(SAN DIEGO, September 23, 2019) – Actor, Author, Coach and Public Speaker, Debra Wanger is an often-sought-after professional actor, well known in the San Diego region. She published her debut book The Resilient Actor: How to Kick Ass In the Business Without It Kicking Your Ass in 2017 and is thrilled to announce the upcoming The Resilient Actor Audiobook and The Resilient Actor Workbook & Planner: How to Kick Ass in the Business Without It Kicking Your Ass.
“I’ve worked with Hollywood stars and actors currently working on Broadway. I have been able to utilize the secrets of their behind-the-scenes success along with my skills as a wellness coach and my own personal experience. I’ve worked mostly in live regional theatre, but also some television, film, and radio. When I left my BFA program and started working professionally, I had to learn the hard way all the life and balance skills they didn’t teach at the conservatory. There was a lot of focus on being a triple threat, on performance skills, but nothing about how to survive the challenging life of being an actor. I fought depression, loneliness, weight gain, difficulty navigating periods of unemployment, all of it. Like most actors, I had to learn how to get the rest & recovery I needed, how to master my mindset to work with me – not against me, and how to take care of myself like a performing athlete. I had to learn all these life skills beyond my BFA.” – Debra Wanger
ABOUT THE RESILIENT ACTOR:
From The Resilient Actor: How to Kick Ass In the Business Without It Kicking Your Ass
Acting can be a crazy profession, full of uncertainty, insecurity, and unpredictability. While there are many books about technique, little has been written about how to pursue the dream without compromising your health and sanity. Pulling from her decades of experience as an actor, talent manager, and lifestyle coach, Debra Wanger filled this void in 2016 with a must-read survival guide for the acting professional.
Debra offers a positive, practical, playful, holistic approach to the art and business of acting that marries mind, body, spirit, and craft. In this essential handbook, which serves as a personal coach in a book, she covers all the bases–from exercise and nutrition to time management and setting goals to staying motivated from audition through performance. Her valuable, tried-and-true insights, gained from client successes, will enable the performing artist to balance and bolster a challenging creative career with a healthy, productive personal life.
At last there’s a clear path through the madness. The Resilient Actor will lead you to the top of your game, increase your professional staying power, and help you achieve equilibrium in all aspects of your life.
ABOUT THE RESILIENT ACTOR’S WORKBOOK AND PLANNER:
Discover some of the secrets from Broadway & Hollywood to supercharge your career and balance your life. Debra Wanger knows how difficult it can be to pursue your dream of acting without compromising your health or your sanity. She drew wisdom from decades of working as an actor, talent manager, and wellness coach to write The Resilient Actor and give emerging and experienced actors a holistic approach to their profession that marries mind, body, spirit, and craft. Sustaining a healthy and satisfying career requires more than just talent- go beyond the skills you learned in your BFA program.
The Resilient Actor’s Workbook and Planner is filled with quick & easy exercises designed to help you plot the direction for your career from the start and avoid the pitfalls that many actors face. You’ll walk through the steps to figure out what kind of actor you want to be and the lifestyle you want to have. You’ll set goals and develop habits for your career and use the specially-designed included actors’ planner to create a step-by-step action and accountability plan for achieving them. The Resilient Actor’s Workbook and Planner will unlock longevity in your career by showing you how to find happiness and health in an industry that challenges both.
BIO – DEBRA WANGER
Debra studied acting at the nationally acclaimed Piven Theatre Workshop with such talents as John Cusack, Joan Cusack, and Jeremy Piven. Her vocal training began at the Northwestern University vocal department while still attending high school. She declined an opera scholarship to Oberlin Conservatory in order to study musical theatre at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM.) She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Tufts University and received a Master of Fine Arts in musical theatre from San Diego State University, where she graduated Phi Kappa Phi as a Marion Ross Scholar.
Debra is currently in rehearsals as “Liz”- the younger version of Queen Elizabeth in Handbagged at Moxie Theatre which runs October 19th through November 17th. She has performed in regional theatres and cabaret clubs across the country, most frequently in Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, and South Florida. In Professionally Speaking at the Off-Broadway, The Miami Herald hailed her “a comic spark plug.” Her role in Triumph of Love won a KPBS-TV Patté award. Her one-woman show My Nights With George, Kurt & Cole, (co-written and directed by comic genius, Phil Johnson) was featured at various venues throughout Southern California and won Best New Play and Best Actress at the 2003 San Diego Actors Festival, and the San Diego Playbill Billie Award for Best Actress in a musical.
She was just featured as The Angel in Cygnet Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of Angels in America, as well as A Little Night Music, On the 20th Century, Spring Awakening, My Fair Lady, Evita, Sweeney Todd and Dogfight on the Cygnet stage. At San Diego Musical Theatre has been featured in Hairspray, Billy Elliot, Footloose, Sound of Music, La Cage Aux Folles, and White Christmas. Other San Diego theatre highlights include: God of Vengeance at La Jolla Playhouse, Hamlet (Gertrude) at Intrepid; Titanic & Sunset Blvd. at Moonlight; Permanent Collection at Mo’olelo; Full Monty (Vicki) at New Village Arts; Sleeping Beauty at North Coast Rep; Anything Goes! (Reno), Oliver! (Nancy) at Lyric Opera San Diego; Carousel and Sound of Music at Lawrence Welk. Her CD, Driving My Own Heart is also available on Amazon and iTunes.
BOOK REVIEWS:
“This book is fantastic. I’m a professional actor and also teach acting, and will recommend it to all my students. It’s a topic not discussed enough! Resilience is one of the most important qualities for any working actor–if not THE most important quality. Highly recommended!”
-Amy Griffin
“The Resilient Actor by Debra Wanger is a valuable and refreshing resource for anyone in the acting profession who wants to elevate their career while attaining balance in their life. Wanger delivers a motivating, witty, and practical workbook that is bound to bring about positive and healthy change on the road to success.”
-C.K.
“I found The Resilient Actor to be very helpful to me as a musician even though the book was written for actors. It was a great reminder of how to be proactive instead of waiting for the phone to ring and how to keep active always working on your craft. It was a good reminder that even successful creative people never let up on getting their name and face out there and true artists know that their profession is always a work in progress. The book really gave me good solid tips on how to stay healthy mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually; especially when you are in between work projects. I would highly recommend this book to anyone in the business or that is thinking about getting in the business to get a reality check for the persistence needed as well as the care and feeding of the artist in you. Loved it and will continue to use it as a reference!”
-Marc Breithaupt
BOOK INFORMATION:
The Resilient Actor: How to Kick Ass In the Business (Without It Kicking Your Ass)
ISBN paperback: 978-1-61961-830-5 ISBN eBook: 978-1-61961-831-2
Audiobook: The Resilient Actor: How to Kick Ass In the Business (Without It Kicking Your Ass)
ISBN: pending.
Upcoming: The Resilient Actor’s Workbook: How to Kick Ass In the Business (Without It Kicking Your Ass) ISBN: pending.
Debra is available to speak to groups about The Resilient Actor.
Debra Wanger’s Website: http://debrawanger.com/
Q & A with Debra Wanger and SJF Communications
Like, Follow and Interact with Debra on Social Media:
Facebook: @resilientactor https://www.facebook.com/resilientactor/
Twitter: @debrawanger https://twitter.com/debrawanger
Instagram: @debradiva https://www.instagram.com/debradiva/
For more information or to book Debra for interviews, speaking engagements or coaching Contact:
Susan J. Farese, SJF Communications 408-398-5940 sjfcommunications@gmail.com
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