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[0:00] Alan Seales: Hey everyone, welcome back to a special bonus episode of The Theatre Podcast. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and today you'll get to hear from a Broadway influencer. Our guest goes by Six Broadway Fan Forever on Instagram and YouTube and is a self-proclaimed Broadway nerd, just like me, has amassed almost 10,000 followers on Instagram alone, and I suspect has a very healthy obsession with the show Six, also like me. Kerry Skinner, welcome to The Theatre Podcast.

[0:33] Kerry Skinner: Thanks for having me.

[0:35] Alan Seales: Of course. So, I mean, you're the first influencer really that I've had on the podcast, which is very, very cool. But I want to start, I guess, in a little different way. Like, tell me what got you into Broadway in the first place. What got you into theater?

[0:48] Kerry Skinner: My first Broadway show back in like 2011, 2012, I was 11th or 12 years old, and my godfather told me that he was going to a show with his family, and he wanted to reach out to me if I wanted to go, and I said, of course. So, me and his family went to see Newsies, and it was like the best first show I ever saw on Broadway, and ever since then, I kept going to Broadway shows throughout Christmas and birthdays.

[1:18] Alan Seales: Oh, that's so much fun!

[1:19] Kerry Skinner: Yeah.

[1:20] Alan Seales: So then fast forward, and then the fan account, I guess there's a couple different ways that someone could start getting online, just talking about Broadway in general, having a personal account, but like literally your name is Six Broadway Fan Forever, but your first show was Newsies. So what, I guess, two questions then, when did you see Six? And then two, why did you decide to create your entire online presence around Six?

[1:51] Kerry Skinner: So the first time I saw Six was back before the pandemic happened. I was supposed to see it, right, you know, I think a week after it opens with previews and all that stuff, then it got hit with COVID. And then for my birthday gift, my mom took me to see it. And it was really magical at first, because it was like, I kept on hearing about it since it first started in the West End. That's how I got my first taste of Six.

[2:21] Alan Seales: But then, well, I guess, do you consider yourself an influencer? Is that a word that means anything? Because I feel like it's sort of like a catch-all bucket that people with a lot of following just kind of get lumped into. But are you out to actually influence?

[2:38] Kerry Skinner: I'm not actually here to influence. It's just that I'm here to get everybody to know, to have like a Broadway experience or tell me about their Broadway experience. And I can help them with ticket sales, ticket information, with the best course of action for which performance to go on with today. But yeah, I'm just helping.

[3:00] Alan Seales: So you're actually, are people reaching out to you through DMs and stuff and asking for like show recommendations and whatnot?

[3:04] Kerry Skinner: Many of the people who reach out to me are asking me about like, why do you get into this stuff? And if there's any negativity coming your way, like how do I respond to this? And I just give them all like help. And they just ask me about how to like get the best price for tickets.

[3:25] Alan Seales: I want to dive into the negativity part of it, because that's something that you said just piqued my interest, because there's a lot. I mean, I've talked to Broadway folks and TV and film folks and stuff coming up on multiple years now, many years. And a lot of it is like you have to turn off, they have to turn off comments. They don't read reviews. They have to just kind of stay away from comments in general, because people can kind of, I think, be really mean on the internet when they think it's anonymous or they're hiding behind a username or something, right? But why did you even say asking about the negativity? Like what's been going on there?

[4:01] Kerry Skinner: For example, there is this account that's been like going around on the internet, get into like people's businesses without knowing the details. And one of the accounts reached out to me is asking me, how do I deal with this? And I go to my fellow Broadway nerds, and they give me the best advice to tell a person. So it's not just me collabing with them, I get my, I get other input with them, with other people to help with the negativity.

[4:32] Alan Seales: I mean, so you're kind of rallying behind the person who's getting, is it a form of bullying? I want to say like, I don't want to put words in your mouth.

[4:40] Kerry Skinner: No.

[4:40] Alan Seales: Yeah, like expand on that a little bit.

[4:42] Kerry Skinner: I've been dealing with this one person online who just thinks they're like, they're so on top, because they have better following than me. And like, I just ignore it the best I can. But every time somebody messes with me about it, I just tell them just to ignore it.

[5:00] Alan Seales: That's really all you can do. But the end goal, do you have, do you have a business plan? Is there a five-year plan? I mean, I don't know the first thing about being an influencer, you know, that's not something I want to do, not something I set out to do. All I want to do is just post things that I hope people will like. And so I guess from your side of things, though, are you looking to have a, like turn this into a sort of coaching thing or a Broadway consulting thing? Or even in terms of building community that you're saying, if somebody comes to you and asks for help, then you get the community involved? Like what's the big picture?

[5:40] Kerry Skinner: What I do is like, I get, I have a group of friends who I know since like high school, and we just been trying to do the best we can. But my long-term goal is just to spread positivity. And on my recent post, I posted about if you are being bullied or being a, you know, hateful message online, don't be scared, like speak out, talk to them about it. That's on my recent post on it. My long-term goal is just to help many people that need help with the bullying online.

[6:15] Alan Seales: Do you deal with your own form of negativity in that regard too? If you're, if you're like, bucketing, like you bucket, you have to sort of isolate the people who are the external people coming at you. And speaking for myself, I often have to tell myself, nope, don't listen to that nasty voice that you're telling yourself that you're not good enough. You have to overcome it. And it's a constant struggle internally that I'm having to deal with.

[6:41] Kerry Skinner: One of my best friends who I, you know, asked for advice, he just told me that they are just a negative person. They, you don't need to put your energy into them. Just focus on yourself and be like the better person you can.

[6:53] Alan Seales: Well, so, but what about you though? Like personally, do you talk to yourself? Do you have a good inner, inner monologue or inner dialogue, I guess?

[7:02] Kerry Skinner: My inner dialogue can be questionable at times. And it's something that, you know, through years of therapy and discovery of myself that I've learned to process and understand a little bit better. But is there any sort of that, any sort of, I guess, internal dialogue along those lines that you contend with? Like I always say myself every day that if something's wrong happens, it's like if you have like a negative thought, leave for another day or just get rid of it completely. Just try to focus on the positive and try to be the best you can be each day. And if you don't succeed, try and try again, because that's my motto. Try to get all the negativity out of my head and then put positive ones in.

[7:45] Alan Seales: I love that. Okay. Also, are you going to change your name online to Six Broadway Fan Forever and Anjulia Fan Forever? I don't know if that's enough. I don't know if there's enough.

[8:00] Kerry Skinner: You've been posting a lot of Anjulia lately. Because I seen Dark Fan's last show last week. I'm so jealous. And I have his final speech, final everything. And I just want to get that out before I post like any stuff.

[8:16] Alan Seales: That's so cool. That's interesting. I mean, do people come to you though? Do they know you for Six? Is that what the purpose is? Or they come to you for Broadway in general? Because if you started, you know, if you were just like took off the Six, right? You were just Broadway Fan Forever. I don't know if that's even available. But like if you were to be able to use that name and still post about Six and then occasionally post about everything else. Like, I don't know. I was thinking of changing my name to Broadway Addict. So you get that addictive side of the Broadway world. And you get all things Broadway.

[8:58] Kerry Skinner: I like that. You can do like Broadway.Addict or something, you know, just to make it in case Broadway Addict take it. I don't know. That's really cool. I think I support the name change. And maybe by the time this episode has come out, the name will have changed. So either look for Six Broadway Fan Forever or Broadway Addict. Anyway, let me know whenever the name changes, if it does. And I'll make sure that the show notes for this bonus episode are accurate. So if you're listening, if you can't find Six Broadway Fan Forever, then look in the show notes and I'll have the correct account name.

[9:27] Alan Seales: That's really cool. Okay. So if you've listened to this podcast, then you know I ask three standard closing questions in my regular length episodes. But since this is a little shorty, I'm going to ask the final question to you, Kerry. If you could only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you see?

[9:46] Kerry Skinner: I would definitely would have to go back. I know Six has been my passion for a long time, but I would have to see Aunt Juliet. I love it. I love it. I love it. That is definitely one of my new favorite shows. I am right there with you. Good choice.

[10:02] Alan Seales: And so right now we can find you as we're recording, we can find you on Instagram at Six Broadway Fan Forever, and then on YouTube under the same name. Yes?

[10:13] Kerry Skinner: Yes, I believe. If not, then I'll let you know about the username for the YouTube.

[10:19] Alan Seales: Yes. So listener, if it's not there, again, look in the show notes. I'll have the show notes updated depending on whatever it changes to. And then if you're not already following me, I'm at theater underscore podcast on threads, Instagram, and Twitter. I mean, X, I mean, who cares? Yeah, whatever. I give a big old fart in that direction. Okay. Facebook.com slash official theater podcast. Tell your friends. Jukebox the Ghost gave us our intro and outro music and Kerry, thank you. This has been a fun little bonus episode. I've enjoyed chatting with you.

[10:51] Kerry Skinner: Yeah, you too. Take a deep breath, make the world a little colorful.