That hey, I do hard things every day. And for me, I love doing my workout first thing because later on in the day, if other challenging things come up, I'll say, shoot, I've I've already checked off some boxes of plenty of tough things today. Let's keep it rolling. Um, and that kind of goes back to the everything is everything. You're in this groove with your body, with your mind, with your spirit of oiling the chain, I'll say that's just becomes everything for you. You just keep showing up in that way, no matter what it is you're doing in your life. All right. Last thing I'm gonna talk about is you're doing this for you. Ultimately, ultimately, you're doing this for you. So a lot of the times in a fitness journey, a big fear of people, especially if they're gonna work out at a gym in public, is thinking that they're gonna be judged, or thinking that they're blessed than, or thinking that um I don't know what I'm doing, or you know, it's gonna be the same thing for you, probably sometimes in your pursuit of whatever you're trying to create, or whatever you're trying to um uh accomplish in your performance career or being a scenic designer, whatever it may be, you're gonna have a fear whether you want to admit it or not, but subconsciously we all are kind of wired about thinking, what are other people gonna think, or why am I really afraid?

Am I afraid to fail because I don't want to fail myself, or am I or am I afraid that other people will see me fail, and I'm worried about thinking about what they think about me. So, what I want to say to y'all right now is that you have to go back to the beginning of why are you doing this? It's it probably a passion that's buried deep inside of you, and you have to remember that this is for me. Yes, affect other people, yes, I can help other people, but you can only give your best to others unless you give your best to yourself. So if you're going to the gym and you're worried about those people judging you, they're not they probably could care less about what you're doing, and if they do care what you're doing, screw them, forget them.

They have issues of their own. And if anything, you should feel sorry for them. You have to be there for you, and that's the same thing with your fears of trying to produce a new work or writing your own script or whatever. You can't be worried about what other people are gonna think about it. I don't know what this was not a part of my talk, but John Mayer just posted about his 20-year anniversary of his uh album that had Your Body is a Wonderland on it. And he writes, you should uh look it up on his Instagram. He writes this great caption about if he was worried about what people would have thought of this title or this song about your body is a wonderland, he would have never done it, but it was just in him.

The words came out, he liked the groove and he put it out there, and it was loved by the masses, but now 20 years later, he's looking at it and he's kind of laughing about it. He's like, This is kind of silly, but he he just did it, and and he's John Mayer now, okay? So just do it. You're doing this for you, and that's all I have to say. I hope that this green dot I'm looking at loved it. I hope that y'all got something from it, and uh, it's just been a pleasure to speak to y'all. Um, would love to have you work with me for free for a little bit if you wanted to take some uh uh advantage of getting some one-on-one coaching online. I work with people across the world, performers and theater makers in Australia and London, so wherever you're at, um, would love to get to meet you and chat with so it's been a pleasure, and um, yeah.

Thank you so much for being a part of this special podcast mini-series, The Places Please Challenge. Are you inspired? Do you have strategies? Are you ready to make more theater and better theater? Well, listen, if you enjoyed this series, here's what I want you to do. If you like listening to speakers and getting these kind of strategies, then I want you to check out the TheaterMakers Summit. This is a virtual conference that is coming up. Coming up right now on November, November 6th and 7th with a bonus day on the 8th. It's all virtual, all virtual. Go to theatermakersummit.com. It's our fifth anniversary of what I believe is the largest conference for theater makers anywhere. Last year we had over a hundred speakers and over a thousand attendees.

This year we've got even more speakers, and we're expecting even more attendees. Lots of education, lots of networking opportunities. I hope to see you there. The summit is my favorite event of the year. My favorite event of the year. And now, because it's virtual, you can attend from the comfort of your own bedroom in your pajamas. I mean, what's better than that? Learning about the theater in your PJs. Go to theatermakers summit.com, TheaterMakers Summit.com, or just Google it and you will find it. Grab a ticket, join us for the TheaterMakers Summit. I promise you, you're gonna leave inspired and with more knowledge than you came in ready to tackle the renaissance of the theater. I look forward to seeing you at the conference, and I look forward to seeing one of your shows on a stage. Thanks again for joining us at the Places Please Audio Podcast Challenge. It's the Theater Makers Challenge. Places Please.