Coming Back After Adversity

Overcoming Adversity: Click for Photo Credit

Over the years dozens upon dozens of actors have come to me with a specific concern: they’ve been diagnosed with an illness or have a family emergency that requires them to put a hold on their career, and they’re afraid the time away will stall things completely. They come to me for help in planning for the “down time” and setting goals for their career’s recovery.

I know first-hand how challenging this can be. Because in the middle of 2015 I myself was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. I was an actor in the prime of her 30s, and I couldn't believe this was happening to me.

I was on a particular upswing in my career at that moment. I was producing two plays - one of which I was starring in. I had just signed with a new manager. But I had this nagging pain in my breast and I was feeling fatigued. I had been to the doctor and they said that breast cancer rarely causes pain and I was too young with no risk factors. But after a few months I simply knew that something was wrong, and a mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy later I found out the truth.

I had cancer.

I went into a bit of a panic mode, not only about my health but also my upcoming commitments. Could I somehow fit the surgery, chemo and radiation around my performance schedule? Would the side effects event make that possible? Other questions seemed far worse - what will happen with my “type” when I lose my hair and gain weight from chemo? And how will I explain my absence to casting directors and producers - breast cancer is not something that easily rolls off the tongue in casual conversation.

As I was nearing the end of a year of treatment and would soon get a clean bill of health, my mother was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer, and all of the sudden my status changed from cancer patient to cancer caregiver. This meant travel out of state several times per year to make sure my mother got the support she needed. I found it even more difficult to justify my time away from acting when it was someone else’s health I was supporting.

So what does one do when they find themselves faced with this kind of situation?

1 - Take a breath. This business is not going anywhere. Yes, there may be a little lag in your trajectory (which sucks, believe me) but the hard work you put into your career will not evaporate overnight.

2 - Be as honest as is comfortable. I chose to be very open about my personal health crisis but I chose to be silent about my mother’s. You don’t have to reveal anything you don’t want to.

3 - Explore the “new you.” If, like me, your type changes because of the illness, take a step back and see what is available to you in this interim period of “new you.” In my case, I lost my hair so I had to wait for my hair to grow out enough where I could get new headshots. My type didn’t change drastically, but my personal style needed to get a bit of a facelift to accommodate the short pixie cut I was sporting. It turns out to be a ton of fun - I looked at other actors who has short hair and observe their style, and then I created new branding that made me feel the most “me.”

4 - Set small goals that are doable in your situation. One of my students developed her knowledge of theater by challenging herself to read three plays per week during her treatment. Another did research watching 2 episodes of every TV show shot in NYC. A third used his downtime to watch webinars on YouTube, making plans for what he wanted to try once his energy returned.

5 - And finally, BE PATIENT. Your recovery won’t go any faster by worrying or getting upset wth yourself. And the business is not going anywhere. If you’re kind to yourself you’ll find that this crisis will bring even more capacity for empathy and growth in your work, making you even more human than before.



Did you like this advice? Great news! I’ve debuted my brand new DIY Course “Mastering the Art of Relationships” which includes video and worksheets designed to help you dive deeply into your communications to make networking easy, painless, and fun. Sign up for the course here: courses.theactorsenterprise.org

Have a comment or question? Leave it by clicking below!
And Email me for your free coaching consultation...

Erin Cronican’s career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego. She has appeared in major feature films and on television, and has done national tours of plays and musicals. She has worked in the advertising & marketing departments of major corporations, film production companies, theater magazines, and non-profit acting organizations. She is the Founder/Coach of The Actors’ Enterprise, co-founder and Managing Director of The Seeing Place Theater, and writes an “Experts” column for Backstage. To learn more, check out www.TheActorsEnterprise.org and find her on Twitter @ErinCronican.

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Creating Your Own Work

This article originally appeared as a guest post on the Broadway Life Coach. Click here to view.

I’m so honored to have been asked by Bret Shuford to create a blog post to help demystify the process of creating your own work. There's so much thought and strategy that goes into the process of choosing, creating and sharing a project, that today, we're going to discuss how to even begin.

How do you choose the project that's right for you?

To start, you want to ask yourself a few questions which will help guide your efforts.

1) WHAT KIND OF PROJECT DO YOU WANT TO DO: PLAY, MUSICAL, FILM, WEB SERIES, ETC.?

Many actors know exactly what kind of work they want to do, but for some it can be challenging, especially if you have multiple interests. One of the easiest ways to determine the best medium to create your work is to envision your favorite book coming to life with you as the lead actor in the story.

Would you prefer to tell your favorite story on camera or live on stage? Will it involve music, or movement, or just words? This is a quick short cut to unveiling your favorite medium for your project.

2) DO YOU WANT TO WRITE YOUR OWN ORIGINAL STORY, HAVE SOMEONE WRITE AN ORIGINAL STORY FOR YOU, OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO REVIVE/REMAKE/ADAPT SOMETHING THAT’S ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN?

From its inception, my theater company, The Seeing Place, has focused on works that have already been published (as opposed to new works) so that we, the actors, can freely interpret each story with our own artistry. This helps guide our decision making and has positioned our theater company in a particular niche in the industry which we can be really proud of.

3) WHAT STORY/STORIES ARE YOU ACHING TO TELL?

Self producing is really (really!) hard, so you want to make sure that you are passionate about what you’re creating. One way to inspire your passion is to know that you’re creating is something that’s missing in your world.

Have you had an experience that you’re dying to express through your art? Are there particular writers whose work you’re committed to sharing? Are you interested in creating more opportunities for women, or minorities, or any other overlooked parts of our population?

Asking yourself these questions will help you hone in on the exact project you’re committed to creating.

4) WHAT KIND OF ROLE DO YOU WANT IN THE PRODUCING PROCESS?

Believe it or not, you can produce your own work and not have to be the big boss. Think about what kind of position you want in the project and what skills you bring to the table. Then bring other people on board to fill out the other needed positions.

Once you have this initial planning completed, CONGRATULATIONS! You are on your way to creating your own work! (Aren’t you excited?)


Let me know how this process helped you, and what project you've decided to create in the comments below.

Erin Cronican’s career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego. She has appeared in major feature films and on television, and has done national tours of plays and musicals. She has worked in the advertising & marketing departments of major corporations, film production companies, theater magazines, and non-profit acting organizations. She is the Founder/Coach of The Actors’ Enterprise, co-founder and Managing Director of The Seeing Place Theater, and writes an “Experts” column for Backstage. To learn more, check out www.TheActorsEnterprise.org and find her on Twitter @ErinCronican.

Erin is interviewed for The Accidental Activist!

I had such a good time chatting with Kristen Michelle on her podcast, The Accidental Activist.

Listen to what happens when a podcaster comes over to my apartment and we have wayyyyyyyyy too much coffee and spend much of the time making funny voices and laughing.

Here’s a taste of some of the great things that were kept in the podcast after editing:

1) How I broke up a fight on a city street
2) Common mispronunciations of my name
3) The difference between our dreams about acting and how it works in the "real" world
4) The power of comedy during trying times
5) Being followed on Twitter by a "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" actor
6) What it's like as an actor producing theater in this heavily politicized environment


Click here to listen to the clip: Erin Cronican on The Accidental Activist


Have a comment or question? Leave it by clicking below!

Erin Cronican's career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego. She has appeared in major feature films and on television, and has done national tours of plays and musicals. She has worked in the advertising & marketing departments of major corporations, film production companies, theater magazines, and non-profit acting organizations. To learn more, check out www.TheActorsEnterprise.org.

Master Classes in Goal Setting, The Art of Networking, Monologues (and more!)

I'm excited to announce that I'm teaching a series of Master Classes with The Seeing Place Theater February 13-20, 2017! All workshops are $39 are are designed to help and other artists learn valuable skills in the acting craft, the business of acting, and the art of theater-making!

Click here to learn more and to sign up.

You can also get 5 classes by signing up for the VIP Class Pass - it's just $149! Here are the classes you can choose from:

The week then culminates with our famous meet & greet event, the Actor/Industry Scramble, on February 20 for just $59. All proceeds go to benefit the ensemble of The Seeing Place Theater.

See all of the classes being taught, and SIGN UP here: https://squareup.com/store/TheSeeingPlace



Have a comment or question? Leave it by clicking below!

Erin Cronican's career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego. She has appeared in major feature films and on television, and has done national tours of plays and musicals. She has worked in the advertising & marketing departments of major corporations, film production companies, theater magazines, and non-profit acting organizations. To learn more, check out www.TheActorsEnterprise.org.

Singers: Open Mics in New York City

One of the things that has been instrumental (pun intended!) in the growth of my career as a musical theater actor is the ability to perform for an audience whenever I get the whim. What makes this possible? Every day of the week there are one (or more) events where singers can bring sheet music and perform songs for a friendly crowd looking for entertainment. Opens mics are a great way to try out new material and build up confidence. And you’ll meet other singers and industry folks like composers, lyricists, directors and producers.

UPDATED 1/15/2017 - Here is a list of just a few open mics in NYC (some nights have open mics at multiple venues):


Daily Piano Bars
Brandy's Piano Bar
Don't Tell Mama
The Duplex
Marie's Crisis
Uncle Charlie's

Sundays
Mark Janas’ – The Salon
Open Mic at the Met (2nd Sunday of the month)
Rise Bar

Mondays
Jim Caruso’s Cast Party/Birdland
Opera Open Mic - Shanghai Mong
West End Lounge

Tuesdays
Parkside Lounge

Wednesdays
Parnells' Piano Sessions

Thursdays
Broadway Sessions (at the Laurie Beechman) - weekly variety show and open mic once a month

Fridays
Songs at the New World (last Friday of month)
Metropolitan Room: Piano Bar at the Underground

You can see a comprehensive list of cabaret open mics/piano bars in NYC at the Cabaret Hotline Online.

For those outside of NYC: For a list of open mics in your area, trying doing a Google search with one or more of these keywords: open mic, salon, showcase, cabaret, piano bar. You can also see a large list of open mics at OpenMics.org.


Erin Cronican's career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego. She has appeared in major feature films and on television, and has done national tours of plays and musicals. She has worked in the advertising & marketing departments of major corporations, film production companies, theater magazines, and non-profit acting organizations. To learn more, check out http://www.theactorsenterprise.org.


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Getting Into the "Yes" Pile

This article was published on Backstage in their "Backstage Experts" column!

I follow a number of marketing blogs, and one of the most fascinating topics I’ve been following is how “word of mouth” referrals work in marketing. Common sense tells us that the best referral is one that comes from the heart - when you are so certain about that referral’s value that you would stake your reputation on it. Common sense also shows that the higher price for the good or service, the more important the referral becomes.

Ponder this for a second - audition appointments are technically referrals. Casting directors are making a word-of-mouth referral of actors to producers and asking for them to choose. And these are high stakes referrals, because the casting director’s future job might depend on it.

So imagine how risky it is for a casting director to give an audition appointment to an actor they have never met. In order to preserve their reputation as a dependable casting director, they have to make darned sure that every actor they bring in passes muster. This is why it’s so vitally important for actors to develop meaningful relationships with industry folks on an ongoing basis - actors must develop trust within the industry.

I once assisted casting on a major production. I had met a dashing leading man at a friend’s birthday party and had an instinct that he would be right for the lead in the project. But I had never seen his work - I had only met him socially and read his resume – so I only had my gut feeling to tell me that he’d be exactly what the director needed. You’d better believe I was sweating bullets waiting for the actor to arrive for his audition. Questions raced through my mind: “Will he be late? Will he be gracious to our audition monitor, or will he be difficult when he enters the door? Will he be able to take direction?” Not to mention that I was also hoping he’d be trained, capable and ready. The tension mounted higher and higher as I waited for him to arrive.

Casting directors often avoid this risk by bringing in only those actors they know, or they spend time doing “pre-screens” where they audition actors privately before deciding who to bring in for producers.

So how do you, the actor, make sure you’re referral worthy?

1. Have integrity. Make sure you respond to all emails and calls in a timely manner, and show up on time to all appointments. Do NOT cancel last minute —a casting director has saved a highly coveted slot just for you, and it makes a big difference if you’re missing from their casting options.

2. Be prepared. Know who’s in the room, and know your material. This includes networking situations: When meeting new people, make sure you’re prepared with what types of questions you want to ask to get to know them better, and be prepared to say a little something about yourself that will make a difference for those you’re meeting.

3. Be yourself! Let’s face it, we know when someone is being fake or holding themselves back, no matter how hard they try to appear natural. It is so refreshing when someone can just be themselves. Don’t be afraid to share your quirks and passions. As long as you do this while following tips #1 and #2, you’ll be just fine.

To get a bigger jumpstart on how to do this, you can read my articles on How To Leave Them Wanting More, and 3 Ways to Build Your Fan Base.


Oh, and by the way - that actor I brought in? Lucky for me (and for him), he was fabulous and knocked the director’s socks off. And I lived to cast another day!


Have a comment or question? Leave it by clicking below!

Erin Cronican's career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego. She has appeared in major feature films and on television, and has done national tours of plays and musicals. She has worked in the advertising & marketing departments of major corporations, film production companies, theater magazines, and non-profit acting organizations. To learn more, check out www.theactorsenterprise.org.