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Actor, Author, Coach & Speaker Debra Wanger Announces “The Resilient Actor” Audiobook & Workbook/Planner

Debra Wanger – The Resilient Actor – Photo Credit – Ken Jacques

(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.

Debra Wanger – Photo Credit – Ken Jacques

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)

https://www.audible.com/pd/B07ZTPBWMH?qid=1572559504&sr=1-1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=VZ7R3H

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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Q & A with Debra Wanger ~ The Resilient Actor & Susan J. Farese, SJF Communications

We are thrilled to introduce our new SJF Communications client – San Diego Actor, Author and Coach – Debra Wanger. Debra’s book The Resilient Actor: How to Kick Ass in the Business (Without it Kicking Your Ass) brings the behind the scenes secrets of Hollywood & Broadway to supercharge one’s career and balance one’s life. An upcoming Audiobook as well as Workbook/Planner will be available soon.

SJF: In a nutshell…tell us about your life as an actor/performer – highs, lows, ‘aha’ moments- stressors…etc.

DW: 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.

SJF:  What experiences and/or people (parents, role models, etc.) in your life influenced you the most and why?

DW: My brother used to attend an acting school in Chicago with some young actors – John Cusack, Joan Cusack and Jeremy Piven among them. They were all clearly phenomenally talented back then. I tagged along and was impressed. I caught the bug then & there. My brother gave it up, but I didn’t. 

I also had a boss at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) who was somehow able to be an agent, a wife, a mother and a happy human all at the same time. She was able to cut through all the B.S. and find a balance that worked for her.  She was an inspiration for me.

Debra Wanger – Photo Credit: Ken Jacques

SJF: Describe your book The Resilient Actor

DW: Many of my private coaching clients are actors who stumble upon the same road blocks, and that is how The Resilient Actor was born. The Resilient Actor combines my experience as an actor, coach, and Hollywood talent manager.  It is part cautionary tale, letting readers know my story and all the ways I did it wrong. It is the actors’ handbook I wish someone had handed me when I left my BFA program. It is the course that was missing from my acting school curriculum. 

Debra Wanger – Photo Credit: Ken Jacques

SJF: Describe your work as a health and wellness coach

DW: As a coach, I help my clients discover what their goals are: whether it be to lose 20 pounds, gain energy, make more money, improve relationships, whatever it is they want or need. Then I help them come up with an action plan to achieve those goals, identify and remove any obstacles they have to this action plan and help them with accountability.  Every client is different, so I customize it to their needs. Many of my clients are actors who stumble upon the same roadblocks, and that is how The Resilient Actor was born. The Resilient Actor combines my experience as an actor, coach, and Hollywood talent manager.

SJF: Your time working at CAA and with the Talent Manager? Stresses? Patterns seen? High points?

DW: Creative Artists Agency in the 90’s was so exciting and crazy. I was there when super-agent Michael Ovitz still ran the place and all of Hollywood. It was like working in an emergency room, everything was high stakes and urgent and high stress, and then Tom Hanks would walk by.  It was incredibly stressful, but such a fertile learning ground for how the business of the business worked. It probably took a few years off my life, but the experience was invaluable for learning how film and television work.  Managing was some babysitting, some creativity and lot of phone calls, horrible scripts and hours in my car traversing LA for lunch meetings.  Taking clients to Sundance or the Golden Globes was as cool as it sounds, but the grind really got to me. Ultimately, I enjoy being on the creative end more than the business side of things.

SJF:  Tell us about your past year or so of musicals/shows- Describe  your roles and accolades! Angels in America, etc.

DW: This year has been a breakout year for me in San Diego theatre.  I was the female authority figure in Hairspray at San Diego Musical Theatre, a collection of John Waters dark-humor characters in a cracker jack cast of a huge musical comedy.  I played The Angel (& several other roles) in the acclaimed production of Angels in America at Cygnet Theatre (all 7 hours of it.) It was the most challenging, most exhilarating show I have ever done. Every single element of that show came together, every single person from the director, cast, designers all brought their A game. Next, I play the Queen of England in the West Coast Premiere of the British comedy hit Handbagged at Moxie Theatre.  It’s funny –  I followed my own advice and had one of the best years of my career. 

SJF: Tell us about the cast of Handbagged and when is the theatrical run at Moxie?

DW:  The Handbagged cast is a ‘who’s who’ of San Diego theatre: Sandy Campbell, Linda Libby, Lisel Gorell-Getz and myself, with Durwood Murray and Max Macke directed by Kim Strassburger. Many of us are often up for the same roles and don’t get to all work together.  It will be a diva-fest in the best way possible.  So much talent.  We play Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth running October 19-November 17.  I can’t wait.

SJF:  What do you dream about?

DW: I dream about making a difference. I dream about balance. I dream about sunny weather, hugs from my children and using my all the wisdom I have acquired to help others. And chocolate. 

SJF: What are your top 3 values in life?

DW: Authenticity, love and playfulness.

Debra Wanger – Photo Credit: Ken Jacques

SJF: What are you most proud of?

DW: I am really proud of The Resilient Actor, and upcoming The Resilient Actor Audio Book and The Resilient Actor’s Workbook and Planner, my creative babies, but I’d have to say I am really proud of my 3 kids,  my human babies. They are phenomenal, loving, decent human beings.  

SJF: Describe your feelings about balancing motherhood and work

DW: Balancing motherhood & work is a challenge.  Acting tends to be feast or famine.  I don’t take every show I am offered. I have to weigh it against tucking my kids in for those 3 months. I am pickier about what projects I do.  That is one of the reasons I love writing, coaching, and public speaking – it allows me to work with actors and be creative without negatively affecting my kids.  They know I love being onstage and want me happy, I just attempt to balance it as best I can.

SJF: Female issues with males (harassment) in entertainment?

DW: Ugh. This is a real thing.  It is time that people shed light on bad behavior in the arts and in business.  There have been some individuals abusing and taking advantage for years, many of whom were common knowledge and no one did anything. I applaud the brave souls who are willing to speak up for themselves. Of course, I hope that individuals who are breaking the law are brought to justice and that attitudes change. The whole system needs to change and awareness is the first step.

SJF:  Any fears? Doubts? ever?

DW: Of Course!  I’m human.  Like all actors – I doubt myself.  I have several exercises in the book to help with negativity and doubt so they don’t get the best of you. I get insecure and doubtful like anyone, but I have learned how to tame that beast most of the time. 

SJF: Many thanks, Debra!

Debra Wanger’s Website: http://debrawanger.com/


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

Publicist: Susan J. Farese, SJF Communications 408-398-5940 sjfcommunications@gmail.com 

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WALKING IN STILETTOS GOES GLOBAL with CHYNA WHYNE

Walking the Walk (and More) with High-Heel Guru Chyna Whyne

Chyna Whyne

Introducing our SJF Communications client ~ Chyna Whyne

(San Diego, CA – August 12, 2019).  Chyna Whyne is truly an inspiring Renaissance Woman and dynamic holistic artist-practitioner – Born in London to Jamaican parents, she is an Alexander Technique Practitioner and Teacher (a world-renowned body management discipline), High-Heel Guru with her Walking in Stilettos Workshops, Recording Artist/Songwriter/Singer, Author, Model, Pageant Coach, International Public Speaker, Kemetic Yoga Teacher and Entrepreneur (Owner of VIP Yoga Retreats at Ocho Rios, Jamaica).

Chyna is ready to take the world by storm as the Global ‘High Heel Guru” sharing her ‘Walking in Stilettos’ wisdom so women can walk in high heels safely, preventing injuries and move elegantly without effort as well as expanding her brand with women of all ages, sizes and occupations – https://chynawhynebrand.com/. She believes in and exudes inclusion, diversity, instilling confidence, empowerment, charisma, glamour, femininity, presence and elegance and a relaxed self as well as promoting health and safety.

“Chyna is captivating. She is not pretentious or superficial; totally at ease with herself she radiates happiness, fun and, of course, glamour. Chyna has a very generous heart and delights in helping women wake up to how fabulous they are, beneath their doubts, fears and self-criticism. Her belief that every woman is beautiful is infectious.”

-Felicity Lerouge, wearethecity.com

It all began with Chyna singing as a child in church, then singing at school. She started a band called the Silktones after graduating andsoon her band was playing gigs. Chyna entered a glamorous jet-setting lifestyle, as a model and back-up singer – recording and internationally touring with some of the greatest musicians/bands from the 1980’s to the early 2000’s: she sang background vocals on Peter Gabriel’s 1986 Grammy-winning album “So” featuring the song “Sledgehammer” and  “Big Time”. Chyna provided vocals with Rick Astley on “Never Gonna Give You Up” and on “Father’s Eye’ by Eric Clapton. Seal would go to her bands gigs and he invited Chyna on his 1987 “Kiss of a Rose” European tour. She also sang with Bob Dylan in 1991 in Seville, as well as on Peter Townsend’s “Brand New Life” from the “Iron Man” then went on a world tour with The Who. Chyna is the featured backing soloist on Eric Clapton’s Pilgrim Album. She spent a year in the recording studio with Eric and afterwards toured for a year with him.

Chyna’s years as a successful model and singer – constantly wearing high heels or stilettos became a difficult time as she developed extreme chronic lower back pain while touring with Eric Clapton during 1998-99. The pain was relentless, despite chiropractic, osteopathic and physiotherapy efforts, which all failed to deliver positive long-term results. She couldn’t continue wearing high heels.

Her good fortune materialized when she was introduced to the Alexander Technique in 1999 and noticed an immediate improvement. This led her to study the Alexander Technique in depth for three years from 1999-2002 and to become a fully accredited teacher of the technique.

Since 2002, Chyna has renewed her singing, modeling career, opened a wellness Spa, began providing Yoga Retreats and has been teaching ‘Walking in Stilettos” workshops.  The response has been overwhelmingly positive with numerous testimonials praising Chyna as she explains and applies the benefits of the Alexander Technique to her Walking in Stiletto workshops to a wide demographic of satisfied clients and audiences. Additionally Chyna authored the book “Mastering the Art of Wearing High Heels’ in 2017.

“Walk the walk. Live the life. Walking in stilettos. What if you could wear your sexy heels with confidence, grace and ease for longer periods of time. Now you can – walk this way!”

-Chyna Whyne

“The Alexander Technique is an educational method used worldwide for well over 100 years. By teaching how to change faulty postural habits, it enables improved mobility, posture, performance and alertness along with relief of chronic stiffness, tension and stress.

Using the Alexander Technique, students are relieved of neck, back, and shoulder pains; and taught about the importance of good posture, balance, and coordination; and how to present themselves with elegance and confidence in professional, social, and business environments.  Participants will also learn about health and safety in high heels; how to buy heels correctly and wear them for longer; and the feet exercises you should embark on before stepping out”.

-Maggie Barlow, American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT)

Chyna recently taught courses https://youtu.be/ey8jl3egdCA and coached women at the American Society for the Alexander Technique Annual Conference and General Meeting, June 26-30 at Columbia University in New York as well as delivering courses and workshops at the Caribbean Maritime University in Kingston, Jamaica. She recently coached two current pageant finalists, Sasha Henry (Miss Universe Jamaica 2019 Finalist) and Thalia Malcolm (Miss Jamaica World 2019 Finalist) with topics such as positive body image, healthy food choices, yoga, Alexander Technique and safety and poise walking the catwalk techniques in stilettos.

On August 9th, Chyna performed at the charity event Ignite the Catwalk (Sponsor Diamonds International) with proceeds for hospital equipment for Falmouth General Hospital at Margaritaville in Jamaica (Ocho Rios, St. Ann). Chyna also performed “Kick Up Your Feet and Dance” at the Jamaican Independence Day August 6th in Kingston, Jamaica.

Chyna’s “Train the Trainer” series, which began in 2016, helps to spread awareness of the Alexander Technique on a global basis with China Doll “Walking Stiletto” Ambassadors.

Ms. Whyne is also back at recording music and worked with Barry O’Hare’s Studio at Jack Ruby Plaza in Ocho Rios in 2016 featuring the singles Walking in My Stilettos and Pick Up Your Feet and Dance. She collaborated with Elephant Man on her single Sexy Baal Ed. She wrote her new upcoming ‘Cultural Reggae” album Melanin with eleven songs (including the single Melanin, which was produced by Grammy Award-winner Barry O’Hare. recorded at World-a-Muzic in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Media Contact:

To book Chyna for workshops and appearances, please contact

Publicists:

(International): Susan J. Farese, SJF Communications 408-398-5940 sjfcommunications@gmail.com.

(Jamaica): Andre Stephens, Creative Director, Premier Gentleman Company Ltd.
876-865-4587, premiergentsja@gmail.com

Chyna Whyne’s Website: http://chynawhyne.com/

Find Chyna Whyne on Social Media:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/walkinginstilettos/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ChynaWhyne

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/chynawhyne/?hl=en

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Driven to the Max: Photo Shoot and Q & A with Max Cadillac

Meet Max Cadillac. I have known Max professionally for the past five years in San Diego. Our paths have crossed with me providing public relations & marketing, and with him either performing in professional theatre productions, choreographing and/or costuming…and most recently modeling as my photography subject for an action-packed, fun editorial shoot, as Max embarks on his new journey – the sky’s the limit – and seize NYC – a.k.a. The Big Apple!

This past September, our photo shoot (for his new modeling “look book”) with Max took place during the day at a cool park as well as a suburban cul-de-sac and street in the Rancho Penasquitos area of San Diego. Max posed. I snapped away.

Take a gander at Max’s photographic versatility (and read our interview Q &A which follows)!

Max Cadillac. Photo by Susan J. Farese, SJF Communications, 2017.

 

Max Cadillac. Photo by Susan J. Farese, SJF Communications, 2017.

 

Max Cadillac. Photo by Susan J. Farese, SJF Communications, 2017.

 

Max Cadillac. Photo by Susan J. Farese, SJF Communications, 2017.

 

Max Cadillac. Photo by Susan J. Farese, SJF Communications, 2017.

Q & A with Max Cadillac

SJF: Max, please give us the run down…tell us where you have performed professionally

MC: I have a true love for musical theatre and have been working hard throughout my field of choice – performing, choreographing, and costuming in San Diego. I’ve performed with Cygnet Theatre (Pageant, Gypsy), Moonlight Stage Productions (The Wizard of Oz, Music Man, Big Fish), San Diego Musical Theatre (White Christmas, Sound of Music, Cats, West Side Story), and most recently in The Tragedy of Carmen with the San Diego Opera.

SJF: Besides being a dancer, you’re also a choreographer. Where have you been the creator of all things dance?

MC: My choreography credits include: Canyon Crest Academy (Zombie Prom, Evita, Sweet Charity), La Jolla High School (Anything Goes), San Diego Junior Theater (Shrek the Musical), as well as other high school, college, and studio performances.

SJF: And your newest venture into costuming?

MC: Over the last year, I have expanded into costuming under the wing of costume designer Janet Pitcher.

SJF: Why NY? Does it have a special meaning for you?

MC: Though I am proud to be a native San Diegian, I’ve always felt like my home town was ‘Broadway to Bloomingdales’ in The Big Apple. My parents and family are from the tri-state area and having growing up bi-coastal going to summer camp in the Poconos, I have always loved New York the most. Not only that, but there are so many more opportunities for theater in New York than Southern California. The fantasy of moving to the city and booking the first audition sounds splendid, but the reality of planning his move to New York has been a long awaited plan since high school.

SJF: Tell us about your performing and where you have studied

MC: The drive to perform has always been there. I have attended performing arts schools since middle school. I first attended Children’s Creative and Performing Arts Academy before transferring to Coronado School of the Arts for high school. It was there I learned his passion could become a career, and I pursued a degree in Theater. I attended a California State University to pursue my degree, but he realized within the first month this was not the right program for me. So within that first semester, I applied, auditioned, and was accepted into AMDA  in Los Angeles for musical theatre. It was a program that mainly focused on acting, singing, dancing, and allowing their students to explore many aspects of the performance world on and off stage.

SJF: What was one of your favorite roles?

MC: Everyday is another chance to create and perform, but I really enjoyed my most recent performance as Lillas Pastia in the San Diego Opera’s The Tragedy of Carmen. The creative team wanted to make a whole new vision for the classic opera, so with only six cast members, sets and costumes spanning many different decades, and direction like no one has seen before, It was a true collaboration of artists working together to feature the best of their talents. And although my character did not have any songs or dialogue, I threw myself into the physicality of the character. To quote the lead of Carmen herself, she wrote me a lighthearted opening night letter saying “Thank you for stealing my show. Now own it” and that is exactly what I did. The recreation of a classic role is something I am extremely invested in, always trying to adapt and tell a relatable story for the audience, and one day I hope to originate a role in a musical, play, opera, or film. Any medium that gives actors the freedom to shape and mold a character like that sounds like a dream role to me, and I would even love to write my own musicals and movies in order to ensure true artistic freedom.

SJF: Dream roles?

MC:  I have many! Aldolpho from The Drowsy Chaperone, Molina in Kiss of The Spiderwoman, Dr. Frank-N-Furter from Rocky Horror Picture Show, and an all time favorite from the first musical I ever saw on Broadway one day playing Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast.

SJF It’s been a pleasure Max. Anything else you’d like to share?

MC: On a personal note, I’d would like to thank you, Susan for all of your support, love, and laughter working together over the past 5 years and would like to leave your readers with this thought; If you love something, Do Not let it go! Hold onto whatever drives your passion, and love what you do. Theater, like the world can seem very small at times, but never limit yourself within your chosen field and always remember it is much more fulfilling to focus on the journey than the finish line.

SJF: Best wishes on your journey to the BIG APPLE!

 

Special thanks to Emmy Farese for photoshoot assistance!

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